Liz Von Hoene

The photographer Liz Von Hoene came and talked at school yesterday. She is an Atlanta area photographer who has had clients anywhere from Target to Neiman Marcus to Dove. This is the bio from her site:

Liz Von Hoene’s style of photography is both sophisticated and inviting, appealing to clients as diverse as Target, W, Italian Elle, and Neiman Marcus. And while the models in her images are beautiful and the settings are striking, the real pizzazz comes from Liz herself. Whether she’s shooting fashion, beauty, or lifestyle, she gives even the most familiar, everyday scene a fantastical twist that transports it from the realm of the ordinary into the extraordinary.

It’s a kind of magical realism, and it flows directly from the photographer’s imagination and intuition. She is smitten, for example, with lighting, both in the studio and on location, and that delight leads her to exciting places photographically. Obvious examples are her designer profiles for Neiman Marcus’s “The Book”, but even subtle-toned images such as her work for Aveda have an arresting crispness. “I love to light,” Liz says. “It is a playground for me.” Unlike many photographers, she does all of her lighting herself. “I never have an assistant do my lighting for me—never. I may have them set the lights up, but then we darken out the set and I move them around and watch how the skin wears the light.”

Liz approaches the research for her shoots with the same intent gusto, assembling an “inspiration packet” both to kindle the imagination of her crew and ensure that everyone has a clear creative goal in mind. “The art director or magazine editor and I usually discuss what we’re going to put in these packets,” Liz explains. “It could be a vintage story from a 1960s Bazaar pulled because I love the movement and body language of the model. Then there may be some images from an Alfred Hitchcock film. Let’s say I loved the way Tippi Hedren’s hair and makeup were in The Birds. Or maybe the inspiration comes from an idea not found in a book or a film. Maybe it’s just from real life—from something I experienced or somewhere I’ve been.”

The shoot itself, of course, is where Liz weaves together all of the various threads of inspiration, with the final thread being the models themselves. “I talk a lot to the model when I’m photographing her. I never expect her to read my mind,” she says. “I will let her know what we’re going for. Maybe it’s super-contrived, unusual body positions. Maybe it’s a spontaneous jump straight up and down, but like a Barbie doll might do it and not like an athlete. If I’m having trouble conveying what I mean with words, then I’m more than happy to demonstrate.” She pauses. “That’s always good for a laugh from the crew!”