OH MY GOSH! Ok, Chanelle is absolutely stunning! I seriously took over a thousand images on this shoot, and MAN, it was so difficult to narrow it down! Our day was absolutely brilliant. We started out at Bree’s salon the Grand, where Bree gave Chanelle the supermodel treatment- complete with gorgeous purpley eye makeup and fantastic spiral wrapped locks. Incredible. Chanelle looked like a dream! In our consult, she and I had discussed wanting to do something a bit more understated and with a sort of urban feel, and she had also mentioned wanting to use some of her Vietnamese culture by way of an authentic dress that her grandmother had had made for her. In fact, we ended up using two authentic Vietnamese gowns on the shoot, along with her more normal day to day wardrobe options, which, with this girl, were equally fantastic.
Chanelle is truly one of those all-around wonderful girls. She’s kind and smart and gorgeous, and involved. In fact, she started the UNICEF club at VHS, and has raised several thousand dollars for Africa in that role in only the last six months or so. Pretty amazing. Anyone who knows Chanelle knows she is incredible. I’m so excited to see what she chooses to do after high school- no doubt, she will have several fantastic options!
For our shoot, I planned a day trip to Claremont, one of my favorite little college towns. It was a perfect location for Chanelle’s look and the feel we were going for, and gave us exactly the types of backgrounds we had discussed before the shoot. Truly, perfection; with its details, and nineteen forties feel, and then a few modern areas splashed in, we had such a perfect time discovering areas for our backgrounds and playing together. We ended out shoot in the Rancho Santa Ana Botanical Gardens, which were absolutely perfect for Chanelle’s white traditional garb and bright pink umbrella {which some of you have seen- as I posted a photo from the back of my camera onto facebook, and it has made a bit of a viral circle, I’m told…}. The garden was incredible.. a perfect end to a perfect day.. well, that and the Starbucks we got right after our shoot!
Huge thanks to Angelica, and Bree!!! And Chanelle, my brilliant, smart, gorgeous girl, America’s Next Top Model?? I’m pretty sure tryouts are coming to LA in the next few months!! Do you think you could juggle that along with your post high school amazing college plans!?! I bet you could…
