Fashion Photography Homework #3: Project 2

So for this assignment, we were asked to do a controversial ad. Most of my classmates groaned while I smiled uncontrollably from ear to ear. Finally, something I know and can do very well. At least I thought I did, until I took the train home and started to brainstorm.

Coming up with controversial ideas, sure, not a problem. Trying to incorporate such ideas into fashion... ah-ha... ah-ha, like the old jewish man in "Coming to America."
That was gimmick.
I thought of David LaChappelle and Robert Mapplethorpe and Sally Mann. Shit, even Annie Leibovitz. None of them were really, truly inspiring me and no one else I knew personally did controversial photography, only paintings and mixed media.

So I sat down to brainstorm with Robert Dumé, director of the first independent film set I photographed for, and after bouncing a few ideas back and forth. Nothing really stuck, but then it hit me, "what if we photographed an old man and a young girl?" Nah, that sucks and it's been done I bet. So, "what if we photographed an older woman and a young man for an underwear ad in a provocative pose?" Ding, ding. We had a winner.

The first thing I did was hit up a close friend who is always down to shoot anything controversial for me, Kelvin. He agreed without so much hearing the whole of the idea.
Now, next to find an older woman. I asked one of my aunts and she agreed because it was for me and it was for homework and for my future.

Everything went in line for this shoot, from getting wardrobe, to hair and make up which I did (I was very proud of myself for that) and most importantly the location. A friend of mine, Carolina, agreed to let us use her very modern apartment on 42nd Street to shoot. She too, had no idea what kind of photo shoot it was except that it was a controversial one.

In the end, my professor loved it and I finally felt like I was back in her good graces.

Here is the finished product, with a tag line I created for this and all:

Fashion Photography Homework #3: Project 1

For this assignment, my professor asked us to collaborate with a fellow photographer to create a 6 page editorial spread. What a clusterfuck!

Here's why:

I was asked by my classmate Vera to collaborate with her on the assignment. Vera is a sweet Serbian girl who has a great and different style of photography than my own and so I logically agreed. I figured I could learn from her and learn to configure my style.


In the midst of this, I had already booked a flight to Miami to visit my family because my younger brother Jon was going away into the army. So there was no way, I was going to miss seeing him off. So that limited my free time to work on the actual shoot while working a full time job.

So me and Vera set up a date to meet at Starbucks to talk ideas through. What none of us realized prior to the acceptance of said collaboration was the fact that we had different brainstorming styles. Never mind shooting styles... She visualized things first and wrapped a concept around it. I work in the opposite direction.

So on the first day we agreed to shoot in the style of Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo... sounds awesome, right? Yes, we thought so too, until we realized how little time we had and how much resources we would need to pull to get it done.

After much debate, we decided on a fashionable version of Children's Games. We decided to do hula hoop, jump rope, hopscotch, hide and seek and telephone. What we didn't do and decide on is who would shoot it.
We thought that we needed to each shoot the photographs, but sadly, we were mistaken.

We paid dearly for that one with our professor criticizing our every mistake. Our mistakes were, but not limited to, different lighting and different posing. I stylized my shots to be more playful and Vera more fashionable.

It didn't help that I shot my photographs in Miami and Vera here in NYC.. I also shot some here in the city too with a male model, and that is where my professor too criticized my work personally.


Here are our shots:

The last two shots, I was criticized on because the colors were different.. the left popped with colors, the right not so much, but that was my objective. To show vibrant South Beach and cool New York. Either way, the shoot was a flop.

What me and Vera should have done was decided who was going to do the art direction and who was going to do the shooting. Since Vera was more technical than myself, I would have done the art direction. Too bad, neither of us realized sooner.

Now if it was just me putting together the shoot, this is what my version would have looked like:

Only a slight difference, but then all the lighting matches since I used only natural lighting and the styling is the same with all the photographs having the same style specs.

Another Lesson Learned from this assignment.

Fashion Photography Homework #2: Project 2

My professor asked that we take a stylized shot and a snapshot. I thought I understood the assignment, but after seeing other people's work, I realized, I didn't.
Here's someone's rough definition:
"A “snapshot” can be taken of anything and of varying quality (composition, exposure, etc.) Usually a “snapshot” is a quick rough capture to document a scene or event. A “photograph” on the other hand is a well thought, composed, exposed and executed art form..."

 Stylized shot by Jill Greenberg (who is known for achieving these shots by enticing children with candy then taking the candy away at just the right time):

 

 

 Here is an example of a snap shot shot by someone else:

Here is my misunderstood version, Stylized:

Snapshot:

 

So essentially, they are very much the same shot as per my professor. I didn't realize the difference until the day I showed this in class.

Luckily, I wasn't the only one who misunderstood and I really felt that if the professor had shown us some examples of what a "stylized" shot was versus a "snapshot" prior to us doing the homework, most of us would have done a better job.

Actually come to think of it, the same goes for the ad vs the editorial. I didn't realize there was a difference until after my blunder. Lesson learned though and hopefully some of you will learn from mistakes as well. =0.)

Life's Ups & Downs...

"If you hear a voice within you say 'you cannot paint,' then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced..." - Van Gogh

This quote is definitely something to live by if you are an artist of some sort, because there always comes a time when you doubt yourself, when people you trust betray you, when you think you won't succeed and when you realize you don't fit anywhere.

It's easy to get discouraged especially when you're starting out, you don't know where your strengths are necessarily and you want to be able to do different things. You want to have that eye, you want to have that focus because it seems that without them, you are just an amateur and no one who is taking their dream serious wants to be considered an amateur. In retrospect, aren't we all just amateurs?

It's easy to want to say I quit, but there will always be that pit in your stomach that weighs heavily. I try not to let that pit succumb me and it does happen. Sometimes I have to talk myself out of it and sometimes someone else has to do it for me. It seems also for me that no matter how many shots I have taken, no matter how many books I read, I still don't know enough. My photos still don't come out the way I envisioned. I do hope that in time, with more experience that they do. It also makes me realize, I still have so much to learn.

And there's where I don't feel as bad because I understand that there's still much to learn. I think on any level- amateur, serious amateur, semi-professional and professional- there is always something to learn. And if you think you've learned everything, how much more could you get from this?

That's when you toss in the towel and pick up a new hobby that could lead to a new profession.