Eliesa Johnson Photography

I love personal work, test shoots and collaborating with other fabulous artists. A few years ago, I struck gold with a NAHA submission and learned a TON about the hair & makeup industry, along with what-it-takes to submit to this prestigious competition. NAHA stands for the North American Hair Association and the awards they give out are like the ‘Grammys’ of the hair+ makeup industry. When Amber Rose approached me about wanting to submit, I was absolutely 100% in. This girl had her concept down to be a dark, high fashion shoot, and incorporating certain accessories – bones, long, creepy nails, a nun wimple and veil – you know, the usual. We brought in the fabulous designer + art director, Liz Gardner, to help us with the layout and along with clothes from Emma Berg and Cliche, the team was complete. Julie Lam assisted Amber Rose with the hair + makeup and Agnes Xiong was our model. We are all incredibly busy people, so this shoot had to happen in our ‘off’ hours. I think we wrapped close to midnight or 1am? Either way, totally worth it. We actually didn’t make the cut to be finalists in this competition, but I am a believer in submitting to competitions, whether you win or lose – the work is always a win.
 

Look books seem to be my jam lately, and I couldn’t be happier about it! When it comes to my job, I love working on the ‘big’ picture. I have learned over the last couple of years that my passion really lies in telling stories and when it comes to working with start-up-companies or re-brands, I have the opportunity to help visually shape a brand. Now, with this comes great responsibility to convey the right message and also to inspire consumers to want to know more and be a part of the company. I love this challenge. I love wrapping my head around the company, its vision and creating work that reflects that!

MidNorth Mercantile is a new menswear shop opening up it’s first shop in Minneapolis in a few weeks! MidNorth was founded by ‘Mustache Mike’, who is a barber in town and also has a great passion for finding hidden vintage gems. You name it – clothes, bags, shoes, furniture – the man has curated a serious inventory of some amazing finds. MidNorth Mercantile will be a fusion of both of his worlds. Come in a get a great barber cut, along with spending some time shopping the racks of vintage finds. I’ve always loved what this company has in stock and when I saw the boys at Northern Grade this year, I decided that I simply had to photograph their fall collection. Thankfully, they believed in my vision just as much, and our shoot together was absolute magic! It was the perfectly overcast day, which allowed for a bit of an eery mood and some nice even light. I want to give a special thank you to our entire crew, who not only made this fun, but absolutely gorgeous. I love photographing menswear, enough said.

I am currently blogging from New York City and I’m here for Bridal Fashion Week, also known as Bridal Market. I felt like this was the perfect time to release images from our shoot with Tara LaTour for her 2013 Collection. A few weeks ago, we brought together one amazing team to bring the story of her dresses to life and it really was a magical shoot! Tara’s latest collection is based off of  the children’s book Where the Wild Things Are, so we wanted the shoot to reflect a sense of playfulness, wonder, and a little bit of solitude. Not only did we shoot the lifestyle portion of her look book this day, but we also brought along a portable studio to photograph all of her gowns in a studio environment as well. We had 14 dresses and one day. It was a race against the sun, but in the end, we timed it perfectly! Of course, a shoot like this can only happen with an amazing crew! Thank you SO much to the following people…

CREDITS//

Designer: Tara LaTour

Photography: Eliesa Johnson

Talent: Olga – Wehmann Models and Talent

Hair & Makeup: Amber Brenke

Jewelry: Sheer Addiction

Production: Brenda, Rick Lindemeier & Tara LaTour interns

Assistants: Paul Vincent and Sarah Hrudka

And just for fun…here are some behind-the-scene photos from our shoot!

The images have been released for the shoot I did for Target RED Magazine, which is Target’s internal editorial. This issue featured real-life Target team members showing off Jason Wu’s super-popular line! I was incredible grateful to be a part of this shoot, which was my first time collaborating with the people over at Little & Co. and Viet Do, who is a great designer and freelance art director. As always, a project like this doesn’t come together without a small army of people, so I would love to give credit to our entire team:

CREATIVE TEAM//

Photographer: Eliesa Johnson

Producer: Conor Lawrence

Design, Processing & Layout: Little & Co.

First Assistant: Bryce Bordenkecher

Second Assistant: Sara Montour

Digital Tech: Liz Hardt

Laydown Photographer: Larry Callahan

Laydown Digital Tech: Josh Syx

Laydown Stylist: Lynn Ostrowski

Stylist: Erick DeLeon

Hair & Makeup: Amber Brenke