livebooks blog

Dorit Thies specializes in beauty, hair, fashion and celebrity photography and is known for creating powerful imagery ranging from international magazine covers to compelling photos captured in exotic destinations around the world. To see more of her work, visit her liveBooks8 website: www.doritthies.com

When I moved to the US from Europe, I had established myself as a professional hair and make-up artist, working in the commercial world. I was always intrigued with the art form of photography and I started shooting my personal fine art work for a few years when establishing my life in the US.

I am completely self-taught.

My work at the time was driven by my personal connections such as dancers, actors, musicians, and my inspiration came from photographers and painters like Georgia O’Keefe, Tina Modotti, Leonora Carrington, Irvin Penn, and Helmut Newton. I was all about developing my personal style.

Over a period of four years, I created a large body of fine art work, shooting only black and white film. I had success quickly and my work was shown in several galleries in Los Angeles, in Santa Fe, New Mexico and The Katonah Museum of Art, Upstate New York.

When I began to shoot commercially, I decided to specialize in health and fitness photography. My very first commercial client was Men’s Health Magazine in Germany. I was lucky and shot their covers for several years. In the last six years I started to specialize in Beauty/Fashion & Celebrity Photography. I am now balancing the art of shooting conceptual beauty and fashion layouts for magazines such as Marie Claire, Modeliste, L’Officiel with some of my favorite artists while focusing on commercial campaigns.

Q: How would you describe the aesthetic of your website in three words?

DT: Bold, Intriguing, Layered

Q: How often do you typically update your website?

DT: Every 2 weeks or whenever I have new work, which is usually a few times a month.

Q: How do you choose the photos that you display on your homepage?

DT: I love colorful images, technically flawless, artistically strong, surprising, unexpected and I try to mix it up, showing my clients my versatility.

Q: What is your favorite new feature of liveBooks8?

DT: I can post unlimited images to the home page and link them to a particular portfolio, move them into a particular order within seconds. I love the fact that you can choose 3 different template layouts for each portfolio and view it in one click. It is super easy to understand.

Q: What’s one piece of advice you’d offer to someone designing their website?

DT: Keep it simple.

Have a website you’d like us to feature? Email us at social@livebooks.com.

Renee Anjanette is a food photographer based in Los Angeles. Born in Missouri, Renee grew up on the banks of the Mississippi and moved to California later in life to create her career in photography. She has worked for clients all over the United States. To see more Renee’s work, visit her liveBooks8 website: www.rafotostudio.com.

I came from a small town in middle America with no access to the arts. I thought I might love photography because I mentally composed images in my mind, enclosing the world around me in little boxes, so I took a community college course – Photo 101 and fell in love. I chose Brooks Institute of Photography back was when it was a small, private photo school in Santa Barbara, literally in a mansion on a hill overlooking the ocean. I cried and cried when I first arrived, thinking I had never seen such beauty. I finally ended up in L.A. working as second shooter for other photographers, a common method for developing your book and your skills on camera in a commercial studio. I now operate and also rent to other photographers, my own studio – Historic Hudson Studios in Hollywood, the incredible Herb Ritts former studio space. I primarily shoot food and table top for clients all over the country.

Q: How would you describe the aesthetic of your website in three words?

RA: Elegant, chic, quiet.

Q: How often do you typically update your website?

RA: Every 2 years.

Q: How do you choose the photos that you display on your homepage?

RA: I choose my favorites from each section (sweet, savory, etc.) to go into an “Overview” section, which is what I show on the “Homepage”.

Q: What is your favorite new features of liveBooks8?

RA: The new page designs available and it really is easy once you learn the basics.

Q: What’s one piece of advice you’d offer to someone designing their website?

RA: Work with a designer, I did. I worked with the liveBooks designer to get more of what I wanted.

Have a website you’d like us to feature? Email us at social@livebooks.com.

Michelle Coursey is a professional make-up artist based in New York City. Her work has appeared in national and international magazines, television shows, runways and the red carpet. She has a natural talent fro making women feel beautiful and a special gift for creating flawless, beautiful faces through make-up and airbrushing. She has worked alongside famous make-up artists such as Pat McGrath, Dick Page, Tom Pecheux, and Charlotte Tilbury at New York and Paris Fashion Weeks and the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show. To see more of Michelle’s work, visit her liveBooks8 website: www.michellecoursey.com.

I’m originally from Oregon and came to NYC to study acting but quickly switched my focus to makeup after graduating from college. I didn’t want to sit behind a desk all day and wanted to be doing something creative and then stumbled across a book about the business side of make-up and decided that is what I wanted to do. I did a ton of test shoots and got my portfolio together and eventually got some regular clients and an agency. I’ve been full-time freelance for about 12 years now. I work on a combination of commercial, editorial, fashion runway and red carpet projects.

Q: How would you describe the aesthetic of your website in three words?

MC: Clean, fast, striking!

Q: How often do you typically update your website?

MC: It really depends on how much new work I have coming in, but on average I’d say once a month.

Q: How do you choose the photos you display on your homepage?

MC: I choose the photos based on how much I love them and also which photos have gotten the best response in general. I like to choose a range of dramatic and natural looks so clients can see my range immediately.

Q: What is your favorite new feature of liveBooks8?

MC: Ease of updating and an easy backend. I love being able to see how design changes will look as I’m doing them.

Q: What’s one piece of advice you’d offer to someone designing their website?

MC: Keep it as simple and impactful as possible. Most clients won’t look at every photo so make sure your best work is front and center.

Have a website you’d like us to feature? Email us at social@livebooks.com.

Phillip Bekker is a commercial photographer whose photography offers a distinctive color-saturated, graphic and often abstract style. Perhaps his most widely recognized for his Polaroid work, some of which is in The Polaroid Collection and included in the global exhibition ‘Polaroid 50; Art and Technology’ which premiered at Photokina in Germany. To see more of Philip’s work, visit his liveBooks8 website: www.bekker.com.

I studied commercial photography at a four-year program in South Africa and studied in London in between this time period. Once I moved to the United States, I completed an MFA program in Visual Arts.

Our class is South Africa was the first group of commercial photo students to graduate in South Africa and probably in the whole of Africa. We were the threat to established photographers and you could not get assisting jobs once you graduated. There were no equipment rental houses at all, anywhere. You literally has to invest in a 4×5 Sinar (no other large format brand available – thankfully) and a Rollei or a Hasselblad (Mimaya’s came later) and some basic lighting. I started off with Bowens monolights and quickly progressed to Broncolor. I has assisted in Longo, which made a huge difference. With luck, someone from college you knew had become and art director and then it became word of mouth to build up clients.

I’ve always been involved in commercial photography, commercial photography education and fine art through gallery representation. One feeds off the other – a fine art exhibition led to a commission by Pierre Cardin after he visited my exhibition and other fine art has led to further commercial assignments since then.

Q: How would you describe the aesthetic of your website in three words?

PB: Simplicity, design, color (with B&W providing some relief here and there)

Q: How often do you typically update your website?

PB: I’ll replace individual images as needed. I’ll rearrange for flow, interest, and impact on a regular basis. I think its important to keep current and preferably ahead of current, if possible. Keep an eye on Europe.

Q: How do you choose the photos that you display on your homepage?

PB: I wanted to use something that has the simplicity, design and color that is evident in a lot of my work and would work well as a lead and introduction into the first and subsequent portfolios.

Q: What is your favorite new feature of liveBooks8?

PB: The size choice for the images.

Q: What’s one piece of advice you’d offer to someone designing their website?

PB: Plan the flow carefully, don’t be tempted to show too much and let it show your personal signature. Stand out. Get other opinions.

Have a website you’d like us to feature? Email us at social@livebooks.com.