Celebrity Portraits Fashion Flair Digital Freedom

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3/2003
$4.95
A Cygnus Publication
© JERRY AVENAIM
www.spdonline.com
Celebrity Portraits
Fashion Flair
Digital Freedom
.
contents
MARCH 2003
VOLUME 6/ISSUE 3
page 14
Absolutely Avenaim
BY ALICE B. MILLER
JERRY AVENAIM Delights and Disarms His Megastars
page 20
Digital Surrealism
BY MISSY HARRIS
CARL ZAPP’s Iconic Images
page 24
Life, Only Better
BY ERIN HARRINGTON-PLONSKI
DAN LIM’s Creative Interactions
14
20
© JERRY AVENAIM
© CARL ZAPP
24
© DAN LIM
3/2003 studio photography & design
3
Absolutely
Avenaim
Jerry Avenaim Delights and
Disarms His Megastars
TEXT BY ALICE B. MILLER • IMAGES BY JERRY AVENAIM
14
studio photography & design 3/2003
j
erry Avenaim’s faces are everywhere. Halle Berry. Helen Hunt. Mel Gibson. Dr.
Phil McGraw. Angela Bassett. Patricia Arquette. Brooke Shields. Julia Roberts.
Winning the trust of some of the brightest stars, Avenaim has a client roster that
reads like a “Who’s Who of Hollywood.”
After more than a decade of shooting glamorous portraits of the famous and
infamous, Avenaim’s images have graced major magazines worldwide, including
Vogue, GQ, Glamour, Vanity Fair, InStyle, and Newsweek. Commercial clients include
Merle Norman Cosmetics, Phat Farm, Guess, Durasoft contact lenses, Pella Windows,
Fox, and Warner Bros.
EASY DOES IT AT WARP SPEED
In only a fraction of the time movie directors have to capture the mood or look
they’re after, Avenaim artfully brings out the vulnerability and humanity of his stars.
His tools of the trade: Flexibility, consistency, technical mastery, and the ability to perform under pressure to get that iconic image.
“As artists, we have to take chances to make memorable images,” he says. “Not
everything goes the way you originally envisioned it and that’s a beautiful part of the
creative process. The key is to be prepared for anything that may arise. By being malleable, you often get gems you hadn’t
planned on. I try to set an easy, relaxed
atmosphere for celebrities and their publicists. It's important to have a sense of
humor and be truly engaging with the person I'm photographing. To make people
laugh with an impersonation or story
almost always puts them at ease. But at the
end of the day, trust is what’s paramount in
photographing celebrities.”
His photo sessions with Angela Bassett
and Helen Hunt give us a sense of the ease
and flexibility that flow at his star shoots.
“Angela Bassett is an amazing spirit,” he
says. “We were almost finished shooting
when I got the idea to pour milk over her
(p.14). She said sure. I had my assistant go
to the studio kitchen and get all the milk, a
pan, and a broom handle. With the pan
taped to the handle, he stood over Angela
on a 12-foot ladder waiting for my cue. I
told her to scream when the milk came
pouring down. It wasn’t until the milk lay
still, with a few drops flowing down her face, that I felt
this peace about the image we had created.”
His experience with Helen Hunt is equally as collaborative. “She reminds me of a vintage Hollywood star.”
She is blessed with talent, a kind heart, and a classic
beauty. I envisioned Helen in the glory days of Bette
Davis and Katherine Hepburn, which inspired the retro
look (p.16). I rented a peach ‘57 Thunderbird, and shot
in the courtyard of the infamous Chateaux Marmont
hotel on Sunset Blvd. Open-minded and willing to contribute ideas of her own, she was never afraid to take a
chance. It was one of the most enjoyable times I’d ever
spent on a shoot.”
And then there’s Halle Berry, our cover star. His
from top: Brooke Shields in between takes for Durasoft contact lenses;
Jada Pinkett-Smith, Vogue et al.;
Rod Steiger, Newsweek
Shaquille O’Neal, personal work, children’s book Shaq and the Beanstalk
3/2003 studio photography & design
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from top: Carre Otis, Grace magazine; Dr. Phil, Newsweek cover;
Helen Hunt in retro 50s fashion, Rolling Stone
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studio photography & design 3/2003
encounters with her are golden. “While Halle is
an extremely approachable star, superstardom
has its price and for her it means time has
become a luxurious commodity in short supply.
Because she began her career as a model, Halle
is very comfortable in front of a still camera and
needed very little direction. Celebrities always
walk in the door with clean hair and clean face,
to give the makeup artist a clean canvas.
“Halle knew we were there to do beauty
shots and didn’t require lots of direction. Once
or twice I yelled from behind the camera if I
needed a shoulder to come over a bit or to get a
full smile. Five rolls of film and 15 minutes
later, we were finished and the look was pure
Halle—gorgeous and approachable.”
Since that shoot in late 2002, magazines from
around the world have picked up Avenaim’s
Berry images, including Ebony, Woman, German
Premier, the 2003 People yearbook (cover), and
now SP&D.
impression she’s on a
pedestal.
Just before press
time, in early
February, Avenaim
shot a 16-page editorial on 8X10 Polaroid
for Angeleno magazine’s April issue.
(See p. 17 for a peek at
one of the fashion article’s images.)
“What I love about
8X10 is the discipline
it requires, from me
and my subjects.
Because the image is
composed upsidedown and the film
holder is then placed
in the camera, you
can’t see what you’re
doing through a
viewfinder. Since it
costs about $50 a
sheet, I can’t just hold
Polaroid image from 16-page fashion spread in April 2003 Angelino
down the button on a
magazine
motor drive and
TECHNICAL MASTERY
hope one comes out right.”
That shoot, as much as any other,
ZugaPhoto.TV, a website dedicatdemanded lighting mastery as well
ed to photography education,
as lightning-quick skills to get it
which debuted at the end of
done in an especially period winFebruary, filmed the shoot. Monte
dow of time.
Zucker captured Avenaim signing
Avenaim is a masterful techniMarch SP&D cover blowups at the
cian who knows his equipment
Cygnus Business Media booth durand how to get the results he’s
ing PMA for website download.
after. The Halle Berry shoot is a
case in point. Devoted to his
Mamiya RZ67 system, he fitted his
main Profoto head with an 11-inch
silver parabolic reflector, mounted
on a Bogen boom. It was covered
with four sheets of Rosco Tuff Spun
for diffusion, one of which was
soaked in Lipton tea to warm the
color temperature of the light. This
is what gave her skin tone a glow
he has not been able to achieve
with filters. Between the key light
and Halle was a black Matthew’s
flag, feathering the light gently
from her forehead. His main light
was five feet from her and the flag
was about two feet away from her
forehead. The camera angle was
about chest height to give the
THE BUSINESS OF BEING
Avenaim goes over every detail
with the editor days before a shoot,
making sure everything is secure—
the studio, location, permits, equipment. Then his assistants doublecheck him. “Be prepared or be prepared to fail,” he says.
His website is a big help with
overseas clients or when a portfolio
isn’t readily available. It’s also been
great for commissioned work. “In
addition to printed promotional
material, I recently started an email
promo campaign,” says Avenaim.
“Spamming turns a client or
prospect off in a heartbeat, so my
emails are personal and tailored to
each individual.”
Then either his agent, Wendy
Schneider, or Avenaim follows up
with a phone call. “You have to be
tenacious but not pushy. It’s a fine
line we walk.”
As a catharsis, he focuses on
soul-cleansing personal works,
including three books: Naked Truth,
Kindred Spirits, and a how-to book
on photography. He’s also begun to
enjoy lecturing.
“I was recently a guest at an L.A.
workshop. We had fun debating
intellectual property law and my
style of lighting and metering a
white seamless setup. Can you
think of a better way to spend a
Saturday night? My beautiful wife
can.” Absolutely Avenaim . . . ❖
JERRY AVENAIM’S GEAR BOX
35MM CAMERAS
Contax TVS (for snapshots)
Canon EOS-1N
MEDIUM-FORMAT CAMERAS
Mamiya RZ67 Pro II system
Pentax 6x7 bodies for mobility
Hasselblad 6x6 and Contax 645
(both rented)
LARGE-FORMAT CAMERA
Linhof 4x5 Kardan with Schneider lenses
Sinar 8x10 (rented)
DIGITAL CAMERAS
Canon G2 (for snapshots and castings)
Canon EOS D60
Higher-end cameras & backs
(rented as needed)
SPECIALTY CAMERAS
Rolleiflex 2.8F TLR with Zeiss optics and
Rollinar filters
Polaroid 180 with Portrait kit
FILM
Kodak EPP, E200, Portra
LIGHTING
Speedotron packs with 102 heads,
Chimera softboxes,
Mole Richardson 2K Juniors, Lowel DP kit,
Profoto, Elinchron Octolight &
Kinoflo (all rented)
COMPUTER/PRODUCTION
Macintosh G4 towers
Post production: Bowhaus
Retouching: D Space /Tracy Bayne
Color labs: Fleshtone, ICON
B&W labs: Photo Impact,
Nardulli, and Silverlab
3/2003 studio photography & design
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