Photographing a Fashion Concept

I just finished Figure/Fashion Photography, PH435. It was most definitely the hardest class I have faced in my career at AIPOD. It was also one of the best classes for me in my career at AIPOD. Why, you ask? I am a good portrait and wedding photographer. I am great with lighting my subjects to highlight their faces and expressions, and capturing emotions and images that tell their stories. I have rarely had to create the story or concept I was photographing. I also have never been into photographing fashion. I didn’t know how to make the images about the clothing and not the model. For the first three weeks of class I kept hearing, “they look like portraits,” from my professor.

By the third week of class I was ready to throw in the towel, but my professor kept encouraging me and talking me through ideas. Then I ran into problems with models. At the end of week four I still didn’t believe I was going to be successful in this class or with my final project. Finally the beginning of week five I was able to do the shoot I wanted and needed for my project. It pushed me so far out of my comfort zone.

So to bring you into this fantasy that I was trying to create, let me describe the project. Using tulle of multiple colors I would create couture fashion that looked like lighthouses. I challenge each of your to come up with a concept totally beyond normal and try to create images that show your concept. As I was encouraged by my professor, think of things that you are really interested in or love. (I love the water and lighthouses and playing with light.) Then think of a new and different way to illustrate it. I did it through fashion, you may want to do it using a different concept. This project whet my appetite to do more creative work. My prof encouraged me to work on this for a year. I plan to. I wonder what my images will look like next year!

Here’s some of my lighthouses. Which says lighthouse fashion to you the most?

  

Visions of Nature

Have you ever heard someone say, “She’s as pretty as a peacock?” This week I shot 16 beautiful young adult models in evening gowns. Looking at them I began comparing them to beauty I have seen in nature. I decided to create a visual mimicry of nature by combining their natural beauty with the beauty of the gowns they modeled. Can you see the resemblance?

  

Bedecked by the pleating on her bodice and ruffles on her skirt, and jeweled at the waistline like the stamen of the bright Astor, she stands on long, elegant legs. 

Similar to a hummingbird with more wing than body, she hovers and looks beyond the tiny pointed beak.


Bright purples bleeding into dark tones, the slender purple gown puddles at the base like Salvia on its stem.

Glowing like Golden Rod covering a field, her glittering gown accentuates the golden tones of her hair and flows into a rich puddle like a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow.

Just like pure raw burnished Bituminous Coal, this pleated and pinched gown frames her face with glimmering silver and amethyst jewels at the neckline.

As delicate, yet bold as Pink Lady Slippers, the satin white waistline and pink bodice stand apart from the lacy skirt, like the “slipper” of the queen’s flower.

Flame red California Poppies command attention on the hillsides of the coastline, just like our model in this tall narrow gown.

Flittering and floating around and round, this full skirted tulle dress comes together at the bejeweled waistline like the wings a Blue Morpho Butterfly.

Like wispy little petals pulled together into a bold bright Pink Dahlia, her delicate bodice and jeweled waistband flow into a full and flowing skirt, pretty enough for any princess.

Reminiscent of flowing seaweed swaying in Monterrey Bay, the matching shoulder wrap adds a playful element to this floor length satin chiffon gown with its draping neckline that sways with her movement into the v-shaped décor at the waistline.

I love being a photographer! What do you love?