A Love-byte™ In Paris

Hi, I’m the photographer for the 2010 ‘Look of Love’ Love-byte™ Photoshoot in Paris. I come from Australia but currently live in Los Angeles. Can’t believe how lucky I am to be given the opportunity to be involved in this Photoshoot. Really exited!! Will keep in touch.

P.S You won’t see any pictures of me here. Why? Just maybe I’m on the wrong side of the lens.

Of all the places to do a photo shoot, Paris has got to be one of the most magical cities to have as a backdrop! I mean how can you go wrong? From the moody small streets leading up to Montmartre, to the overwhelming majesty of shooting right next to the Eiffel Tower. This is going to be a shoot to remember…… and I can’t wait to start clicking away!! My only concern is that I won’t be able to stop! I’m sure I’ll be heading back to L.A with RSI in my right index finger.

I’ve been hearing a lot of wonderful things about Chloe and Ben from the team back in Sydney and I can’t wait to finally meet them! I’m also really excited to be working with Sahra. She’s an amazing artist and I’m dying for us all to be in the same room (let alone the same country LOL) so we can all get our creative energies together and get one hell of a great shoot out of Paris!!!

Vive La France!

Flying from crazy, busy L.A to beautiful Paris where all the beautiful photography will manifest!! Less than a week to go! (tick tock tick tock!!).

The excitement is building and I can’t wait to see that beautiful tower again that was once considered an eyesore of Paris (can you imagine?!!)! All the equipment is ready. Everything is in check.

Now get me to PARIS!!!!!!!!!!

Well, last night was our official first night shooting here in Gay Paris and may I just say “Mon Dieu!!!!” Not only is the backdrop of Paris mind blowingly beautiful but Chloe and Ben are amazing in front of the camera!!!!! They are such good sports and really keep the energy going while shooting! They would do anything I’d ask to get the shot! Last night I had them running through streets, dodging cars and onlookers (they were getting quite a fan club), with the Eiffel Tower sparkling in the background.

We dragged ourselves back to the hotel at about midnight and went straight to bed. I had a little sleep in and made it down stairs just in time to meet an equally tired Sahra for breakfast. Chloe and Ben weren’t there and I thought to my self “Oh the poor things… I really worked them hard last night. They must still be asleep”. I then found out that that they’d got up early, had breakfast, and had already hit the streets of Paris……. oh those young whipper snappers!!

Now we are physically here we have revised the shoot plan significantly to take full advantage so rather than just shooting Thursday and Friday, we will be shooting every day.  We shot a series at dusk last night – down a classic Parisien Cafe Street with the Eiffel Tower literally at the end of it with Chloe in her suit and Ben in his jacket.

Today I am shooting Sahra in a park on a wooden boat in her long dress – (already shot her yesterday for the lingerie shot on the balcony).  Tonight is Chloe’s Body Art shoot  and then a dawn shot of Chloe in her red dress tomorrow at the Eiffel Tower and Ben in his suit…… tomorrow evening we are doing the Moulin Rouge and Ben’s Body Art on Friday…..hectic man but we are just loving it!

Poor Sahra is as sick as a dog but pushing on through like the trooper she is.

Everyone is getting on fabulously. We have already befriended the local patisserie owner and of course, the concierge at the hotel who is apt to provide many friendly tourist hints and tips such as which parks to avoid at night because they are full of “ooo-kayrs”. Nod nod. Wink wink. So far, so good.

What an exciting day. Chloe and Ben had a day to themselves while I shot Sahra sitting in a rowing boat adorned with a beautiful 1920’s dress with a parasol floating on a river in central Paris… totally magical!

Then, that night it was on to Montmartre….. and oh my goodness, have they turned Chloe and Ben into superstars?! It all started quietly enough and then as they began shooting outside the Moulin Rouge, Chloe began catching the attention of the Parisiens. Standing there looking like a Goddess in her red dress, they couldn’t help themselves and began taking photos of her! I turned around and suddenly there was a crowd of 40 people with flashbulbs going off everywhere! Chloe was truly a diva and carried it all off beautifully.

Then it was Ben’s turn to experience the paparazzi first hand! As he began to strike his poses, a group of about 20 Parisien girls appeared on the scene and started cheering him on so loudly that Christian couldn’t help himself and invited them into one of the shots. They screamed like deranged fans and were more than happy to oblige.

But it wasn’t over yet………. poor Ben was so mobbed by the crowd at the end that they all started asking him for autographs…. one woman even asked him to autograph her hand! Can you believe it?! And do you know the best thing about all this? … We have it all captured on camera! Good old Sahra managed to shoot the whole thing live.

The long long long adventure to creating Sahra’s shoot. We were advised to go to a Carrousel at an address in Paris. We’d get a cab there, have a couple hours shooting, then get home to start Ben’s shoot. But when we got there, there was no there there!There was no Carrousel!!! And to top it all off, it was stinking HOT!

“So now what the hell are we gonna do?”

We spoke to everyone about this elusive Carrousel and Sahra and I finally decided we had wasted enough time and we were going to the Lourve because there was another Carrousel there (hopefully). A LOT of walking, a bus, more walking and we finally got to the Lourve and had about 25 seconds to shoot Sahra as we had to get back to the hotel to start Ben’s shoot. Then it was more walking and figuring out the french metro system to get back to our hotel. We got off at the right station, but some how managed to get lost again (I swear we are not a couple of dumb blondes walking around Paris aimlessly getting lost. It is SO easy to do in this town!). We finally made it back to our little hotel and got straight to work on Ben’s shoot!…… PHEW, what a morning!

In the afternoon it was Ben’s body art shoot.

The last day of shooting. I’m actually going to miss all the hectic crazyness