The lighter side of model Mackenzie Drazan

Model Mackenzie Drazan has just wrapped her amazing F/W 2012 season. A tally of 4 countries, and walking in a record 64 fashion shows!

Mackenzie has drawn everybody’s attention in New York at Calvin Klein, Proenza Schouler, Prabal Gurung, Ralph Lauren and in Paris at Chanel, Balenciaga, Christian Dior, Louis Vuitton and Valentino. In Milan and London she didn’t miss the most prestigious shows, and walked in Dolce & Gabbana, Marni, Fendi, Bottega Veneta, Jonathan Saunders and Mulberry.

She is now a serious fashion model: Vogue editorials, serious clothes, serious photographers – no smiling allowed!

One of strangest parts of my business, is seeing young girls like Mackenzie ending up on the covers of Vogue Italia. But last Spring, only months before her Euro debut, I shot Mackenzie for Eliza magazine. Photographed at her family’s horse ranch outside SF, the model was truly in her ‘natural’ environment.

The reserved teen spent time wandering the property, and hanging with her closest friends; her horses, and her little sister.

See my images of Mackenzie for Eliza magazine.

The Secret Garden film goes onto site today!

I have the final edit of the Spring Mansion video.

Many thanks to my amazing editor, Daniel Brothers. An amazing talent. And not yet 30. Yikes. Watch out Hollywood.

Thanks again to the amazing team that worked on this shoot:

Cinematographer: Jonathan Angelini

Editor: Daniel Brothers

Model: Jeanne Johnston, Ford Models.

Wardrobe Stylist: Jane Black, Aubri Balk Inc. Artist Management

Hair and Makeup: Brynn Doering, Aubri Balk Inc. Artist Management

Prop Stylist: Leila Nichols

Upcoming creative shoots in NYC!

Excited to be booking models for my upcoming tests in NYC!

Last summer, I met with ex Avon CD, Fiona Ip, to talk about testing. Over lychee cocktails (nothing better on a humid NYC day!), we started the conversation that has now become three shoots in five days. More soon on that…

My photo, “Flopped” goes to Hollywood…

The art department of “Bling Ring” just sent me this snap of my picture on their set… This is supposed to be Lindsey Lohan’s bedroom!

The huge print is being delivered to me after production wraps!! The question is where to put it?

More on the TV movie:  “CelebNews: Bling Ring, the movie, to star Jennifer Grey”.

Lindsey Lohan, Paris Hilton: Bling, bling, super fabulous, love your photo!

That was the summation of the conversation I just had…!

I have just got off the phone with the Art Department head of a soon-to-be-made TV series.  They wanted to use one of my photographs as a set piece in the TV “home” of Lindsey Lohan.

The series, based on actual events, focuses on a bunch of LA teens who steal the bling of celebrities – Lindsey and Paris amongst them.

Sure why not, I said. They have promised to send me the resulting art after the series wraps. It will be 7 feet by 12 feet!

And no, this is NOT the picture being used. Just thought I would stick a picture of Miss Lohan into my post for added bling!

New motion section on the website!

Finally added a proper ‘Motion’ section to my website. Phew.

All linked up to Vimeo, and it shows the little films beautifully!

Check it out:  Caroline Schiff Photography – Motion

Organic Living: Fashion, Lifestyle and Fun Down on the Farm

They say the summer in San Francisco is the coldest winter… that’s why those of us in the know head out to warmer grounds from May to September!

One of my favorite spots is the Capay Valley, a little known region between Napa and the Central Valley that’s still used by “real” rurals for farming and ranching — rather than vineyards and tourism. This is also the place where much of the small farm organic food that winds up on SF’s slow food menus comes from.

Recently I had the good fortune to do a shoot at Full Belly Farms, which is one of the best known providers of organic food boxes around the Bay Area. They have a prime spot deep in the Capay and they’ve put an amazing amount of work into making their property both inviting for us city slickers and productive.

These images are great examples of some of my favorite kinds of lifestyle work: fresh, energetic, girl-friendly… and sunbaked! Enjoy.

Judging a Book by Its Cover Photo

Over the years, art directors have put at least four of my stock images on the cover of new books. Two have been fiction, two have been non-fiction.

Clearly, something about my work is resonating with book publishers. But what’s interesting is that none of them have shown the faces of my models.

While I’m tempted to ask just what is that art directors don’t like about the casting choices I’ve made, I think this is really about how the needs of those who buy books are different than the needs of those who buy magazines.

Books often invite their readers to visualize themselves in the story. It’s hard to see yourself in a work of words when a face — perhaps younger and more beautiful than your own — is already there.

Magazines are different. They put fabulous faces on the cover all the time, often purely in order to catch the eye of a shopper at a newsstand and create that impulse buying environment.

Badj Has a Bad Day

This is a good story.

Last spring I spent five weeks in the UK shooting. I came home with a bunch of stuff to submit to Getty for re-licensing, plus several wonderful fashion shoots.

I had my friend Jos Whipple produce the shoots before I even landed at Heathrow. It was a good call — she literally roped in half the population of her native Totnes and Brighton to be in our photos, including the whole Whipple family. Not only was her brother Badj (Sebastian) and sister Chloe stars of two shoots, her eldest brother Will (also a professional photographer) set us up with his equipment rental house and made introductions to the London agencies.

Sometimes when I get a model who is like Badj – private and shy – I want to bring them out of themselves. I want to push them to give me something out of character. I want them to bring their inner-extrovert OUT. I pushed Badj a little bit – and got a very interesting, non-Badj shot out of it. He is standing in a field, his arms stretched into the air. There is a lot of energy in that picture – in my mind it is the real Badj Whipple.

So that’s the picture we get. It goes into Getty, gets selected, and is now available for the world market. Badj goes back to being himself again.

Eventually, a slick British ad agency licenses the image for its client — a British rail line — who’s promoting the idea of getting out of town for a day in the country. And where, of all places, do you think the poster shows up? On the outside wall of the Brighton train station, just around the corner from where Badj, lives and works. And his mates, too. And everyone he knows.

Jos says that for weeks her brother’s phone rang off the hook. “Is that YOU at the train station, man?”

Last I heard, Badj sheepishly admitted that he liked the attention. But I think it’s fairly likely he’ll never let me near him with a camera again.

Jos just emailed me the picture from the train station.

 

 

The ‘S’ Word

Sometimes I shoot stock. Yes, there it is, I said it – the dirty word: “stock”. Are you disappointed? Don’t be. It is the best thing I ever did.

I became a better photographer shooting high-end stock. As a self-produced stock photographer, I can shoot when I want, where I want to. By not waiting for the phone to ring to shoot, it keeps my hard-won skills fresh.

And I’m lucky in that most of the time I only really need to produce stock shoots if the subjects are personally interesting to me. That means fewer business shoots and more fashion and lifestyle. This has resulted in shots that look great in my book and have more than paid the rent.

Stock has also broadened my horizons as a traveler. Over the past few years I’ve funded some significant journeys by including stock shoots in them. And the shooting trip last spring to the UK? Constant e-mails with my Getty editor Kari Pearson resulted in a collection of images that I love – and which buyers seem to love as well.