How to get paid twice

 

This was a weird one. The goal was to imagine an Oil Heat Monster for the Brooklyn Union Gas company. The first idea was monster teeth biting down on money monster-like. We booked a model and had a dentist create fangs that would fit over his actual teeth. We asked him to not shave for a few days before the shoot, lit the image in a gutsy manner, had him bite down on actual money and then shot a bunch of 120mm film. The agency (Moss Advertising) had a die-transfer print made and got ready to go to print. It was then that one of the bosses at Brooklyn Union Gas was in bed with his wife and showed her the ad. All she had to say was "will that image be misunderstood?" That's all it took. Away went the ad. The next layout had a hand grabbing money. Like I said, we got paid twice for one ad. Not quite as cool as the first try but the money was great.

Alyssa Alia Malanga Food Stylist

This image was created surprisingly quickly. One great food stylist: Alyssa wanted an image for a Christmas card. We sat down together and came up with an idea. I sketched it out and added notes as we talked. We went shopping (in the studio prop closet) and the next day we went to work. Alyssa brought in the frosted cranberries and holly, I found the background (in the same prop closet) she shaved the white chocolate, made the mousse and combined it all into the final recipe. All that was left to do was for me to choose a high angle with my favorite 55mm micro Nikkor lens which becomes wide-ish when used up close, light from behind with an optical spot strobe and finally add a big broad light off the ceiling. Happy holidays!