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La Donna D’oro by Jesse Koska

Nashville based photographer Jesse Koska gained an interest in fashion about three years ago, but only the last year has he been seriously pursuing fashion photography. “I’ve always been interested with being creative, and who isn’t fascinated with the female form! So when I started learning how to shoot I quickly gravitated to fashion,” he says. Now the aspiring artist was ready to step out in the limelight, and teamed up with stylist Aria Cavaliere to shoot his first exclusive fashion editorial for Ben Trovato, entitled La Donna D’oro.

The stylist Aria is a very creative stylist, so when we work together we heavily share the creative roll. But at the same time I very much like working with stylist that I trust 100% on their own with their ability to create, and Aria is one I can trust this way,” Jesse claims, before describing the story and how it came to life: “We like to process things together and bounce ideas back and forth to gain the best outcome possible. When I approached her for this shoot, Aria was stirring around this idea of a shoot that would feel somewhat like a gaudy Italian girl going to a new years eve party, I guess mobsters wife from the 90′s meets youth culture slash over-the-top adornment. Like the images with Rachel and the Mercedes feels like she’s stepping out of a scene from the movie Casino. And the colorful jacket, if you look up close is all lottery and gambling stuff. Also T-Rex has a song, ‘Hot Love’, which has a line it it… ‘she’s my woman of gold’ that brings a large inspiration to the shots with the gold jacket as well.

I’d have to say the female form,” Jesse answers when we ask him about his inspirations. He adds: “- The idea of shooting fashion in a way that straddles the line of blatant sex appeal always fascinates me. To successfully walk the line of reservation while hanging enough out there to strike heart strings is a wonderful feeling. I strive to get better at this with every shoot.

When going into the shoot Jesse tells us he was very excited to work with the team, and especially the gorgeous Rachel Ruff from Eye Model Management: “- From a photographers standpoint I was very excited to shoot this set because I had found out that Rachel was platinum blonde at the time and therefore felt with how we were styling things were really going to pop!” Makeup artist Emily Bartholomew joined the the team at the day of the shoot, and Jesse describes a a group of creatives working together well: “Shooting with Aria is always a pleasure. She has a great sense of styling someone with the aim to get an emotional response when viewed. I think Aria likes to stand on the threshold with her styling like I do with my photography and therefore I feel like we make a great team. I look forward to working with her hopefully on an endless basis. Emily has a great ability with skin, so subtle and natural. I’m not big on makeup, it can so easily ruin a shoot. For the most part I think makeup was made for the old to look younger, so why put it on the already young? And what’s great about working with Emily as a makeup artist is she knows that I feel this way and is okay with it.

What’s next for Jesse Koska?

I love the process of dreaming and making women feel and look beautiful, so I hope to have more to feature in Ben Trovato in the feature. I aim to improve my work more with each image. Also I hope to be blessed to continue to work with fashion all of my days.

Credits
Photography - Jesse Koska
Styling - Aria Cavaliere
Makeup - Emily Bartholomew
Model - Rachel Ruff @ Eye Model Management and Photography