Saturday, April 30, 2011

With great power comes...

...great responsibility! And a whole lot of work. Let me explain:

My shoot with Iris has opened up some fantastic opportunities for me as a budding young photographer (yes, I am so chuffed I speak about myself like a proud parent).


For a start, Mike loaned me his studio light set-up, which I am ridiculously keen to try out! But I have to study, because I'm also heavily pregnant with a law degree (unnecessarily figurative? Well, it's 3am and I've been studying for the last 7 hours straight - forgive me my eccentricity).

However, the breakthrough I am most excited about was that Iris and Sarah's agent, Summer, told me my photos with Iris were "beautiful," which had me smiling ear to ear, and has said she'd be happy for me to test with her other models!! As Summer gets some of the best girls in the state/country/international scene, I am overjoyed to be given this chance - and have formed a solid goal to work steadily on the skills that I'll need to do justice to the models and to my vision and development as a photographer.

As a model, I've heard it said that your book is only as good as the photographers you have shooting you. Ie: you can pose like you were born doing it (makes me think of Iris again) and look flawlessly fantastic in every single shot, but if your photographer doesn't know their stuff in terms of getting the light right, the best angle and doing an excellent, but not overdone, job on retouching... well you may as well not have bothered getting all prettied up.

Now, as a photographer, I've heard the exact same in reverse. "Your book is only as good as the models in it." I think there's even more truth in the statement when it's going in this direction, and I'll tell you why when I next blog - and post some snaps of the stunning models I'll hopefully be shooting with!

For now, let me tell you about the other excellent development that's arisen: my first solo assignment. That is, little old me being approached to do a portfolio shoot for Alex, a stunning acquaintance of mine who is equally beautiful on the inside as out.

Alex is going to sign with a local agency, and was wary of hooking up with an unknown photographer for fear of getting a tacky result (an unfortunately legitimate fear), so, after seeing my photos, she approached me!

Of course, I jumped at the opportunity to shoot with Alex, as I think she'll do extremely well in her chosen field of presenting. She has a beautiful, feminine and highly commercial look, and will be a good asset to my book in terms of versatility. These shots will be a more commercial/portrait style of fashion, rather than the test/simple editorial style of the shoots with Sarah and Iris. Here she is, looking sensational as always:


I set about busily emailing back and forth, and after about a week's worth of organising, I am just shy of having the shoot ready to go. Not bad for a beginner, huh?

There are to be four looks, which will be expertly crafted by Vivianne as hair and makeup stylist and Tamzen, as wardrobe stylist - both fantastic artists. Vivianne has made me up on numerous occasions and is one of the more consistent and capable artists I've worked with. She's passionate about achieving exactly the result the client wants. Tamzen is equally brilliant; the two times I have been styled by her, she arrived to the locations with suitcases upon suitcases of amazing clothes and accessories, from quirky retro get-up to elaborate full gowns and giant pendants - and boy, does she know how to put an outfit together!!

Here are our concept photos:

Sporty:



Girl About Town:



Girl About Business:



and Fashion:



All that remains is to get another memory card and battery (so that I don't have the same hiccups as last time), find a versatile location that is easy for the whole team to reach, and enlist the help of a second photographer... or will I really fly solo for the first time?!

This brings me back to that model mantra: "Your book is only as good as the photographers you have shooting you" ... now... if that photographer is me, and me alone, then I am responsible for the outcome of the shoot, and potentially for the success of the model in booking work - and that's a responsibility that I take very seriously.

Until next time....

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