claire's blog

Diamond in the Rough

2007-08-22T11:29:00.000-07:00

A few years ago I used to share a photostudio in downtown LA. At that time plenty of areas down there were pretty gritty to say the least. Now, I'm from an English city that has seen it's own periods of majesty, decline and rebirth so I've kind of got a soft spot for anywhere that has seen better days! Those days are long gone for downtown Los Angeles.
On a recent shoot for the whiskey bar Seven Grand it was fascinating to see the most recent renovations.
Seven Grand is a gem........almost literally. Located in an old jewelry salon ( the Tiffany's of it's time I was told ), and with it's dark-wood panelling, plaid carpeting and taxidermied trophies, this bar is reminiscent of an old-time gentleman's club with touches of Scottish laird's manor and honky-tonk saloon. I almost wanted to see the bartender slide a shot of whiskey down the length of the bar, yet at the same time could picture Winston Churchill walking in with his shotgun and a brace of pheasants!!
To all of you real-estate investors out there.......I'm looking forward to seeing what could become of the beautifully ornate, yet currently dilapidated, Bank of Italy a few blocks down the street!

Lan and Joe

2007-08-22T10:56:00.000-07:00

When Lan and Joe's wedding day came around it was a wonderful blend of cultures.
The day began with a traditional and colorful Vietnamese tea ceremony, celebrating and honoring the joining of their two families.
Later the ceremony was at one of my favorite locations....the San Gabriel Mission. I love the Spanish heritage of California and this beautiful mission is perfect as a photographic background. With it's old, crumbling stonework, rustic wooden doors
and sculptural wrought ironwork it really lends itself to classical and evocative imagery.
As a photographer, inspiration doesn't simply come from what you see. The intense heat from the afternoon sun and the sound of a train whistling on nearby tracks added to the feeling of being in an old frontier town in a different time.
Hopefully Lan and Joe will feel as though their wedding photographs are "timeless"!

The Look Of Love

2007-08-22T09:57:00.000-07:00

Most of my wedding clients add an engagement shoot to their package, and Lan and Joe decided to have their shoot a few weeks before their big day. They played the slideshow I made for them at their wedding reception where it was a big hit.
Engagement shoots are all about FUN!
My bride- and- groom- to- be are very relaxed and happy and have never looked more "glowing" and in love.This is their moment to create their own "perfume ad" images if you will! The photoshoot is all about them...they don't yet have to think about guests or parents or whether the best man has paid the band.....and the results are always great.
It certainly helps that I m lucky enough to live at the beach and next to a natural lagoon....my clients and I don't have to make much of an effort to find some wonderful backdrops provided by mother nature.
I've been experimenting and creating my own textures ( the ones I could find for sale just weren't doing it for me! ) and I love the results. Some of the shots now look like weathered old photos found in the drawer of a desk long forgotten in the attic.
Instant nostalgia!

Life Rolls On

2007-06-30T18:37:00.000-07:00

My friend Ryan Demont is a wonderful musician and I was very honored when he chose me to shoot the images for his debut cd, Life Rolls On.
He's a gentle soul and his music and lyrics are so deep and thoughtful.
Love, not surprisingly, is the subject matter for most of his songs and you imagine that this young man must have had his heart broken a couple of times.......but with those good looks I'm sure he's been the reason a number of girls have listened to a sad song or two as well!
You can hear his music at myspace.com/ryan demont , there's even a music video to watch. And if you like what you hear he's playing Friday July 6th at The Mint in Los Angeles. See you there.

Most Eligible Bachelor

2007-06-30T17:11:00.000-07:00

Q. What do you get the man who has everything?
A. His own fashion shoot in a magazine!

Tall and handsome, successful businessman Jeff certainly looked as though he could grace a page or two in GQ, so he was the perfect subject matter when The Beverly Hills Times recently decided to do a profile article about him.
The shoot began at his fantastic home in the hills just off Sunset ( same street as Paris...) with views and a walk-in closet to die for. No stylist necessary for this photoshoot, the man has impeccable taste!
Then it was time to play with some of the toy's Jeff has aquired......check out that helicopter. He mentioned that he thought it was romantic to pick a girl up for a first date in it!!! And he's the pilot.
But before you start emailing me for his address, ladies.......he also admitted that he has had something of a six-month expiration date with most of his romantic involvements. LOL. Oh well, seems as though he'd be fun while it lasted!

Cocktail Week

2007-06-08T09:40:00.001-07:00

As a luxury lifestyle photographer I have the pleasure of participating in some
wonderfully decadent events, one of the most recent being Cocktail Week in my favorite city.....San Francisco.
Two dozen of the city's best bars participated in the seven-day affair which, along with the upcoming "Tales of the Cocktail", assists in the revitalisation of New Orleans' hospitality industry ( the cocktail museum is in N.O. after all...).
The event celebrated the rich cocktail tradition of San Francisco and highlighted the use of local ingredients with an emphasis on the organic. A number of the liquors used were also local: Square One vodka is made in Novato and the distillery for 209 gin, voted best new gin by Gourmet magazine, sits right on the Pacific Ocean at an old pier ( more on that later! ).
I had a lot of fun trying out most of the bars involved, along with The Liquid Muse, Natalie Bovis-Nelsen.
San Francisco's bartenders take their job very seriously ( no offense to LA's bartenders but c'mon guys.... most of you will freely admit that you'd rather be on set! ). Some of these bartenders even grow/dry/roast/ their own ingredients!
I think my favorite cocktail was made by Ronaldo Colli at Cortez...the Tore Margarita, with roasted jalapeno and tamarind puree. Yes, these guys do get creative.
The most notable name had to be The Classic Corpse Reviver, which I was told by H. Ehrmann, owner of Elixir, is created from an old hangover-cocktail recipe. Hair of the dog that bit you indeed!
Along with Cortez and Elixir I got to visit Rye, Jardiniere, Harry Denton's Starlight Room, and the wrap party location
Absinthe.
Yet the highlight of my tour was definitely the 209 Gin distillery. Who knew all of those tedious chemistry classes at my Hogwarts-esque high school would come in so handy!? What a location, surrounded by the turquoise blue of the ocean.
Technichal director Arne Hillesland gave us the grand tour, and showed us some of his secret ingredients. I felt as though I were in some ancient apothecary!
Maybe Los Angeles is too vast and spread-out as a city for cocktail week to be successful here. Perhaps it doesn't have the same drinking culture. I still think they should give it a shot ( pun intended! ).

Brycie & Colby

2007-06-06T09:14:00.000-07:00

Sonoma in Springtime.
Early-morning mist still clinging to the mountaintops surrounding the perfect rows of vines.
A hawk gliding effortlessly overhead.
Arriving at the beautiful home of Bonney and Ewing Philbin for their daughter Brycie's marriage to Colby was almost like being transported to a different country ( France, to be exact! ).
Imposing Gothic gates led into a gentle, peaceful drive of rosemary hedges and olive trees which wound around the gardens and up to the house framed by lavendar hills. The smell alone was wonderful, and the words, " I could live here, I could live here, " kept repeating themselves like a mantra in my head!!
The chicken coop, lettuce patch and apple trees added a slightly Beatrix Potter edge for me, which may have been quite fitting since the bride and groom met at Oxford, Brycie having vowed not to date any Americans while she was there ( Colby is of course from the good old US of A ). Well, the groom's outfit was British at least! Colby wore a traditional morning suit, and Brycie a beautiful Caroline Herrara gown.
Thankfully, the food wasn't British! The fabulous Italian feast was served in the reception tent and as the sun went down lanterns and candles began to light the way, while the 12-piece band played into the night.
My tripping over a snake ( and thinking it must have simply been an electric cable..ha ha ) didn't have any ill effects ( on either of us...) and the wedding was a joy to shoot from start to finish.
It's great to see familiar faces at weddings, and I certainly saw a few here! Brycie's brother, Nick, married Susan last year in Colorado....and I had the honor of shooting their beautiful day since I was also the photographer for the wedding of Susan's brother, Brian the previous year in Manhattan! Confused yet?!
Hopefully, this family can find some more relatives for me to shoot ( with the camera, with the camera!! ), because they're certainly a pleasure to be with.

Make-A-Wish

2007-05-07T12:27:00.000-07:00

Each year the Make-A-Wish foundation hosts their "Uncork-A-Wish" event in LA. It's a wonderful food and wine-tasting treat with an auction to top off the evening.This year, at Barker hangar in Santa Monica, the prizes ranged from fast cars to pampering at spas......I even think there may have been a lunch date with McDreamy and McSteamy!!
I was there at the request of one of the sponsors, Moet-Hennessy USA, who were featuring Chopin vodka and Glenmorangie scotch.
Now, the star of the show wasn't REALLY Brad Garrett, the evening's MC and auctioneer, nor was it one of the high flying acrobats.......it was the stunning Chopin ice bar, complete with it's martini luges!! That's right...the bartender actually pours your cocktail through the bar itself into the glass you're holding, and voila....one ice-cold martini! Some celebrities were good sports and even took a turn at bartending.
Since it was for such a worthy cause, I did have to take a sip myself ( don't worry, the camera has an autofocus option! ).

A Wonder From Down Under

2007-05-04T14:13:00.000-07:00

Maybe it's because I'm British ( you know, all the bad-boy ancestry being shipped off to the penal colony and such...) but I've always loved Australians! So, Imagine my delight when I was asked by The Liquid Muse to cover her interview with one of Australia's premier wine-makers, Philip Shaw. I was even more delighted to discover that Mr. Shaw was an absolute gem, the shoot was poolside at the beautiful Roosevelt Hotel and that I was also invited to partcipate in the wine-tasting! Aah, life's tough sometimes...

Daisie & Travis

2007-05-04T13:03:00.000-07:00

This was a wonderful wedding at the Calamigos Ranch in Malibu...complete with ferris wheel and carousel which certainly lent themselves to some magical ( if surreal ) images. Most of my wedding clients are referred to me by previous clients ( always wonderfully validating! ) and these guys were no exception.... the more adventurous (or bored!) among you might want to see if you can find Daisie in my website images as bridesmaid at her brother's wedding.....

Fashion Sense

2007-05-04T12:50:00.000-07:00

Some of my blushing brides are so happy with their wedding photos that I receive wonderful thank you cards saying such things as, " I look as though I should be in a magazine " or, " you made me look like a fashion model!" Perhaps some of my clients don't know that I do THOSE kind of photoshoots too!
Here are a few shots from my latest endeavor with Beverly Hills Times magazine ( the dogs just happened to be passing by with their very accomodating owner! ).

Still On The Subject Of Naked Ladies....

2007-05-04T11:52:00.000-07:00

Ask any photographer about their job and they'll probably tell you that one of the perks is that you're never bored! Every shoot is different...some more so than others. A joy of mine is that I get to do a lot of photography for restaurants....beautiful interiors, fabulous food, decadent cocktails....and sometimes a little more than you bargained for!
Hadaka Sushi is one of the latest restaurants to open on Sunset Boulevard and I had the pleasure of creating all of the images for their website. Hadaka is Japanese for "naked" and perhaps some guests end up so in the private "adults only" area ( complete with handcuffs ); some of the servers are almost so in their boudoir-inspired uniforms and one young lady was definitely so as she was presented ( traditionally, I'm told ) as serving platter for the succulent sushi on opening night!
I loved this job...wonderful, friendly chef/owner, great staff who loved being in front of the camera and food to die for!

Making It To The Mansion....

2007-05-04T11:31:00.000-07:00

Now, I have to admit I'm quite the adventurous type and so, after 10 years here, there are very few titems left on my things-to-do-while-in-LA wishlist. Now I can scratch another one off......I was recently invited to The Playboy Mansion! I was covering the Celebrity Poker Tournament for The Liquid Muse. While the mansion wasn't as large as I imagined, and the celebrities not as A-list as I expected, I'm still going to mark it down as a fabulous experience!