Lisa Predko's Blog

New blog! Same Lisa :)

lisapredko — Fri, 11 Jan 2013 19:12:56 +0000

Hi All,

I recently gave my web presence a huge makeover and have a new website: lisapredko.com AND a new blog lisapredko.com/blog . Please take a moment and check out our killer new presentation, we LOVE it!!

XOXO,

Lisa

Design Bureau, Nov/Dec 2012: Gary Lee!!!!!!!

lisapredko — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 20:20:20 +0000

I LOVE DESIGN BUREAU!!!!!!!!!! A magazine all about things I love, designed beautifully, printed on awesome paper that feels good to touch!:) AND they asked me to photograph the incredibly talented designer, Gary Lee, in his Merchandise Mart showroom. Coincidentally, the day we needed to shoot, Gary Lee Partners had hired the super cool photographer, Tony Soluri (who just happens to be my former studio mate!), to shoot some interior shots for them. I don’t know if all photographers would play nice in this situation, but Tony & I had a great time!:)

Gary said he wore these socks special for me! I don’t know how he would have known about my obsession for aqua or how he would have known I had to photograph the saddle as soon as I saw it! I think perhaps he was just messing with me!;) Either way, Gary Lee is AWESOME!!!!:)

LOVE!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank you Gary Lee!!!!!!!:

Click to view slideshow.

XOXO!!!:

Assistants: Lyndon French & Jason Lemon

SAMI ZOMBIE!!!!!! or Handbook for the Recently Deceased

lisapredko — Thu, 08 Nov 2012 15:08:38 +0000

‘Tis the season for creating holiday promos! I’m always happy for an opportunity to collaborate with one of my favorite makeup artists, Martina Sykes, on subject matter we are both inspired by! She is quite skilled at making people look good, but she excels at making them look dead!:) Here is our latest gem, Handbook for the Recently Deceased (or as I fondly like to refer to it, SAMI ZOMBIE!!!!!!)!:)

We had an awesome day in the studio! While Martina was working her magic, Richard from Bombastic Cafe (opening Spring 2013 near The Music Box Theatre) fueled us with amazing coffee and taught us how to use a chemex with the pour over method!

Click to view slideshow.

XOXO!!!!:

Makeup Artist: Martina Sykes

Model, Assistant, & Retoucher (yes, she can do it all!): Sami Hylla

Ellen Greene: Invisible Mother’s Milk

lisapredko — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 17:23:10 +0000

I was THRILLED when the amazing artist, Ellen Greene, asked me to collaborate on photographs to accompany her current gallery show, Invisible Mother’s Milk, OPENING TONIGHT November 2, 2012 6-9pm at Packer Schopf Gallery. Inspired by vintage Invisible Mother (or Hidden Mother) photographs, Greene spent most of the day draped in black fabric focusing attention on her amazing daughters, Donovan and Ruby. Be sure to stop into the gallery to see her work, consisting of beautiful old tattoo flash art handpainted on women’s gloves as well as manipulations of our photographs. Ellen Greene you rock!:)

XOXO!!!!:

Hair and Makeup: Martina Sykes

Assistant: Brian Gladkowski

Time Out Chicago, Issue 399: SEX!!!!!!!

lisapredko — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 14:34:44 +0000

Thanks to Time Out Chicago for asking me to shoot for their Sex Issue, on newsstands now!:) First, we photographed the sweet, lovely, & sometimes comical ladies over at g Boutique, a woman friendly AND woman owned sex boutique with lingerie, erotica, sex toys, & workshops.

L-R: Owner Cheryl, with Store Manager Amy & Instructor Dana

Next was in studio fun with the amazingly talented stylist, Sage Reed! The images speak for themselves, but the stories they accompany in the magazine are definitely worth checking out!

Anything goes (or as we have fondly named it, The Velvet V):

Mack swan:

How to bag a chef in 9 easy steps:

Yes, and…let’s screw:

Click to view slideshow.

XOXO!!!:

Stylist extraordinaire: Sage Reed

Assistants: Brian Gladkowski, Sami Hylla, Noah Gage, Jake Scholl

Retoucher: Sami Hylla

Gorilla Tango Burlesque!

lisapredko — Thu, 18 Oct 2012 14:19:49 +0000

This lovely trio first appeared on the blog behind Kelly Williams and Dan Abbate, owners of Gorilla Tango Theatre, when we photographed them for the Chicago Reader’s People Issue. There was no way I could leave without giving Princess Leia, Chekov, & Mario the proper spotlights they deserve! Go check these ladies out live, they are AWESOME!!!!:)

Princess Leia: Marie Curiosity (can now be seen as part of Plan 9 Burlesque! Upcoming show Oct. 21, 2012 at the Pub Theater!)

Chekov: Stella Cheeks (can also be seen as part of Plan 9 Burlesque! Follow her on twitter too!)
Mario: Cinnamon Twist

Reader’s Best People!!!

lisapredko — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 16:31:51 +0000

Last winter (yes, I said last winter, yikes we’ve been busy!!!!) we had the pleasure of photographing some amazing people for Chicago Reader‘s People issue.

I could never pick a favorite, but I’ve certainly spent the most time with, the extremely talented and super inspiring Brian Posen: artistic director of Stage 773, mastermind behind SketchFest, program head at Second City Training Center, Columbia College instructor, and founder/director of The Cupid Players (go see this show!). Seriously, with this kind of resume, does this guy ever sleep???:)

Erica Michie is a super talented, super cute, super sweet Industrial Designer who wants to use her knowledge and skills to solve problems and help people!:) We photographed her at the design & branding firm where she was interning, Streng Design; we were hoping to see some of their top secret projects, maybe next time!:)Lisa Martain Hoffer is a patient care coordinator for South Suburban HIV/AIDS Regional Clinics-not only benevolent and beautiful but one of the funniest people I have had the pleasure of photographing!

Jamil Khoury is the artistic director and co-founder of Silk Road Rising. He’s also an awesome guy who we would have hung out with all day if we could have, especially when we started talking about punk rock shows and what it means to be straight edge (none of us are btw!). Jamil, you rock!:)

Kelly Williams & Dan Abbate, are the power couple behind Gorilla Tango Theatre where you can see amazingly funny and sexy women perform burlesque shows with characters based on Star Wars, Super Mario Bros, Star Trek, GI Joe, and Indiana Jones just to name a few! Watch for our upcoming blog post featuring a few of these super fine ladies!

Sarah Crump IS The Ceramic Cat Lady!

lisapredko — Thu, 19 Jul 2012 14:40:14 +0000

How often does one have an assistant who is sweet, talented, creative, beautiful, entertaining, and who will take their pants off for a photograph?! Good thing there is no HR department!;) For those of you who don’t already know her, let me introduce, The Ceramic Cat Lady, aka Sarah Crump! Check out her super crafty blog where you can learn how to make Shibori (amongst other very cool things) and get a glimpse of where the name came from. Sarah, who is now on the freelance job market, is also a fantastic retoucher and digital tech-you should hire her! But don’t think the lovely Miss Crump is going to take her pants of for you too-it took years where we spent more time together than with anyone else filled with countless photographs, miles (car and plane), giggles, and an awesome friendship. Thank you Sarah Crump, I truly appreciate you and thank you for taking your pants off-these would not have been as cute had you left them on!!! XOXO

Vagrant Nobility: Awesome clothes, Awesome dudes:)

lisapredko — Wed, 11 Jul 2012 15:17:50 +0000

I was very excited when Michael Morarity from Vagrant Nobility emailed me to see if I was interested in collaborating! When he offered up his retouching skills as part of the deal, there was no turning back! Since then, Mr. Morarity and I have spent several hours working at dueling computers and I can tell you he not only knows great design but he’s a pretty fantastic guy too.

More importantly, check out the clothes and BUY THEM HERE!!!!!!!!!:) Vagrant Nobility, created by Michael Morarity and Tim Tierney, is Chicago made men’s fashion with a timeless aesthetic or more simply: awesome clothes made by awesome dudes.:) Thanks fellas for giving me the opportunity to collaborate with you, and to once again photograph one of my favorite male models, the very handsome Kevin Day!:)

Awesome dudes:), Tim and Mike:

XOXO!!!:

Model: Kevin Day

Assistants: Joanna Patterson, Lyndon French

Retouching: Michael Morarity, Sami (heart over the i) Hylla

Halls Allergy: ANGRY!!! …but sweet!

lisapredko — Tue, 26 Jun 2012 14:31:03 +0000

It’s not everyday a photographer is able to give fun, yet contradictory, direction to her talent like, “ANGRY!!! …but sweet!:)” which happens to go hand in hand with my love of the sweet and sinister (be sure to check out the secretary images on my website, “Good Morning Doll, Good Night Sweetheart”). And it’s not every model who’s able to pull it off; Lauren Johnson from Ford rocked it out!! I am thankful to a couple truly awesome guys, Josh Peters and Neil Danaher, as well as DraftFCB for the opportunity to work on this super fun concept for Halls!:) Everything about this job made me smile from to start to finish: the casting day (so wish I could show these!), fantastic shoot with great (and also adorable) clients and crew, a wrap party with open swinging (yes, an actual swing hung from our 16 foot ceilings!), editing the photos the next day in my Nashville hotel room before going to see the Grand Ole Opry, and of course being able to share it all with you!:)

XOXO!!!!!:

Click to view slideshow.

Yep, still smiling!;)