May is Mental Health Awareness Month! What really helped my mental health is that I did my first IN PERSON casting since the Covid-13 shut down! I missed seeing new & “old” faces in the studio! The shoot was meant to be a testimonial, asking people “how are you really?” for their Hope & Grace program.
I worked with Director James Weber and Producer Joe Lombardo from Curated Artists. Shot on location on a beautiful spring day in Washington Square Park.
Cleaned out a file drawer in the office and found a stash of tear sheets
It’s always great when you stumble across a tear sheet! Casting & Production by me and photograph by Dominique Palombo (I know it’s March but Merry Christmas!)
Adriana Lima, Amy Wesson and I had a great lunch conversation about our love of Maltese dogs.
This was 2 campaigns-Big Business and Small Business. We shot at some cool locations, we shot at a real winery in Long Island that served us a lovely lunch outside amongst the vines. Lunch was served with wine and when we wrapped I treated the clients and crew to a wine tasting.
The agency insisted that the athletes in the frames be shot (real athletes not stock). The figure skater repped Switzerland in the Olympics and holds the world record for fastest spinner. She and our hockey player were shot at a rink in NJ, it was the middle of summer and we didn’t take into consideration how damn cold it was!
Photographer: http://www.ashtonography.com
Funky set build @Jack Studios
Photographer: Dominique Palombo
Philadelphia Dept of Public Health’s campaign to promote healthy eating for kids. These are REAL parent/child combos, and they are from the 191 zip code!
Photographer: James Weber Agency: Bandujo NYC
A campaign was recently launched by the Philadelphia Dept of Public Health about the dangers of giving children sugary snacks. This is a campaign I worked on. It made the local CBS News!
In time for Pride, Montefiore Hospital launched a campaign geared toward young LGBTQ, HIV+ & Cis gender heterosexual females about PrEP, an HIV preventative. I had to do a very quick casting, but having the relationships I have with the LGBTQ community it wasn’t so daunting. I love the cast, they are “real”. I get notes from actors during these casting “I don’t mind being portrayed as Gay even though I’m straight.” “I don’t mind being portrayed as HIV positive.” NO. That is not how it works. I have to keep it real.
On another note: This was shot on the day we had that freak snow storm that NO ONE was prepared for. We got the outdoor shots done in the morning before it started to snow- then it snowed. I left the studio at 7PM, in ankle deep slush and sleet. Walking to the 7 and then home from the 3. I was soaking wet, my feet were frozen and I had mascara running down my face!
Photographer/DP: James Weber Agency: Bandujo
The Philadelphia Department of Public Health’s “Keep on Loving Philadelphia” commercial geared toward mostly the LGBTQ community and Cis heterosexual women of color. The Dept only wanted Philadelphia residents aka living in the 191 zip code. I literally spent months working on the casting, and we ended up finding great people!
Photographer: Duck Feeney
The Philadelphia Department of Public Health’s “Keep on Loving Philadelphia” commercial geared toward mostly the LGBTQ community and Cis heterosexual women of color. The Dept only wanted Philadelphia residents aka living in the 191 zip code. I literally spent months working on the casting, and we ended up finding great people!
Casting & Coordinating by me.
DP: James Weber http://www.jamesweberstudio.com
917-626-8539 desireekennedy@mac.com
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