If you got your hands on the new issue of FINE magazine [ Vol5 Iss7 ] than you've seen the fantastic cover and fashion article that so many around San Diego are buzzing about. I had the privilege of being oh-hand for not only the actual fashion shoot itself, but got to see and be a part of the development process.
The first thing that you may have noticed about the shoot is how different it was from the typical "Del Mar Racing Season" and "Polo" layouts that most magazines run during this time of the year. The standard "Starting Gate" & "Track Side" photo was something that had been done so many times over. So the publishers of FINE magazine got together with our editor Michelle Armstrong to work on putting something together that was different, but still focused on the lifestyle and excitement that revolves around the Del Mar Racing season.
Michelle went to work on putting together a great story board which was distributed to a select few.
Then the work began.....
There was a model selection process. Hot clothing, jewelry and accessory companies were brought on board. Our in house stylist Venessa got in the mix and collectively as a group each item the models were wearing was carefully selected to fit within the parameters of the story board.
When it was time for the shoot, our office turned into a salon and style boutique, filled with beautiful men and woman models. Jonah, Michelle, Venessa, Heather and John all went over the clothing and accessories one last time. John, Jonah and I headed over to Rocky Mountain Ranch a bit ahead of the group to look for the ideal spot for the photo shoot. We wanted to make sure the scenery fit in perfectly with the style and clothing being worn by the models.
Once everyone arrived and Jonah was setup for the photo shoot, we eagerly waited for the arrival of "Billy the Kid," [ the horse featured in the photos ] and his owner Michael Citrin. Billy is a very beautiful horse and he was amazing on the photo shoot.
In the beginning of the shoot though, one of the girl models Amber [ blond ], was told to lean into the horse a bit more for a specific photo we were trying to get. But, her heels bumped the horses side signaling him to "GO." Soooooo he went! Oh and mind you, there was no saddle on the horse at the time... Amber kept her cool and Michael kept him from going with a few steady "Whoa, whoa whoa's"
I was thinking to myself "Using a horse in this photo shoot may be a bit more difficult than we had planned." But I was definitely wrong. The horse just got more comfortable as the shoot went on and the faces this he would make, were hilarious. It was constantly smiling and sticking its tongue out. When previewing some of the photos, all of us were laughing because his personality could really be seen in some of them.
As the day was winding down it was time to hit the beach where new fashions were selected and a new photo shoot ensued. By the days end we had hundreds and hundreds of photos to sort through...... all to find the ideal 8 that would be used in the magazine including the coveted "COVER SHOT."
We captured the entire process on video and should have something up shortly so you can see how things came about first hand!
It was an amazing process to watch the entire photo shoot go from concept to conception.
