I'm a moving!.....my blog......

After some deep soul searching, looking out windows on rainy days & sipping INTERNATIONAL DELIGHTS while wearing my favorite cable-knit sweater....I have decide to move my little blog over to TUMBLR.

You can find me at http://ambergrayphoto.tumblr.com/.

Flying Saucers?!

No, our studio is not haunted.
I forgot to add this BTS pic to the teaparty story.
We were in our studio the night before the shoot working out this cute little floating teacup gag..
And to think people often doubt me when I say I don't do much in post...

tea time?

For as much as I whine about how lame the British Royals are, and how they a shiningly insipid example of being famous and powerful for all the wrong reasons..I do rather like British music, art, people(generally, anyway)...I particularly like English gardens and teatime, which is why we were happy to shoot this surreal tea-time in the garden inspired shoot for Marie Claire China..China is far away,
and they likened it to Downton Abbey, which makes sense I guess given the rather small window into Anglophilic pastimes the Chinese population is privy to...
Whatever...

outtake from new Marie Claire

Here is an outtake from the Marie Claire China story we shot this weekend..
The idea was that one girl is the muse and embodiment of six different designers' archetypes.
Our model Drielle was perfect for this, as she looked different from shot to shot, and really got into character...

Italian Vogue Video shoot-behind the scenes

Here are some pics from behind the scenes on our Italian Vogue video shoot...it was shot over two days in studio..that Lambo wouldn't fit through my studio's doors, so we shot the car segment at Bathhouse Studios.  The car sitter was nice enough to drive me into the studio for a dramatic entrance..a choice I instantly regretted as I awkwardly wrestled my way out of the car from my near fetal position in the passenger seat, losing my shoe in the process.

The video we shot for VOGUE ITALIA is finally out!  Check it out!

 

LINK: VOGUE ITALIA-AMBER GRAY

My short film ANEMONE..featured on Imagine Fashion

my Italian Vogue video COMING SOON!

mmmmkayyyy?
The video we shot for Italian Vogue entitled NIGHT BLINDNESS will finally be premiering on Vogue.it next week.
This video has EVERYTHING...an exotic woman driving a Lamborghini, a reticulated python, crazy outfits and MORE!!!!!! (human fire hydrants, lizards eating peanut butter sandwiches, easter-island boyzzz, you know, those guyzz whose heads are way too big for their bodies who paint themselves
to look like stone?)

Fellini-esque new ad campaign for The Borgata!

So, we recently shot the new ad campaign for The Borgata ( a really nice hotel & casino in Atlantic City).
The idea for the shoot was basically....freaking CHAOS!!!
This shot was sort of about what would happen if a Suicide King came out of a vortex into a party
with a ten-foot champagne-glass tower, a girl driving a vespa with a pig in the sidecar, a butt-rocker
shredding on a flying-v guitar, an old lady with a swan on her head, a girl riding an albino bull, and
a human disco-ball.  It was all done in-camera, so the set build and light was ridiculous....as was the shoot in general.  It is rare that a commercial client really wants to GO THERE..so I was grateful to
be working with people that weren't all "just do it in post" to save $ and time.
I think that the reality of (such an surreal situation), is what gives it it's life.
The behind-the-scenes clip is pretty funny...it was the last shot of the second day, and I pretty much just told the models to leave their posts and go BUCKWILD. 

a rose by any other name...is just, well..pretentious

 

This is one pics from a shoot we did last week with the lovely Tatyana at Marilyn.  This is pretty atypical of my beauty work (neutral colors, hard lighting).

It was under the very specific direction of the magazine's art director, which is ironic, because the mag ended up hating the story intensely.  I on the other hand, while unimpressed during the shoot, have grown fond of the story, and intend to submit it to other magazines.

 

 

new H20 story for Marie Claire China

english roses

hurtin' for a squirtin'

So, When Marie Claire China asked me if I wanted to go do a watershoot in the Bahamas, I was like...YEAH!!!
But then, when they were like.."ok, please shoot in next four days" I was like..."Huh?!"
Needless to say, we didn't make it to the Bahamas on this one, but my studio in midtown Manhattan had an exotic feel that day...I just imagined that the diesel exhaust wafting into the window was from colorful fiberglass motorboats, and the squealing of the wheels on our tech cart were Dolphins calling my name...
This is just a preview pic, the story will be out next month.

new interview in Taste Magazine (China)

you shut yo mouth glitter lips!

Glitter lips...that was the nickname my friend and I gave to his little brother's friend, who, aside from wearing (inexplicable) glitter lipgloss, was a totally normal looking little redheaded kid...So that's: short red hair, freckles, cargo shorts, glitter lipstick...on a 12 year old boy...
This is not him, by the way....

butterfly potion

MIRRORS from AMBER GRAY on Vimeo.

bakery girls....gone bad

We actually shot this story back in November, but I'm just now getting around to posting the story...it is a sort of sugar and manic-panic fueled fantasy about two beautiful young girls who decide to open their own wackadoodle bakery. hilarity ensues.

Emma Shapplin in L'Officiel

One of the highpoints of my last trip to Paris was meeting and shooting a portrait of

French popstar Emma Shapplin for L'officiel (Russia). She was one of those rare examples

of an artist that truly does things her own way, eschewing the obvious, and sticking to

her own eccentric vision. I also directed a video interview with Emma which is being

featured on Seductively French.

new BEAUTY montage

AMBER GRAY | BEAUTY | DIRECTORS SHOWREEL from AMBER GRAY on Vimeo.

National TV spot I directed for Disney & Alfred Angelo starts airing tonight

I shot this tv spot and still campaign for Disney's line of fairy-tale inspired wedding gowns with Alfred Angelo, which starts airing tonight.
We created little scenarios for each princess, highlighting her character traits and story...from Airiel who is beckoning from the depths, to Snow White who is looking out from a twilight forest snowdrift.
Check it out!

preview of short Doc series I directed in Paris this fall

This is just a little preview of a series of short films i directed in Paris this fall which was highlighting french artists, chefs, couturiers, perfumiers, and a few special locations, hotels and jewelry designers. I don't generally have much interest in reality in any form, but since my beau (Julian) was the Dp, and the host and producers were as lovely and interesting as people could be, I thought I would give it a shot.
The full length piece will be premiering on TV in China this month.

sneak peek...new Maire Claire China with Patricia Schmid

So excited to work with the amazingly beautiful Patricia Schmid for Marie Claire China...
this is just an outtake...but I just loved the mood and feel of it.
We shot video of this too, which is even more interesting....