In 2007, I photographed a 16-year-old girl for a studded t-shirt campaign. Six years later, she was in the most-watched music video on the planet.
This is the story of shooting Emily Ratajkowski before the world knew her name.
The booking
A friend of mine had a clothing line called Key Closet. It was a studded t-shirt line with animal drawings, very much in the spirit of that era's Ed Hardy craze. He needed a campaign shot and asked me to find the girl.
I booked Emily through her agency, Next Models. She was 16. My client wanted a shorter, fuller-chested girl with a tiny waist, and Emily fit the profile exactly.
There is a detail I have never forgotten from that first shoot. Emily showed up with her dad. She was underage, and he came along to the set. We shot in my client's penthouse loft in downtown Los Angeles, right next to the Staples Center, and we used everything the space gave us: the view, the hallways, and a leopard print couch that became one of the signatures of the shoot.
She had quite an exotic look. She told me she was part Brazilian, and I remember thinking her eyes and lips made her really special. Even then, at 16, there was something about the way she looked into the lens.
She became the face of the brand
Emily did such an amazing job on that first shoot that over the next couple of years, we booked her four more times. We shot all over downtown LA, with Aston Martins and other exotic cars. Each shoot I paired her with a different guy, and for one of them we shot her with Didier Cohen, the Australian DJ and actor.
She became the face of Key Closet. The campaign was everywhere that little brand could reach, and her face was the one people remembered.
Then came the phone call
A few years later, in 2013, Emily appeared in the music video for Robin Thicke's "Blurred Lines," and almost overnight she was the hottest girl in the world, which is exactly what I wrote in my memoir at the time. She went on to "Gone Girl," high fashion campaigns, and a career that made her one of the most recognizable faces of her generation.
When I saw that video, I called up my friend, the one who owned Key Closet, and I told him the truth: we made her famous. Well, at least we can say we saw it first.
The takeaway for photographers
Here is what that shoot taught me, and what I still tell any photographer who wants to do this kind of work: shoot every unknown like she is already famous. The 16-year-old who shows up with her dad to a t-shirt campaign might be the face of the decade six years later, and the images you make today become the archive everyone wants tomorrow. Treat a small campaign with the same seriousness as a magazine cover, because you never know which one the internet is going to find first.
If you are hiring a celebrity photographer in Los Angeles, look at how they treat the unknowns in their book, not just the names. That tells you everything about how they will treat you.
Frequently asked questions
When did David Christopher Lee photograph Emily Ratajkowski? In 2007, when she was 16, for the Key Closet clothing line campaign. We shot at a penthouse loft in downtown Los Angeles, and she went on to shoot four more campaigns with the brand over the next two years.
Was Emily Ratajkowski famous when he photographed her? No. She was a working agency model at Next Models. Her breakthrough came in 2013, when she appeared in Robin Thicke's "Blurred Lines" music video, followed by "Gone Girl" in 2014.
How do I book a shoot with David Christopher Lee? Get in touch here. I have spent 27 years as a celebrity photographer in Los Angeles, shooting everyone from unknowns who became icons to the icons themselves, and every session gets the same standard.
About the author: David Christopher Lee is a Los Angeles fashion photographer in Los Angeles and celebrity portrait photographer with 27 years of experience, shooting for GQ, Vogue, InStyle, People, and brands around the world.