Category Archives: Personal Branding

“Go Feed Yourself!”

I recently had the pleasure of photographing the gorgeous, smart and talented Heather Pierce Giannone, who teaches busy entrepreneurs How to Help their Bodies Keep up with their Business.

What I love about Heather is her tell-it-to-ya-straight sassy style. She’s like an Italian grandmother with her amazing home-cooking and nurturing ways, mixed with a bit of Godfather with her slap-ya-in-the-face honesty. Her upcoming product “Go Feed Yourself!” is a perfect example.

Heather teaches deliciously simple cooking classes in Connecticut and provides one-on-one “power sessions” for busy bees like me who want a clear plan of next steps to increase energy and mental focus. Plus, look at how much fun this girl has in the kitchen!

You can catch all the goodness on Heather’s website, where she blogs regularly with useful video demo’s and relevant topics such as Stupid Things that Smart People Eat, and an Easy Strategy for Eating Well without Depriving Yourself.

Smart girl.

Here’s to gorgeous bods and sharp minds!

Christa

A Design Atelier, Paris

This summer, I was so fortunate to spend two beautiful and inspiring weeks in Paris! It became even more fun when gal pal and fellow design-junkie, Natasha, joined me for my birthday week. Natasha is an incredible designer and is the talent behind the look of my blog, The Money Shots™ and other exciting upcoming products in my line. She and I geeked out big-time and had a full on Parisian girl-fest, including lots of museums, shopping, red lipstick, hour-long foot massages, lots of wine, lots of cheese, and lots of fun in the city of light. And of course, we did a photo shoot for her new site – shot in our incredible flat in the heart of the Marais.


These last two are my favorites…
More pics from unforgettable Paris coming soon!

You can check out Natasha’s gorgeous work on my new set of BEST-SELLING Boudoir pics…

The Money Shots™
a very cool resource for boudoir photographers!

Happy Monday 🙂

Christa

Hello Hotstuff No. 2

It’s bikini season! And now’s the time to hit the great outdoors for some hot & fun summer fitness! You’ll be a step ahead with the strong and spirited Liz DiAlto as your trainer! Here’s part 2 from our recent fitness photo shoot…beating the heat in NYC’s Battery Park.

Liz is a phenomenal nutrition specialist and coach as well. Plus she’s just so darn silly – you gotta love her!

Jeans and a t-shirt, a coke and a smile, laughter and silly dance moves = a super sexy good time 🙂

If you missed the SWEATY SMOKING HOTNESS from yesterday, check out Part 1 with Liz!

More salty and sexy goodness on the blog coming up soon!

x. Christa

Hello Hotstuff!

I’m getting my ass in some seriously sick shape, and I’ve put my backside in good hands 🙂

Enter Liz DiAlto! a woman of integrity, passion, strength and talent for whipping sinners like me into fighting shape. Liz is helping me blast away my hardwon heavyweight pasta belt in Florence earlier this year. (I’d like those 4 months I recently spent in Italy to linger in my mind and heart but not on my hips thank you.)

Liz is genuine strength personified – ie. these pics are UNRETOUCHED. Seriously.

I’ve got my 2nd Annual Nude Birthday Boudoir Photo Shoot coming up in August, so I needed the best of the best to give me an even juicier, higher, rounder, stronger bum! Liz is the expert in glutes – she has a signature class in NYC (which recently received a RAVE REVIEW from the FITist) just for your booty, called As*pire.

Um, Hello! Look at this unretouched As*pire!

If you want a SLAMMING HOT BOD, (like the my gorgeous friend Liz’s here), pause from drooling for a sec and speed click over to Liz’s site to get her 30-day Slamming Hot Bod program (plus you’ll get her killer inspirational newsletter full of no bullshit tips for those of us that need to get fit fast).

I’ll see your sweet bum back here tomorrow for juicy Part 2 of our Fitness Photo Session!

hot hot hot!

x. Christa

Yoga Love

Two words: Devotion + Dedication. One is nothing without the other. In Yoga. In Love. In Life.

Here’s to practicing equal amounts of both!




These shots are from a recent trip to LA, and I love the pics so much, I’m blogging my favorites in two parts 🙂

Location: The Mondrian Hotel on Sunset, Los Angeles
Photography: Christa Meola
Make-up & Hair Stylist: Rachel Lund
Photo Assistant: David Glenn

No. 2 on the blog tomorrow!

x. Christa

You’re Invited!

If you love cashmere, sushi, champagne, and fashion steals as much as I do… then you need to beat it over to my Photography Studio this Friday for a fabulous Trunk Show by the Z.LARRIS line.  I am so excited to host this event with the super sweet and talented designer Kathi Berman.  At the show, you’ll have the opportunity to try on all of her beautiful and versatile pieces, chat with Kathi about how to put a look together, and walk away with some phenomenal deals. To view some of the hot items in Kathi’s line, you can see my pics from the fashion shoot here and here, as well as visit the Z.LARRIS website.  Details:

 

Z.LARRIS TRUNK SHOW

FRIDAY, NOV. 6TH

10AM TIL 3PM

 

CHRISTA MEOLA PICTURES, STUDIO + GALLERY

860 VIA DE LA PAZ

PACIFIC PALISADES, CA 90272

 

FOR MORE INFO… 310.901.1611

 

I’ll see you there!  I’ll be the one wrapped up in Kathi’s black cashmere tunic dress, looking all cool and all 🙂

xo,

Christa

 

Portrait of An Artist, Michelle Dunaway

You would be hard pressed to find a more soulful and endearing person than Michelle Dunaway. Michelle is a dear friend of mine, a talented fine artist, and an amazing woman.  She and I connect at such a core level – we can share a great laugh, a good cry, an interesting conversation, and always an inspiring creative collaboration. Michelle’s my soul sister 🙂  So I jumped at the chance when Michelle asked me to join her drawing and painting workshop and take pics for American Artist magazine.  Even though I had family shoots each morning, the past 5 days have been a whirlwind of inspiring art, geeking out on technique fundamentals and discussing light, shadow, color and line!  Thank you Michelle – I had so much fun. Who needs sleep?

This is one of Michelle’s beautiful portrait paintings… I saw it in the studio, and I used it to inspire my portrait of her (above).  I wanted it to look like one of her paintings… with soft blue tones and a gaze that draws you in…  (taken with my favorite 85mm 1.2 and letting light enter the lens directly.)

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Michelle is a master of the 5 Minute sketch…

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Here are a couple of Michelle’s 5 Minute drawings, published in an art book, “Strokes of Genius II, The Best of Drawings.”  Her work is incredibly inspiring to me – it’s confident, sensual, deliberate, and elegant.  There are subtle nuances in even her simplest strokes…

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It’s great to have a teacher with a sense of humor and patience.  She always has a kind word of encouragement.

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The picture on the left is my drawing of the gorgeous model (shown above).  And another of Michelle’s beautiful 5 Minute demo drawings…

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The Workshop was held at the freakishly talented Jeremy Lipking‘s studio in Agoura Hills.  Jeremy, Michelle and I first met at an art gallery in 2001 when I did some posing for them.  Here are some of Jeremy’s figure demo’s and his latest painting…

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A couple of interesting characters in the studio…

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A couple of juicy close-ups to finish up. I think these pics truly capture Michelle’s sensitivity, beauty and spirit.

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I loved switching back and forth from photography to art – what a great way to be challenged, grow and stay inspired!  I’m forever grateful to Michelle for the invitation and most of all… for her friendship.

xo,

Christa

PS.  Michelle is not only a fabulous artist, but she’s also a phenomenal photographer.  She was the gal behind the lens of my profile pic on the About page of this blog 🙂

 

 

Portrait of a Designer

Kathi Berman is an extremely thoughtful and brilliant clothing designer, not to mention a total sweetheart. Her consideration of a woman’s lifestyle complements her design sensibility.  You may remember her stunning clothing from my fashion shoot for her brand Z.LARRIS – some of my favorite images this year, posted here and here.  Recently, Kathi and I hooked up again at my studio to shoot more pics for her new website, zlarris.com – but this time Kathi was in front of the camera 🙂

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I love wearing Kathi’s clothes – they just feel soooooo good and can take you anywhere from day to night to the next morning.  To purchase the coolest cashmere dresses, coats, and more – check out her new site and contact Kathi directly.

I bet you never want to take them off!

xoxo,

Christa