Stockland Martel

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and Estee Lauder has launched a campaign inviting people to pledge their support by getting a mammogram if they’re over the age of 40 and encouraging others to do the same. The BCA Pledge, as it’s called, centers on portraits of well-known bloggers posing with a hand across their chest, and we’re proud to note that Estee Lauder selected our own John Midgley to create these photos.

“This was an exceptionally sensitive shoot, so choosing a photographer was challenging,” Toni Lakis, vice president of design at M.A.C, one of Estee Lauder’s boutique brands, told me in an email. “John has the ability to make people feel comfortable and confident. He delivers an amazing photograph with the ability to capture the individual spirit in everyone.”

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.Note: These images have been cropped.
To see the originals, scroll to the end of the post.

Photos by John Midgley.

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In an interview with the ELLE.com Beauty blog, Evelyn Lauder explained that the idea for the BCA Pledge came from Toni and James Gager, senior vice president of M.A.C. “They thought it would be nice to do something new and provocative but in good taste,” she said, “and I think they succeeded in doing that beautifully. We’ve gotten this ad into a lot of magazines and it stops traffic—there’s a billboard of it going up in Times Square this month and I’m hoping there won’t be car accidents!”

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John shot the portraits in a day at The Space in Manhattan—which, he notes, “generously donated an extra two studios for free.” The bloggers featured are Jane Couto, Sharon Couto and Audrey McLelland (Mom Generations), Gala Darling (Gala Darling), Wendy Lam (nitro:licious), Peter Shankman (Shankman), Amanda Steinberg (DailyWorth), Rachel Sklar (Mediaite), who posed with breast-cancer survivor Suzanne Bartholomew, Rene Syler (Good Enough Mother), and Annie Tomlin (BellaSugar).

“I tried to to show each individual as a person while building up some sort of pose consistency, so that when you look at the image, you know straightaway that it’s a campaign about breast cancer even without reading the typography,” John told me.

He and Toni have worked together for years now, dating back to when Toni was art director at Banana Republic. Here’s some of the work he shot for them during the five years the two collaborated…

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“This was the very first shoot we did together,” John recalls. “I flew in from Miami on my way home to Amsterdam to meet Toni for the first time. She asked me what ideas I had, and off the cuff I thought it could be beautiful to shoot in the desert, using a simple palette. Next thing I know, I am flying two months later to Las Vegas for a week’s shoot in Death Valley. It was January and so beautiful.”

"This was my second ad campaign for Banana Republic," John recalls. "We shot in Chelsea Piers for five days. Gerard Santos at Magnet, who is amazing, was doing the sets. We had things made out of ice, we had snowscapes, an enormous casting call with hundreds of models… It was an enormous production and a blast. But funnily, the simplest photos were the best."

"I shot this at the same time as an ad campaign and windows for Banana, so we had huge sets and lots of models," says John. "Stefan Beckman at Exposure was doing the sets. An amazing set designer."

"We shot this in a quarry in Upstate New York on a rainy fall day. I had a terrible cold and fever. God, was it miserable, but somehow we made it through!"

Photos by John Midgley for Banana Republic.

Photo by John Midgley for Banana Republic.

"We went to Anguilla for this shoot," says John. "We had so much fun."

"This model was hilarious. There were some quotes from her about the catwalk that cannot be repeated but that made me and Toni cry with laughter."

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When Toni moved to M.A.C. in 2004, she continued to work with John, commissioning him to shoot images like these…

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"Mac, obviously, is all about makeup, but this time we were bringing in a hairstyle to try and create more character for the makeup looks," John explains.

Photo by John Midgley for M.A.C. “I’ve worked with M.A.C for years,” John notes. “They know me, and they trust me.”

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As promised, here are the uncropped versions of John’s BCA Pledge portraits…

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From left: Jane Couto, Sharon Couto, and Audrey McLelland of Mom Generations. Photo by John Midgley.

Amanda Steinberg of DailyWorth. Photo by John Midgley.

Peter Shankman of Shankman.com. Photo by John Midgley.

Annie Tomlin of BellaSugar. Photo by John Midgley.

Gala Darling of GalaDarling.com. Photo by John Midgley.

Wendy Lam of nitro:licious. Photo by John Midgley.

Rene Syler of Good Enough Mother. Photo by John Midgley.

Rachel Sklar of Mediaita and Suzanne Bartholomew. Photo by John Midgley.

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For more information on the BCA Pledge, please visit bcapledge.org.

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