Fashion Model Photography

Recently I shot a catalog or sometimes called a look book. A designer will call me asking me to shoot their new creations. Normally if everything on the designer end goes smoothly, I will shoot two seasons ahead. So this shoot which is for Simply Mimi, we shot this in August of 2010. The collection is Spring 2011. The time table isn’t always exact but everyone does their best to get the designs manufactured in time for the shoot. This will give the designer enough time to design the catalog / look book, send it out to her buyers and ship her orders to the various stores in time for the season they were meant for. Trust me, it NEVER runs that smooth and on time lol.

So this is a small sample of what I shot. Now let me explain something to you guys. You might be saying to yourselves that it looks really boring. Well, it is ! Shooting look books is boring UNLESS it is a look book for Gucci etc. You get my drift I’m sure. However, the bare bones fact is that I would rather be shooting than sitting in a cubicle all day answering a phone or working the drive through window. ” Welcome to Kentucky Fried Chicken may I take your order please?” as I spit my gum out that I’ve had in my mouth for the past 8 hours !

Catalog / look book shooting is easy, quick and you make a pretty penny for a days work or two. Do I put all my catalog work up on my site ? Heeeelllllll no !

I show my artistic side and creative side on my site. IF the look book is cool enough then I will put it up on my site.

So what is involved in shooting a catalog / look book ? As you can see the lighting is all the same. You MUST bring out the texture of the clothes and show them well. This is not about being fancy and artistic with your lighting with dark shadows and moods. These look books are for buyers of major department stores and they want to see the garments they are investing in. Sometimes I will also shoot a lifestyle shot or two or three etc. to go along with the look book if the client asks.

So there ya go. One of my recent catalog / look books. Hit me up with any questions you have. Trust me, I haven’t included every detail in this post because I am trying to get you all to think about what else is involved and ask me questions so we can get some interaction going :-)

Hello everyone ! Let me start by apologizing for not posting for such a long time. I took time off to go on vacation, visit relatives and refresh the old motor lol. Now I am back !

I recently had the pleasure of shooting a great beauty campaign for Cala Beauty Care Products. I got the call from an advertising agency, sent them a quote, signed my contract and the planning began. They wanted everything shot on a white background. So I gathered my crew, booked the studio and had a great shoot.

You will see that the model was beautiful. We actually had two models. What was interesting about this shoot was that I had beautiful models but the focus was on the products. For instance in this shot as sexy as it is, my client wanted to show the cool silver looking acrylic nails she was wearing.
Fashion Model Photography
Fashion Model PhotographyThe wardrobe stylist matched the sexy booty shorts with that shiny silver color as well as the high heels. So as we see everything matters in a photo, even down to the shoes and shorts the model is wearing. To light the already white background my assistant used two Profoto heads on each side of the set mounted with medium sized white umbrellas. My key light was a white beauty dish. We put up white V- flats on both sides of the model to reflect some edge on to her.

The team was actually pretty large. I had two manicurists, one hair stylist, two make up artists and a wardrobe stylist. The owner of the company was there giving direction to the woman who hired me from the ad agency who acted as art director. You would think that with that many people things could get crazy, but everyone knew their place and did their job as expected. As photographers we still need to remember that we are in charge of EVERYONE. I have eyes in the back of my head too. I am always aware of everything going on around me. Occasionally I will check on the make up and hair, manicurists etc. just to make sure the boat is sailing smoothly. Ok so check out some other images.
Fashion Model Photography
Fashion Model PhotographyHow does a new photographer who is trying to build their portfolio get quality fashion models to test with ? I have been asked this question many many times. So I figured I would blog about it.

I will tell you how I did it. Back in the day there was no internet, well there was but it was all dial up and very very slow. Not many sites had made their way on the world wide web yet especially actual model agencies. So the only way to look at models to test with was to literally walk into t he agency tell the first person I saw that I was there to look at model zed cards to shoot for my portfolio. LOL the receptionist walked me to the woman who handled the “New Faces” board. Was I nervous ? Actually no I was not. I compare it to when a child is faced with a task and has never experienced failure so they don’t know what failure feels like. I had no reason to be afraid because I had no idea what to expect !

So I explained to the agent that I was a new photographer who needed to step up the quality of my portfolio / book with real models who had that model look. Now you are probably asking what did I walk into the agency with ? I had a book. I had photos of my sister who used to model and still looked good. They were mostly head shots. I had photos of her beautiful friends and they introduced me to their friends and so on. Of course what was missing was the styling, make up and that “fashion look” and I knew that. I even had some family portraits thrown in with some great portraits of children I had shot.