green screens, houses on stilts, and tea!

Hey Everyone!
It’s time for another recap on what I have been up to in the past few weeks…

as some of you know, I have been working with the super rad clothing company, think the higher end American Apparel), LNA. I recently shot their Holiday 08 look book (a catalog for buyers where they can look at the designers entire collection for that season). Usually look books are very straightforward, shot on a white or grey background, but we decided to try something a little more artistic.

I came up with a concept for a green screen shoot, where we would shoot the model separately from the background on a green screen, and composite the two in post production. Here is what the images looked like on the green screen…



It was my very first attempt at a green screen shoot, and it was an enormous amount of work, especially with Thania being a blonde, curly-haired model. I used no shortcut Photoshop plug-ins, which in hind sight, was seriously annoying. I loved this project though, because it really challenged me both as a photographer and a retoucher. I learned a lot, and was actually really inspired by the end of it. The project had morphed from the original idea, and I couldn’t be more pleased with the outcome. Let me know what you think.



I will put up a link when the lookbook is up on the LNA site!


After finishing the LNA project, I was absolutely dying to shoot. Mt stylist roommate, Sarah Hawkins and I decided to brainstorm another project. We decided to shoot with Aria, a Brand Model, and a girlfriend of mine. The concept was something like, well, you decide what you would call it…here are a few








How incredible is that location?! I’m not telling where it is…it’s too good. ☺ sorry!
Here is a little video of the team on location…





After that shoot, I was off to England for a little holiday with my boyfriend for 10 days. We will be in his tiny home town of Haslington, which is nearest to Manchester, but still about a half hour away. Haslington is a teeny village on the countryside, it is so beautiful, and a nice change from LA. We also went to Liverpool, where Nikki actually lives, and spent some time in Manchester too. England is so awesome, and so different...and i am now obsessed with tea-no joke. Here are some images from the trip…





















So here I am, back in the states, and ready to work! Collabo, anyone?

big bear

hey everyone!
so, this weekend, i was in big bear, ca for a little r&r and a shoot with model Ashley Hartman, who also happens to be my little sis! you may recognize her from this:



anyway, we had a blast! here are some snaps from the weekend. you may recognize someone else in these pictures too...










here are a couple of snaps from the shoot:







and a preview of the final images:



the weekend was so much fun, and the shoot went great. hope everyone had a great weekend!

on another note, i heard that the VS catalog might have come out while i was gone...has anyone seen it? let me know!

check it out!!

hey everyone! so, my dad just sent me an email today, with the latest on the victoria's secret website

>

they are running an ad for the swim 2008 catalog, and advertising "the shot" marathon, running all day on jan. 15th on VH1!




hope everyone watches, or tivo's it! if you missed an episode, here is your way to catch up!


click here to see the website!

connecting and reconnecting

so today i spent the day kind of regrouping. i cleaned, ran errands, and followed my "to do" list. i actually got a lot done, which felt good. unfortunately, i am already messing up on one part of my resolution, which is to go to the gym. tomorrow i will be better.

on another note, i love myspace. i have reconnected with so many people, and that is so cool. recently, a friend i have known since first grade contacted me. we hadn't seen or heard from each other in years, and tonight we went to dinner so we could catch up. we went to buddha's belly, a great spot for thai food here in la. not authentic thai town, but it is really good, with great service. anyway, we had a great time, and pretty much shut the place down. good times!

i am also super excited, because today i was contacted by popphoto.com to do an interview for their site. click on it to see the write up they did for the finale! robin and i also did an interview for hp recently, check it out!

thanks again everyone for all of your messages! i love to get them!

ps, check out this new image that my very talented friend, evan lane took of me! what do you guys think?

she's baaaaack

hey everyone! this is the official re-launch of my blog, i make fun. i really wanted to do this so that i can say a huge THANK YOU to all of my fans, friends, and family for your love, and support! i can’t tell you how much it has meant to me, and it made the process so much easier.

i also wanted to create a blog so that everyone could keep up with what i am doing professionally, and personally. i have had so many people reach out to me to say that they were inspired, and that they want to know what's next for me. the truth is, that i am not sure what's next. because of the holidays, i haven't heard from anyone yet, so i am anxiously awaiting the next step. in the mean time, i am just trying to make more work, and get my ducks in a row. what i do know, is that i will be making a trip to nyc very soon, to meet my new photo agent, palma driscoll, from the bryan bantry agency. i am so excited and thankful to have representation, and know that i am gonna be a very busy girl this year!

thanks again for all of your support, and bookmark me so you can stay updated! i hope that 2008 is the best year ever for all of you!

xx
maria

here is an article about me in the december issue of
RIVIERA magazine