Deputy photo editor Sarah Claxton went to New York the other day for a photo shoot with Anderson Cooper (we gave you the inside scoop on our interview with him last month), and I, for one, am jealous that she got to be so close to those blue eyes of his (that's her, sitting next to him, at right). Sarah says she wasn't sure what to expect from him but admits she's a bit smitten now. "He's definitely better looking in person than on TV, and he's quite attractive on TV," Sarah says. Her day started at 8:30 a.m., going through wardrobe picks with the stylist until Cooper arrived at 9. "He arrived with just his publicist (wow, no entourage!) promptly at 9 and dove right into wardrobe," Sarah reports.  "He definitely had some opinions about some of the outfits we had picked but we ended up with three very nice changes.  Our stylist had pulled a ton of jeans but I preferred the ones he came in with so we ended up going with those."

Cooper was cooperative and photogenic throughout the day, which started on the roof for an hour of photos and moved back into the studio for another hour. He was "a great subject," Sarah says, who chatted with the news anchor about politics, travel and clothing. "He's pretty soft-spoken but direct. The man knows what he's talking about."  With about an hour left in their schedule, the photographer brought up the idea of a "man on the street shot," which went really well: "Anderson was totally into it, so he put his own clothes back on, grabbed his bag and we all headed out to Madison Ave. Surprisingly only a couple of people approached and Anderson was extremely polite to all of them -- even the guy who handed him his resume!  We got some great shots and wrapped about 15 minutes early, saying our goodbyes on the street corner. Anderson and his publicist were so low-maintenance and the shoot was so relaxed, we got some terrific stuff."  If you want to see the finished  product, check out the Sept. 14 issue of USA WEEKEND.

(photo by Josh Kessler)