Eclipse, the latest movie in the Twilight saga of vein drainers who love chastely, opens today, but even if you aren’t planning to join the tween throngs at the theater, you can still get an eyeful of Eclipse‘s stars. Jeff photographed Ashley Greene and Kellan Lutz for the July/August issues of Women’s Health and Men’s Health, respectively, in Joshua Tree, California.
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Here, Women’s Health photo director Sarah Rozen talks about the stories, why it’s virtually company policy to shoot video on set, and how a downpour in Hawaii led to her working with Jeff again.
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Stockland Martel Blog: What was the impetus for doing related covers for the two magazines?
Sarah Rozen: Our Entertainment Editor books covers for both Women’s Health and Men’s Health. And when we heard that she got not just one but two of the stars of the Twilight movies, we thought it would be fun to shoot them together. And we were right.
It was also great for the two magazines to work together and pretty seamless. Brenda Milis (MH‘s photo director) and I planned it out with Jeff, and then our respective style directors went over the fashion aspects to make sure it all worked, too. I think it is something we would like to do again.
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SMB: What was the concept for the shoot? And how do the inside photos for the two stories compare with each other? Did you want them to have a similar look and feel?
SR: The idea was a road trip fashion story for each magazine with Men’s Health having a bit more emphasis on fitness and Women’s Health focusing a bit more on fashion. We asked Jeff to shoot each setup two ways—for us, Ashley was the star, while Kellan was the supporting actor, and for Men’s Health it was obviously the other way around.
We wanted both sets of photos to have a similar look, but each magazine had its own star! Since Kellan and Ashley already know each other from the Twilight series, they have a nice rapport that’s really reflected in the pictures.
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A few of Jeff Lipsky's photos of Kellan Lutz, shot for the July issue of Men's Health.
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Some of Jeff's shots of Ashley Green for Women's Health.
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SMB: Why did you choose Jeff Lipsky for this assignment?
SR: Brenda and I are both big fans of Jeff’s work. I’d just done a fashion shoot with Jeff in Hawaii the previous month and had loved the results. I actually checked with Jeff on the dates and his availability
during that Hawaii shoot while we were waiting for some pretty torrential rains to stop.
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SMB: There are also behind-the-scenes videos for both cover shoots available online. What is the value of these videos for Men’s Health and Women’s Health, and what is Rodale’s approach in terms of how these videos are structured and their content?
SR: We almost always shoot B-roll at all of our cover shoots and we are increasingly using outtakes from our photo shoots to give readers behind-the-scenes access and even more of the content that they’ve come
to rely on us for in the magazine—whether they are checking us out on our websites or on the iPad.
We have so many great shots that didn’t get in the magazine, it means they won’t go to waste and that readers will get a chance to see them.
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SMB: Thanks, Sarah!
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Related:
• Video: “Twilight‘s Ashley Greene: Go behind the scenes with our July cover girl,” Women’s Health
• Video: “Behind the Scenes: Kellan Lutz—July/August 2010 Cover Shoot,” Men’s Health
• Video: Ashley Greene talks with Jay Leno about her Women’s Health cover story
• “Kellan Lutz: Shirtless & Ab Fab for Men’s Health,” The Huffington Post
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