I was asked by a publicist friend to shoot an actress in her early fifties that was having a show come out on Apple TV. She is an accomplished Israeli actress that started her career with blockbusters like Angels and Demons and Munich. I loved her face and I love shooting mature women. We agreed to show up at a house in Malibu with no plan other than she has a blue dress she wants to shoot in that a designer friend made for her. If she had that… I was going to bring a truck full of clothes from my designer friend! LOL
We drove up to this modern house on Malibu beach… what could be the beginning of a Hollywood cliche Glamorous actress… team of people… chaos. Instead, I was greeted by a stunningly beautiful woman with no makeup on laughing and saying how unusual and casual the circumstance was. Yes, she had a makeup artist there. Somebody had to slap on the spackle. When I said that I would love to start shooting her with no makeup… she said she would love that! I was in heaven. I told her I brought some clothes and instead of putting up a control wall, she was all for it. We ran around and played. She was a pure beauty… she was comfortable with that and owned it… but what was unique to her was she was so willing to throw all that away with cheeky grimaces… man sculpted furrows in her forehead… natural uncoated skin… she was who she was. Her make up artist understood that and let it be… so not the current hollywood way. To me, confidence and a sense of self outweigh perfection. The joy of creating and collaboration denounces fashion. To me… this was the perfect… spontaneous portrait shoot of a woman at the height of her power and self… getting on to the next stage of her life. It was a beautiful day in Malibu… and I don’t like the beach! LOL
