Empire West Studios

Clayton Hall, founder of Empire West Studios in 1995, has been a professional photographer specializing in Fashion & Beauty since 1979 at Clayton Hall Photographic Studios, New York, NY. His work has appeared on both the covers and pages of many leading magazines including…Accessories Magazine, Artist & Repertoire, ASMP/AZ, BOMA/New York, Fender Frontline, Flair, Leaders Magazine, Manhattan Catalog, Phoenix Magazine, Rolling Stone, Vogue Health & Beauty, W’s Accessories, Woman’s Day Health & Beauty, Women’s Wear Daily, to name a few.

Clayton Hall graduated from Villanova University with a BSEE degree in Electrical Engineering. Following college, Clayton was employed in engineer sales with Johnson Service Company (Philadelphia, PA), Taylor Instrument Company (Rochester, NY), and Control Sales, Inc (Piscataway, NJ). This foray into engineering sales did not fulfill Clayton’s artistic nature and he desired work as a creative. Luckily, Clayton inherited a collection of camera equipment following his father’s death and embarked on a three year home study course in Professional Photography through The School of Modern Photography, eventually earning the Student of the Month Award. Elated by this honor, he decided to take his student photography to the next level.

As fate would have it, while reading Vogue Magazine, Clayton noticed an ad for a museum catalogue that accompanied a famous show at The Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, NY) by the great photographer, Richard Avedon. Vogue offered an unsigned version of the catalogue for $35 and a signed version for $50. “I opted for the signed version.” Intrigued by Avedon’s photographs (in the catalogue) and with only a month remaining, Hall walked into the show and was immediately hooked! “The movement, the expression, the quality, the size; the models weren’t just standing there with blank faces. The imagery that I witnessed on those walls was spectacular and immediately I knew I wanted to do that!” He didn’t know how Avedon achieved those images, but he knew he had to learn. “I’ve been working to achieve similar results ever since,” Hall says. The portfolios included in this website are the result of that effort.

Hall quit his engineering sales job, rented out his condo on the Jersey Shore, moved to New York City, and, became a professional photographer, founding Clayton Hall Photographic Studios in New York. After many years of work and experience in New York City, Hall moved with Barbara Muller (Hair & Make-Up Artist) to Tempe, AZ and opened Empire West Studios, Inc. (October, 1995) specializing in Model & Talent Photography.

“With our new website launching in the Spring of 2018, we’re beginning a new chapter in the history of Empire West Studios,” Hall says. “We’re now ready to target Fashion & Beauty clients from out-of state, as well as overseas. Fashion Industry people are constantly flying all over the world to get the shots they need. The bottom line is if they like your work they’ll book you, and I’m confident that this will be the case with us. We’ll start off with designer look books and magazine editorial, such as Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar, and work into fashion catalogues and advertising. I am looking to do it all and I’m very excited for the future.”

Barbara Elaine Muller is the Hair & Make-Up Artist and Creative Director of Empire West Studios. With over 30 years experience in the Fashion, Advertising, Music, TV and Film industries, Barbara is the cornerstone of the Empire West Studio’s artistic team. Indeed, unless otherwise indicated, virtually every hair and make-up style that you see on our web site has been created by her. Barbara’s work has appeared in such notable magazines as People Magazine, Boma/NY, Artist & Repertoire as well as the EWS trademarked titles Queen Anne’s, M&T, Hipster, hotteen, Man-X, Crush, à la mode, Travelog, A&R, First Take and Paris. Her work has appeared on CD releases for recording artist’s Marco Antonio (HOY!), JD Simo (Burnin’ Live), as well as for rap artist DO-P (Will I Be Heard?).

“Developing a look for Model & Talent Photography is quite different than styling for Fashion & Beauty,” says Barbara, “for the former you’re selling the talent not the clothes…you want to be current but not overstated or too trendy…for the latter you’re selling the clothes not the talent!”

Muller began creating with color and facial structure as a saleswoman/make-up artist for Lancome Cosmetics in Hartford, Connecticut. Her ability to capture the individual beauty of women of all ages quickly gained the attention of local photographers, which immediately got her career started as a freelance make-up artist. While visiting various photographers in New York, Barbara met Clayton Hall in 1985 and they have been working together ever since.

” Enhancing natural beauty with minimal application of colour is now en vogue and hopefully will remain so,” Barbara says…”The days of painted ladies are a thing of the past.” However, “minimal” does not mean easy and she insists upon working quietly when designing an intricate hair style or when fine tuning eyes and lips for her clients. That means…”no talking please!” To her, the photographic set is a place where the artistic team creates simultaneously in a calm, relaxed environment allowing the talent to blossom over the course of the day.

Barbara has extensive experience working in front of and behind the camera lens. As a talented SAG actress, she has appeared in commercials for Titleist & Footjoy Worldwide, Subaru of America, The American Laser Assoc. and “Hovnanian” Investment Banking. She has been in numerous theatre productions and has done voice over work for Hoan Kitchen Appliances which appeared in Macy’s and Bloomingdales.