Los Angeles Office

I'm happy to announce that I recently opened a Los Angeles office, bringing ten years of New York City experience back home to the sunny southern coasts of California. But don't worry Big Apple, I'll be splitting my time and continuing to service the needs of my clients on the east coast and everywhere in between. Most of my contact information will remain the same, with exception of my NY address. You can find new contact info on my website: http://www.michaelmurphree.com/contact

My client who I just worked with on the BOTOX Cosmetic campaign with Vanessa Williams, had this to say to her Los Angeles office:

"Hi everyone, If you need a photographer for any of your upcoming campaigns, you are in LUCK! Michael Murphree, who worked with us on the BOTOX Cosmetic campaign with Vanessa Williams, has an office in Los Angeles (and NYC)! Not only is he an AMAZING photographer who is able to capture stunning photographs, he also is super easy to work with!" -Liz

"Express Success" Campaign with Vanessa Williams

Check out the interview and behind-the-scenes footage of my shoot with Vanessa Williams for the BOTOX Cosmetic campaign, "Express Success."

The campaign was all about being a bold, strong woman with confidence. Not only was it wonderful photographing Vanessa, but it was great to work with these women who have had hard times in their lives. That was a real highlight of the project for me.

Tell me a bit about the Botox campaign...

We did this shoot with Vanessa Williams, she is the spokesperson for Botox in conjunction with Botox Cosmetics. It was "Express Success," which is done in conjunction with the "Dress for Success" nonprofit.

The campaign is all about being a bold, strong woman with confidence, and ultimately that's what this entire campaign is trying to get across: strength, courage, and being a bold woman.

They are presenting Botox as just another means to build confidence in women, and the "Dress for Success" program is the same: you've been down for some reason, and they're giving women the means to interview for jobs and present strength and confidence.

What was the experience like?

Not only was it wonderful photographing Vanessa, but it was also wonderful working with these women who have hard times in their lives, and that was a real highlight of the project for me.

Was it completed all in one long session?

Yes, it was. Vanessa would be on set with the video crew, shoot her session, then she'd come over to me for a photo session. After a wardrobe change, she then did the same thing over.

What was your lighting strategy?

I shot the light with essentially "beauty light," I definitely wanted to put a lot of light on her face and make her look pretty. At the same time, Vanessa is clearly a beautiful, beautiful woman and it's hard to take a bad picture of her.

Throughout a session, I'm constantly thinking and analyzing every picture that I take. As I'm shooting, I'm looking at the face and analyzing it and looking for the best angle. Then in a moment of rest, I'll go back and look through what I've captured on the computer, studying the images.

During this shoot, I brought Vanessa over and talked to her about what looked good (and what didn't), and then we went back on the set and worked together to achieve the right angle.

For this campaign, you went from shooting a woman who is very used to having her photo taken (Vanessa) to photographing women (from the Dress for Success campaign) who aren't used to receiving that sort of attention. Was this tricky to do?

Vanessa is very seasoned in front of the camera, very good. Any subject who sits in front of my camera - experienced or otherwise - you really need to build trust. This is true with Vanessa Williams or with anyone else I'm photographing. These women in the campaign were a lot more shy, and one of my strong suits is to make the subject feel comfortable, to help them to trust me and to enable them to be themselves in front of the camera. I find that if they know that I'm a "real person" and that they can talk to me, they'll become a lot more relaxed.

Everyone involved wanted to make these women feel good. One of the women that I photographed was very nervous, but I was having fun with her and doing whatever I could to help her get comfortable. She walked off the set and saw the photos and said "That's me?" She felt so good about how she looked, I gave her a big hug, and it was really a great experience for both of us.

The campaign made these women feel really special. They were photographed side-by-side along with this beauty queen, getting treated just like a celebrity. These women have all gone through very difficult times in their lives. What a role model Vanessa is for these women, a lesson in perseverance.

The Next Step American Photo Magazine's Interview with Michael Murphree

The Next Step

These days more and more assistants never pursue their own careers, and that's bad news for the future of the art.

By Tiffany Meyers

Based on nothing more than an inside tip that Annie Leibovitz was looking for a new assistant, Michael Murphree uprooted his life completely. He heard about the job prospect while working for Los Angeles-based celebrity photographer Firooz Zahedi on a shoot in 1999, when he met Ricky Floyd, Leibovitz’s longtime art director. Over dinner one night, Floyd offhandedly mentioned that if Murphree were interested, he could help him get the job. Selling most of his worldly possessions, Murphree -- who had worked as an assistant for various photographers since 1997 relocated from his home in San Francisco to New York City in 2000 and was part of Leibovitz’s staff for three years. And even in that enviable position, he never forgot a piece of advice that one of his old bosses, photographer David Powers, once gave him. "He told me to not get too comfortable assisting," recalls Murphree, "because it’s a trap."

The Golden Handcuffs

There isn't much about the typical assistant's hand-to-mouth existence that could be called comfortable -- certainly not at first. But as assistants gain expertise, they can command dramatically higher rates, particularly when working with upper echelon photographers. "When that happens," says Murphree, "you think, 'I've been struggling for years and I finally have some money.' And instead of putting that money back into your career, you look at your friends who have nice new cars or bikes, and because you're getting older, you want nicer things as well."

Therein lies the trap. Assisting can be a satisfying and rewarding line of work or golden handcuffs for those who dream of moving on. Murphree, who left Leibovitz's staff in 2003 to open his studio in New York City (visit www.michaelmurphree.com), says he's seen talented photographers who, having assisted big names for years, leave their jobs with neither portfolio nor business plan to show for it. "I've lived the kind of life where I've taken every penny I've made and put it back into my business," says Murphree, "and I'm still struggling to finish making the transition, but at the same time, I'm in my studio right now, and I have my portfolio, and I'm just trying to push it."

Murphree's peers often ask him how he did it -- and the answer is that he began planning to become a photographer almost as soon as he started assisting. "It wasn't like I hit the end of my commitment with Annie and it occurred to me to jump. It was years of saying, the ultimate goal is to be a photographer -- and what are the steps to get to that point?" www.popphoto.com/inamericanphotomagazine/2657/the-next-step.html