ROUGE cover story kelly carlson ("nip/tuck")

when i received an email from ROUGE magazine asking me whether i am available to fly to LA and do a cover story with gorgeous kelly carlson from "nip/tuck" series, i was - to say the least - flattered. it was my first assignment from the magazine after 3 months of very productive collaboration (by then i already had 2 cover stories, 3 editorials, and one feature with them, but all was submission-based)

we had 2 intense weeks of production and on-going communication between NY, LA, and bulgaria. finally, location was chosen (thompson beverly hills hotel agreed to provide their elegant premises for our hollywood-style story) and the date of the shoot was set. on march 2nd my stylist dina yassin and i flew to LA to meet with kelly and her beauty team.

the shoot had 2 parts - we started at the rooftop pool and in the afternoon moved inside the beautiful suite provided by courteous stuff of thompson beverly hills. glamour was in the air and on dina's clothes racks with elegant gowns from famous designers: PRADA, georges chakra, gustavo cadile, rosa cha, among others. my assistant (barett sweger from smashbox studios) was irreplaceable and helping me a lot to handle various lighting conditions. it great to hear an acknowledgment from kelly: "you really know your lighting. i love the way i look on your pictures".

and still it was a challenge. working with celebrities you need to be flexible and efficient; time is important and so are the right clothes and its variety to be able to choose from in case smth doesn't work. i think we did our best and rocked it. 9 beautiful looks and 3 cover options - not bad at all for our first LA shoot! definitely looking forward for more.

april issue of ROUGE with kelly on the cover is out on the newstands.

cover story with holly weston

on october 14th i received the following email from chantal de paris [www.chantaldeparis.com]:

"Let me introduce you to Holly Weston . Holly just star in Madonna directorial debut movie(Filth and Widsom); the premiere was last night at the sunshine cinema. She is in New York for one night only; Please let me know if you'd like to shoot with her."

of course, i do! my team (dina yassin, aldys minaya, sato taeko) put the shoot together within half a day. call time - october 15th, 6pm. it was also the first cold day in new york - and our shoot was taking place in the rough urban area of long island city at night.

holly was courageous and patient - we were keeping her warm with a blanket in between the looks, but in front of the camera she was relaxed and sexy despite of the autumn chill.


the story was a success and got picked up to accompany holly's exclusive interview to ROUGE magazine.