The Picture Down The Hall -- The Jewels in the Crown

This was one of my most fun and most favourite projects, as a photographer. I was asked by a jewelry designer to create a portfolio that would showcase his work; this portfolio was meant to be shown to prospective clients in the retail world, so that he could find retailers to carry his line. My idea was to showcase the jewelry by making the pieces of art the focal point of the pictures -- but also to humanize the designs so that the potential buyers could see the potential the jewels had for looking good on the customers.

We would shoot the pieces against bare skin. Nothing would distract the audience from seeing what was meant to be seen: the jewelry on people.

I phoned some of my prettiest friends and asked them to bring their bodies over so that I could use them as the backdrops, the mannequins, the settings for the gemstones.

And what perfect settings my friends turned out to be...

In this story you can see Jonathan Chase, before he became a successful Hollywood film and tv actor, showcasing some green and black jade necklaces. You can also see Michael Nitis, serving as a bed of olive velvet for the random gemstones with which the designer worked most often.

Peter Calandra's man cleavage was the perfect setting for some amber.

While his back, beautifully, showcased a simple gold chain.

Jennifer Houston and Grace Garland were the loveliest bookends, when it came time to show off a log of different pieces of jewelry.

Jonathan was a really good sport and very easily swaye to do whatever we needed, as we found when the designer wanted to showcase some paperweights he had made with lucite and gemstones.




Jonathan and Grace made a very sexy couple for some shots that she, eventually, used to promote her work as an actor and singer.

I think this was actually blue jade. I didn't even know there was such a thing as blue (or black, for that matter) jade.







When it came time to try a different look for the jade, a different body part was called for. We wanted a leg shot. There's only one leg better looking than this leg...

This leg.