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Moonblinked by A.L. Canterbury

A.L. Canterbury started experimenting with a camera back in 2006 during her senior year as a business major in college. “I started out with a tiny point and shoot but mostly learned on my grandfather’s old Canon AE-1 film camera. I’d go on little ‘photo adventures’ day and night, all around town. I figured out pretty quickly that this was something sweet,” she says. Three years later she left her small home town in Florida for Los Angeles to pursue photographs full-time, and today we’re releasing her first story for Ben Trovato, Moonblinked.

I wanted to shoot something futuristic with a nod to retro fashion,” A.L. explains, adding “I chose primaries for the palette and set them against a dark, moody background so the colors would really pop. I like to start with a simple canvas and add what is necessary to tell the story.” Model Alli Cripe from PhotoGenics was lit entirely with light bulbs of various sizes and intensities for an atmospheric effect.

Alli was a joy,” A.L. says about the model, and elaborates: “Her beauty is striking and on top of that she was a lot of fun. She’s a sweet girl with a great attitude, she even helped me break down the set! It’s always more fun to work with a model that is happy to be there.

The rest of the team included fashion stylist Melanie deJesus, and makeup artist and hair stylist Tania Russell, -who’s worked on stories for Ben Trovato before. ”It was my first time working with Tania and I really enjoyed having her on set! She really knows her stuff. Melanie and I are good friends and work together often. I usually know what I want in terms of styling but Mel really takes it to another level - she’s always on point and has great taste so I love collaborating with her.

Melanie explains that it’s always a strange thing doing something this conceptual with so many off beat elements (like the light bulbs): “You don’t know if what you’re doing is really going to work because it’s such a departure from current street style or even what you’re seeing on the runways, but my answer to high concept is to get even weirder with the styling. Hence the ceramic owl mask and the gaga/fem-bot/Robert Palmer look. Anyway, I feel like it all came together in the end and that we created something off-beat and beautiful.

Credits
Photography & Art Direction by A.L. Canterbury
Styling by Melanie deJesus
Makeup and Hair by Tania D. Russell
Model - Alli Cripe @ PhotoGenics