Lauren Santo Domingo is a contributing editor at American Vogue and prominent New York socialite. Derek Blasburg is an editor at VMAN, an Editor-At-Large of Harper’s Bazaar, and contributes to many other fashion magazines as well. He is perhaps most well-known for his party reportage at Style.com.
I got to Milk Studios for Suno’s inaugural runway show Friday evening as the sun began to set. I had been shooting outside Rag & Bone earlier along the West Side Highway and hightailed it back to Chelsea to make sure I got a decent spot on the photographer riser. I also wanted to make the most of the waning sunlight and shoot some more street-style.
A bit after 7 pm I was standing directly in front of Milk’s entrance, leaning against a parked car flipping through my photos, when I heard screams. Yes, screams. I looked up and saw her: Anna Wintour. I jumped into action and was able to get just this one photo as she walked right in front of me before jumping into a black car.
Yes, I was literally too close to Anna Wintour to get a decent photo of her. This is real life.
I snagged this photo of fashion icon, Vogue regular, and blogger Shala Monroque after the Cushnie Et Ochs show at Milk Studios. I believe there was some type of issue with her transportation, and this photo is of her waiting for everything to be sorted out. I didn’t want to bother her since she seemed really stressed out about the mishap. After waiting for her to hang up her phone call I took three quick photos of her sitting on the railing like this and walked away. The last thing I ever want to do is cross the line from street-style photographer into a paparazzi. I’m sure some day I’ll get to say hello to her.
In the end, I think this photo is much more beautiful than a posed shot. I’m really falling in love with candid photography.
