ItemLiz-ECK is back in studio !!!!

ItemLiz-ECK is back in studio satruday 30th to have a fashion shooting with a Disney® theme : Delirious Disney® Girls….

Alex is featuring a modern Snow White ; Carol does a contemporary Alice in Wonderland ; Marine a characteristic and fresh Tinker Bell & Sarah shall be a  present Cinderella !

The team is altogether for the last time as some of the models will go to University abroad. The technical crew is back too : Ambre Rivas, etc.

Photos of the backstage and shooting will be on line tomorrow and the days to follow…

Check them out !!!

Happy 40th to Carol Hart

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, 


CAROL !!

LOVE YOU !

This is a great day, today ! 

It’s my Best Friend’s Birthday. 

She is turning 40 ! Yes, she still can say her age ! Obviously, I had to write a paper upon her to celebrate her day….

The first fact that I have to say is : SHE IS AMAZINGLY GREAT !! Sure, some might say “She’s your best friend !”. Indeed and most certainly more than BFF.

She’s family to me.

Back to the basics : 

Carol & I met at school in the early 90’s. She was sitting in the middle of the classroom. I arrived late during the first semester and entered in the room like a rebel with cause. I hardly noticed her and didn’t speak to many of my schoolmates for days. 

I remember that I spent the first few days with the “coolest” girls and boys around. Carol was not included into that gang. Honestly, I don’t remember exactly whenever we spoke for the first time. It was most likely during lunch time as we were used to be all together for eating.

She was my total opposite at that time. She was so nice (still, but in different ways), calm, inhibited, very tame and self-conscious. I was wild, independent, self-confident and not afraid of much. She was lovely and preppy, as I was wearing black and rock’n roll clothing. I was listening to rock & pop and she was still into typical French classic singers.

Yet, my contradictory in many points !

But we started to talk about things we liked and a common point appeared : Fashion ! I was already involved in that business and she was dying to model or to do anything related to.

We thought about a fashion shooting and did it the year after our meeting along with a schoolmate and we discovered that we both enjoyed working with each other..

We’re still working with each other and doing two shooting a year.

I have to say that Carol “blossomed” those past 20 years. She turned into a wonderful and almost self-confident woman. She doesn’t look like 40 and doesn’t sound like a middle-age woman (neither I do !). We are still teens with this mature reflection on life and those bills to pay.

Nevertheless, Carol is the lightest part of my darkness. She has been pushing me around to achieve my aims and is a very true supporter. She is also the best PR !

Carol is gifted for many skills and one of the most remarkable is sketching ! She’s been doing sketching for years but she is not pretending to be an artist…. Whom she is ! She could be terrific as a sketcher ! I encourage her to take classes because she has many abilities to do so.

So, yes, she is my best friend, a very gorgeous woman, funny (LOL in London… Salt, honey… It was salt !!.. Private joke here !), smart, enthusiast, caring and faithful. She is a true treasure as a friend. 

That is why we don't want to share our moments with anyone ! She is invaluable to me.

So Happy Birthday, N&M (private joke ! xoxo MOE), 

Have fun, take care and come and 

get your present as soon as possible (private joke !).

Some photos I took.. They are MY FAVORITES !! Most certainly not Carol’s !!

Petit ajout de la part d'une "collègue de travail"... :)

Backstage with models, photographer and co.... Hysterical !

Since 1992 when we (at ItemLiz-ECK) have started our collaboration, we’ve been doing backstage shooting. ItemLiz-ECK was not called that way back in 1992. It was just ItemLiz. We added ECK for Evana-Carol-Killian (the historic models).

ItemLiz-ECK is an amazing adventure. Due to circumstances, we worked in dozens of places from nature to museums, from hotel room to beaches. We shot in a Natural Museum, some beaches, a Hotel room of an architectural building, in parks, in garbage dump, an Opera hall, a National Park, an Island and even a castle.

We had a hundred of clothing from Princess to tramp, via sportive, punk, nerd, dancing queen or hysterical girl.

Carol and I worked for a couple of year altogether. It was just a duet with a team behind the scene. Carol is a very malleable person. She could do anything I imagined for her. She is the soft version in my wild and rebel vision. She dreams herself into princess and gowns whilst I imagined punk stories. She was a bit clumsy sometimes but she did it great.

Then, Evana joined the crew, followed two years later by Killian. Both brought the perfect combination to ItemLiz. They were similar, kind of sibling, but total opposite in attitudes. One was wild and sexy, the other was mature and sensual. It was the perfect mix with Carol and her artless attitude.

In 2009, we welcomed those three wonderful girls. Alexandrine, Marine & Sarah are three amazing girls, so talented and different. They started with a pretty much challenging theme : 20’s. They succeeded and were potentially the best I’ve had for years in my lens!

So, basically, backstage photos are quite weird to look at ! There is no directive line for those photos. Everyone is allowed to shoot anyone, in any situation and above all, to capture the worst or the funniest ones. Since 1992, we shot many backstage photos and some are quite important for us all.

We’ve seen some models in the worst situations, the funniest positions and the most embarrassing attitudes, but it is always with love, friendship and a lot of respect.

After years between adults, our three gorgeous, stunning and talented young women offer us hilarious moments and the privilege of youth.

I am a bit of despotic while a fashion shooting. I tolerated no lapses in a set. All is scheduled, listed and organized. You have to. Especially when you have four models, two assistants, a hairdresser, a makeup artist who want to eat candies, dancing in rhythm, drinking champagne (especially the photographer !) answer back any text message or even relax on the couch ; All that in a very strict schedule, sometimes in a studio. Believe me, you have to be despotic !

Anyhow, the results are always the most amusing. 

My favorite cities : London

The main interest in London for me is Kensington Gardens. Do not laugh at me ! I just adore this Royal Park. It is wonderfully done and I feel like so free and secured over there. At home, again !  I am used to go and walk around the alleys for about 3 hours anytime I am in London. I never forget to pay a visit to Peter Pan statue, my childhood hero and the only boy whom I could have married.

London is such a fantastic city for multiples reasons. One would say that it is multicultural and ethnics that make the singularity of the town. Indeed. But the boroughs are also a great advantage to London. Living in London is a dazzling experience and the more I go, the more I miss being there. Surely, London is very expensive and some areas may be not that entertaining and a pleasure to live by, but I can’t write my paper on that part, as I never experimented that living.

To me, London is sum up to Royal borough Chelsea and Kensington and three districts : South Kensington, Brompton and Chelsea. Call me snobbish ! But my real place is South Ken, way before the French invaded the area. This is my set. I feel like home anytime I am there and I do know perfectly any street of the area. Thus, two of my favorites museums are settled within it : Science Museum and V&A museum

.

I am a Waitrose & Sainsbury addict too. I love those two shops and the Waitrose on Cromwell Road is a lovely mall to go to. Moreover, I’ve already mentioned my favorite restaurant in London : Bumpkin South Kensington on Old Brompton Rd.

Anyhow, what I do like the best in London are buses ! I love taking buses in any city I reside ! It may take a bit longer but I enjoy watching through windows and admiring the views. To reach South Kensington, I am a total lover of three bus lines : 9, 10 & 74. I am used to arrive in St Pancras International train station and take bus 10 to go to Royal Albert Hall stopping, or nearby. Or, taking bus 205 to reach Baker Street and take bus 74 to reach Gloucester Station stopping. Ah, Baker Street and Sherlock Holmes… (might be another paper !).

Those three lines allow me to go quite everywhere I want to via connection to others bus lines. I visited London up and down, south to north, east to west… That’s done ! Nowadays, I focus only on my favorites spots and the places my friends live.

Indubitably, one of my first visits is museums ! To be more precise, I would add The National Gallery in first row, then, British Museum, Science Museum, Natural Museum & Victoria & Albert Museum. I could stay a week long walking by the National Gallery and the British Museum.

My second visit would be Kensington Gardens to say hello to my “little friends”, the legendary squirrels. They are so cute and so friendly. Have a seat and whisper a “hey, boy…” and they shall come to you and sit at your feet. Absolutely fabulous ! I don’t have to mention that I am stuck for hours in front of Peter Pan statue, do I ?

Third is, usually, walking from Westminster Cathedral (after sitting for long minutes inside this gorgeous church) to Westminster Abbey to reach the Aquarium, opposite to Big Ben and the House of Parliament. The walking is such an amusement because of the tourists taking photos on the bridge, trying to do the best picture with Big Ben and the view over the Thames toward London Bridge is still the most magnificent I’ve ever felt.

Fourth is meeting my friends somewhere in the city and have long conversation about all and nothing in general. Lately some moved to Shoreditch and Baker Street area, so I am discovering the pleasure to being a tourist again. Of course, I meet some blur fans and they, naturally, organize that reunion nearby Ladbroke Grove and Talbot St. (Rough Trade area !). Lately, the journey (or pilgrimage for some of them) is quite around Hyde Park.

What about shopping ? Yes, I know, for many, London is equal to shopping. Sales period is hectic and overcrowded. The best time for me is Christmas, from end of November to early January. All shops and streets are decorated and the Christmas spirit is all around. Christmas Market in Hyde Park Alleys, Ice Skating area off the Natural and Science Museum,  typical Harrods’s decorations, Christmas Pudding, The Mall, Oxford Street, Kensington High Street, boroughs full of stars and Santa Claus and this incredible feeling that Christmas is just magical. I do have favorites shops but I won’t discuss about them ! I don’t want them to be crowded ! Sorry…

London is most vibrant, funnier, amazing and quite unforgettable place in the world. A few cities really leave this lively feeling to be part of the world and to move on along with it. Apart from New York, Paris and Berlin, I never felt that way anywhere else.

Then, London has a major influence in many matters such as fashion, music, history, policy, etc. it is just the kind of place you would be ecstatic to visit and may stay in. 

Carol's Veil and her will to be romantic ....

Someone asked me about this photo already published in this blog...

Here is my comment about it :

Carol doesn’t like this photo I took more than 10 years ago. Really she does not. I don’t know why. Basically, I know. She is the romantic one of our duo. She is always the one whom wants to be “romantic, in a fairy tales atmosphere” ; I am the one whom want more “rebellion without cause, more darkness in the bright side of it !”.

So, I imagined her dress that I sew on her directly. A siren dress, very romantic but a bit sexy. I exposed her in a lovely garden and pretended a “graceful” story. Then, I added the black veil ; Very vaporous ;  Enough to darken her face and her smile. I called this photo “the sexy widow !”.

You can easily see her smile in transparence of the veil. I guess that she was happy to be shot like this because it was not her. And the main point of taking fashion shooting with Carol (and now, with the 3 wonders we enrolled, Alex, Marine & Sarah) is to be precisely “not herself”.

As a photographer, I don’t need model to be themselves. I need them to be, to act, to feel like some else. I think that directing a fashion shooting is pretty much directing a film. You have lead actress and you have a storyboard (which I do precisely any shooting) with music, atmosphere and accessories and then, a place. They just have to get the role and play it, the best they can.

It is always joyful to take photos with that on my mind. I just want them to be someone else. They are natural talents to pretend to be someone else and they have to use it in front of my camera !

Beside, as a photographer, I see no fun and no will to keep on shooting fashion if I don’t create my own world and put a bit of merry feelings in it.

So ?

More London ... & some Christmas decoration..

Thanks to Carol Hart photos.