Photos and text by Walter Grio.
Earlier this year, I partnered with Nival Salon & Spa to launch The Gift of Life Project, an initiative to inspire people to go to Capital Breast Care Center to get their mammograms. To help promote that project, I decided to do a small photoshoot with Kristen Berset.
Kristen and I have been trying to schedule a photoshoot for over a year, but we could never find a good time to take photos – until now. I was also very pleased and excited to work with Consuella Lopez and Kelley Unthank from Nival Salon & Spa. Their work speaks for itself and I know for a fact that my job as a photographer is so much easier when working with talented people like Consuella, Kelley, and Kristen.
The inspiration for our shoot was a Vanity Fair shoot featuring Mad Men’s January Jones. The most fun and also most challenging aspect was finding a similar car that they used for the shoot. Fortunately, a makeup artist I worked with on a previous project suggested Classic Motors of Washington DC. I emailed them and they said they would be more than happy to help (as long as the car wasn’t already sold).
As you can see in the photos, Kristen is easy to work with and completely comfortable being in front of the camera. Aside from being on TV almost every night as the Sports Anchor for 9NEWS NOW, Kristen had previous modeling experience and is a former Miss Florida, who placed in the top 10 during the Miss USA 2004 pageant. I actually didn’t know this until we were about to take our first photos that day, but I found out that Kristen is also a breast cancer survivor. Needless to say, having her as the model for our Gift of Life Project campaign couldn’t have been more fitting.
Model: Kristen Berset
Hair Stylist: Consuella Lopez
Makeup Artist: Kelley Unthank
Photographer: Walter Grio
Special thanks to Nival Salon & Spa and Classic Motors of Washington DC.
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