Rashmi Pappu- Photographer

The ever fabulous styleauteur, Lauren Rothman, has just finished her first book : Style Bible: What to Wear to Work . It is on pre-order now to be published and shipped later this year. I am pretty sure I nabbed the very first two pre-orders because I am just so proud of Lauren.

Let me back up a little bit. Lauren and I met the first time a few years ago (2009 to be precise) for her maternity photos as well Judah’s baby photographs. Lauren is amongst most fabulous, stylish, confident, sassy and hard working women I know. When she told me she needed new photographs for marketing and promos for her book and asked if I would do them for her, of course I said Yes. What I love about Lauren is she trusted me and said as long as she got a headshot or two, I could do whatever else I wanted to do creatively.

Lauren’s logo is a lime green hanger, and the first idea I had was to somehow have a wire hanger backdrop. My friend Malina (who helped me decorate the studio), even drew it out for me. My client Sarah, who I met because of Lauren (they were friends in college) was so generous with her time and said she would do whatever is required to make Lauren’s shoot a success. She even finangled with the hangers. Sadly they are not as bendy as one would assume so the backdrop idea was quickly replaced. I think that ended up being a good decision because already it was bordering between cool and cheesy.. and well Lauren’s brand is a billion miles away from cheesy.

My uber fantastic neighbours at the studio, Alex of Tchoupitoulas (formerly known as Decor Decorum), generously gave us carte blanche to borrow anything we needed from the store for the shoot. Have you been inside Tchoupitoulas? It is the poshest furnishings store in Old Town Alexandria. Alex and Carlee have such a great eye and what I absolutely adore about the store is how skilled they are at editing it down so the entire store is a feast for the eyes. I cannot tell you how many stores (that I will not name!) I go into and there is just so much stuff. Less is more is my personal philosophy in life and they know this so well too. I could buy one of each thing in the store. Thank you so much Alex for helping us pick out a table and a rug and that gorgeous Hermes side/coffee table. Lauren, I think you need it for your home.

Once we got the things we needed, it was time to set it up. Here is Sarah helping set things up. Also you get a view of the HVAC unit thingy outside that I have to try and avoid in every photograph I take!

After set up, I knew we would be tight on time and we had a few particular shots that we had to get, so I listed and sketched them out in my notebook. Around noon Lauren came in with her rack full of clothes and her talented makeup artist, Envee Yaneek . Here is a before shot of Lauren.

The talented Yaneek laid out all her brushes and magic potions and got to work.

Once makeup was done, it was time to pick the first dress and start shooting! I stole this photo from Yaneek’s instagram. I just used the bank of windows and a reflector, Nikon D700 and either the 50mm 1.4 or the 24-70 2.8.

We had a ton of fun! Too many ideas, too little time. The truth is that Lauren could have picked any team in the tri-state area, but she wanted to be at ease and be around people she was comfortable with and trusted, so she chose us. I felt flattered and a tiny (huge!) bit nervous.. but like with everything else, I just had to walk through the fear and know that I had it in me to do this.

The photos that we made are coming up in tomorrows blog post… so hold tight but in the meantime, more details about the book!

Lauren’s book is going to be a huge success, I just know it. There is no other book out there that is like it and frankly I think it is required reading for all graduating college students and everyone who already has a job. I am not sure Lauren approves of my Toms, jeans and tee look for work and after seeing her dress so fantastically, I am inspired to try a little harder.

I hope you enjoyed a behind-the-scenes peek. Thank you to the team of women who made this happen for Lauren. Muchas gracias.

xo, Rashmi

PS : You can pre-order the book by clicking on the book cover below:

First there was Junnah, then there was Jibrael and now comes Ibrahim.

Ibrahim is nine months old and as cute as can be. He was dressed all dapper when I arrived, so of course I had to make his mom strip him down to just his white onesie.

His big brother Jibrael, who is 3 now had a late night the previous night and when I got there was not interested in any kind of photographs. He was being his age and having a massive meltdown in the buff. Now it is never a good idea to try and make a three year old do anything when they are in such a state, so we let him calm down at his own pace.

Junnah, who will be five later this year was also  a perfect illustration of her age. She loved my pink shoes, and one minute wanted her photo taken and the next was soooo tired and needed a nap. We made the best of it. To me, at this point in their life, a perfect family portrait would almost be unreal. As their mom told me, she doesn’t get a chance to eat most days, the days are long. So I knew that I would just document what I saw, the beautiful chaos of the early years. There are many years in the future where a perfect family portrait (whatever that means!) is possible. But today, we made something better.

 

 

xo, Rashmi