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.

Setting Up Shop in NYC this Spring

As some of you know, I just spent 6 weeks living and working in Brooklyn. Why did I leave my happy home (husband and cat) and move 3,000 miles to live in a noisy studio apartment?

It all came from a car ride taken down the frozen West Side highway last January. My agent, Lewis, was driving me home from a client dinner. We were talking about how a West Coast photographer could start making stronger inroads into the NYC photo world.

He laid it on the line: My occasional visits to NYC were just not enough. To really make a mark, I had to be on the ground.

So, I rented a Carroll Garden apartment (Smith Street) and spend a big part of the spring immersing myself in doing more of what I do every time I visit NYC: show my portfolio to PEs and Ads, meet and learn from amazing NYC talent and crew, and be part of the fabric of the best photo town in the world.

On this trip, I had the added advantage of time. I met stylists for coffee. I visited every model agency in town. I did portfolios shoots for my book.

The test shoots have been the best part of the trip! I’ve worked with some really great models and crews, and it has been a lot of fun bringing my West coast visual sensibility to Brooklyn and Manhattan.

The locations are amazing and so different from my usual California spots. I have been very inspired by the brownstones, the cobblestone streets, the iron railings, the people. The studios are super-professional, and leave nothing to chance. They make your job so much easier (a shout-out at this point to Shoot Digital on East 4th!). And the City of NYC and the Park itself have been super easy to deal – one result, I’m sure, of there relentless use in film and advertising over the years.

Far and away my favorite shoot was the day I spent in Central Park with up and coming Ford model Kylie Prusack. So much fun.

Listen, I am not the first photographer to shoot in Central Park (nor the last!) but I have always wanted to have my chance. I’m heading home soon, but I’ll be bringing lots of NYC back with me. (And I won’t be gone for long.)