Good morning, Steemians! Today’s post probably shouldn’t be released to the internet quite yet. That is one of the things I love about Steemit over the horrible silo social networks; this place has become my own refuge for sharing work early, and in many cases, exclusively. My friend friend Micheline Pitt of Vixen has released a few behind the scenes and unedited proofs on a private Facebook group, so hopefully I won’t get in trouble.
These are the first few edits from the Vixen and La Femme En Noir look books I shot during my last trip to LA and Las Vegas in late April. I’ve mentioned in previous posts here on Steemit that I used to shoot for a vintage dress company called Pinup Girl Clothing. This is where I first met Micheline. She was the art director for two of my favorite look book projects shot with the company in 2014 and 2015.
When I first met Micheline, we were shooting together at our mutual friend, Thomas Kuntz’s automata workshop outside of Los Angeles. Thomas’ place is exceptionally dark. Problematic for most photographers but well within my comfort zone as I’ve spent nearly 20 years refining my ability to shoot in dark spaces. Micheline is an absolute Renaissance woman, beyond make-up, SP/FX make-up, modeling, designing, illustrating, painting, marketing, art directing, and even coordinating, she is a skilled photographer. She has exceptional taste in all areas of art, and while we were shooting in this dimly lit room, I could sense she wasn’t confident we were getting good photos. Every few minutes she’d say “….are these okay? Do you have enough light?”. I assured her they were, but at one point, she finally said “…I’m sorry. Can I just see how these are turning out?”. She scrolled through the images on the back of my camera and quietly said “Okay, WOW. These are great”. From that moment onward, Micheline has always completely trusted me in my craft, including the look books for Pinup Girl Clothing that followed, and now, for Vixen.
Micheline and I lost touch for a while when I stopped working with Pinup Girl, but at some point during 2016, through mutual friends, I’d heard that Micheline also left the company. She was out on her own, designing for herself with a new brand called Vixen by Micheline Pitt. Even though we weren’t talking at that time, I was profoundly happy for her, just based on her merits as an artist and a designer.
A few months ago, I did post one of my favorite photos of her on Instagram from our first shoot together. A couple hours later, she commented “…still my favorite photo of me”, and I took that as an opportunity to send her an email congratulating her on leaving Pinup Girl Clothing and embarking on her own journey. That email turned in to a 2 hour phone call, catching one another up on our crazy lives. As fate would have it, my last trip to LA and Vegas for Viva Las Vegas coincided with her need to shoot a new look book for Vixen and her partner brand, La Femme En Noir.
We shot at the breathtaking Castle Green in Pasadena, CA. It was one of the highlights of my west coast photo tour. Shooting this look book for Micheline was the culmination our years of friendship and creative collaboration, all for a brand I truly believe in. Over 1,600 photos were taken during a six hour afternoon. Here are a couple more of the first edits from the Vixen look book.
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