Gold Richtig (German)
Phillip Wong Photography
Editorial/Fashion
Gold Richtig
Working from one country, for another country or to produce editorial work that has relevance and interest to multiple audiences takes understanding not solely what MY tastes are, but what THEIR tastes are.
I had spoken to the editors of Madame Magazine initially in Munich, and did follow up discussions when I returned to a base in New York. We met in Miami to shoot multiple stories for a few issues.
I started with the premise that their German audience (cold weather), would want to see sun, sand, glamor, and something different.
In producing Gold Richtig, I found that Hialeah racetrack was not in session, and immediately inquired about the availability. We gained access to some of the public areas (we didn’t want to bring in ground crews or open paddocks, and backstretches because of the cost), but the grandeur of “The Sport of Kings,” with palm trees and long stretches of roadways, gave balance to the opulence of the wardrobe we were working with.
The model was German, superb and had a great tattoo on her foot which (for me), revealed her understanding of the clothing. Make up and hair was perfect.
Javier Bardem
Phillip Wong Photography
Editorial/Portrait
Javier Bardem
I worked for a number of small independent publications that were writing about films and music that were new, ambitious, under-explored.Their focus converged with my own interest in newly discovered or emerging artists.
Javier Bardem was in Before Night Falls when I was asked to photograph him to support the interview which was being written.
Angelina Jolie
Phillip Wong Photography
Editorial/Portraits
Angelina Jolie
I had been working with models from Elite NY and one of the bookers called to ask me to see a model who they wanted to shoot with, but also to ask my opinion about what could be done with her.
Angelina Jolie was sure of herself, unafraid, and precocious. She didn’t see herself as a model, but she wanted to act. We spent hours talking, shooting, talking some more, but I realized she was right about herself. She probably would be very good. (I never knew who her parents were, so I treated her goals the same as anyone else.) She was intelligent and would occasionally say things that seemed to be testing me, checking to see if I were actually listening, seeing if I took her seriously. We talked about modeling, acting, directing, perception, and how audiences see. We drifted into the differences between religions, philosophies, values, goals and the need for, or importance of success, before discussing our impact in the world.
I had no doubt that whatever she chose to do, she would succeed at, but what she would DO with that success would be just as important.
Charlize Theron
Phillip Wong Photography
Editorial/Beauty/Portraits
Charlize Theron
I met Charlize Theron in my hotel in Milano. Christan Burran, the makeup artist I had been traveling the world with, had seen her and insisted that we shoot with Charlize.
Christan had a superb passion and eye for faces, makeup and colors, and doing one more shoot was something I could always find time for.
Charlize was beautiful, sexy, headstrong and complex. She knew how to project her focus and attention and as we flowed through the day, we talked about acting, South Africa and about the need to use her fame and success as a platform in the future.
Rust Belt
Phillip Wong Photography
Editorial Photography
Rust Belt
Rust Belt was one of two editorial fashion stories shot at the same time at the Little Red Lighthouse under the George Washington Bridge.
Back in the early 2000s, Peter Jackson produced three films in the Hobbit tale at the same time – utilizing the ability to produce the stories in sequence, while maximizing the budget of cast, crew and location. Since then, multiple television films have been shot the same way.
That had always been my goal, to produce editorial that would utilize story to thread elements together.
It takes greater coordination and communication to do this, but the output can be significantly greater.
Eyes Of A Nation
Phillip Wong Photography
Editorial Photography
Eyes Of A Nation
In terms of shooting editorial, there is an element of budgeting. What can be done that is of interest to an audience, have relevance or importance, and can still be managed financially on a limited budget? Working independently, and for Verve Fashion Magazine our focus has to be on completion . . . .
When we were discussing story ideas and wanted to do a Beauty Feature. How would we style it? Where would we go with it? Hurricane Maria, and it’s impact on Puerto Rico was still in the news, and I wondered whether there were any Puerto Rican designers of clothing or accessories working or selling both in Puerto Rico and the continental United States.
We started doing the research on all items and then using our Beauty Feature as a starting point, developed articles on Puerto Rico’s history culminating in the economic and political situation of today, and stories from people with families in Puerto Rico, or who had visited since the hurricane.
From Where We Are . . . To Where We Once Were
Editorial Photography
From Where We Are . . .
To Where We Once Were
I spent years pitching story ideas to my managing editors at The Chicago Reporter at CBS Radio, and then in Italy when working for Vogue Italia, Donna & Bambini and The Face in London and I.D. Magazine.
Ideas, and production and shooting, have layers of interest: visual, conceptual, artistic, ephemeral and essential or elemental . . . or simply cliched or trite. Success with ambitious projects isn’t always there, but with so much to work with in our world, why would we choose to chase a cliche, or copy someone else?
From Where We Are . . . To Where We Once Were, was meant to comment on the gentrification of low rent areas, and the new money, and new world, and new constructions that replaced them. Visually, I wanted to question which had more emotional content? I ultimately moved it to Verve Fashion Magazine for publication.
The styling, we looking for boldness, sexiness, but strength and the intrinsic inter-relationship of what we wear, to who we are.
Hot In The City
Editorial Photography
HOT in the City
Hot in the City was originally published in Lovebite Magazine in London. Produced in New York City, I was working with a new team of stylist, make-up artist and wanted to present different views using the backdrop of New York.
As a producer, I am looking for stories that weave and cross themes and subjects with styling that sometimes echos, and sometimes clashes with the themes.I had wanted to emphasize the constant drive of a city at work. And when the stylist suggested swimwear for a shoot at a beach, I thought the city would create better contrast.
Shooting for a summer release, we wanted to bring beachwear into a different setting than a beach, and emphasize the curves of the human form against the hard structures of buildings.
Another Kind of Blue
Editorial Photography
Another . . .
Kind of Blue
Another Kind of Blue was conceived as a fashion story with reference to the name of an iconic album recorded in 1959 by Miles Davis: Kind Of Blue.
It was shot for Verve Fashion Magazine publication to be both pushing boundaries in today’s fashion with the styling, the hard blue tones and dark dramatic feel, yet having references to a different, classic time.
The blue coloration in the shoot had been something I had worked on for awhile exploring how far, how blue, how other colors, darkness and light would read on images. The idea of an almost monochromatic feel of color images had always attracted to me coming from a history of black and white imagery in photography.
