*** 110 Minutes with Miss C.

Third session with Miss C.

 

Very fun and yet a little bit challenging session.

 

The fun part is of course obvious but the challenges were the the height differences between models as well as skin texture and color differences.

 

Also Miss E. had no experience what so ever while Miss C. as we know is a natural and this was her third session with me and forth in total.

 

I also didn't meet Miss E. before the actual session or I would've requested a different make up for her skin to help some blemishes and skin color .

 

One last challenge was to use the same location for third time and very similar clothing actually. This was on purpose however trying to see if I can

 

get some new shots with very little differences in everything else.

 

Please forgive the fast scans since I am on the road and have to do everything really fast between my other assignments.

 

This causes some hot spots in some of the shots as well as too much grains since the paper that I use for prints has grains on it.

 

Although I do want the grains or out of focus effects in some of the shots.

 

Again no digital enhancements have been done on the images. I have used different films and the scans are off the prints.

 

Ladies worked great together and showed a very nice chemistry despite the the small technical challenges.

 

 

110 Minutes with Miss C.

I was going to say I liked it:-) Thanks for the technical info. So, what is a "fashion shot" as pertains to this image? What was the goal of the shoot?

By the way - just viewed the folder. This image stands out for me. I think the B+W works well - making the image more about textures and form. The color isn't adding much in the other ones similar to this. I really prefer the foreshortening here. The intersecting diagonal of the woman on top to the lengthwise one on bottom adds a dynamic flow. The straight arm with hand grasping the folded arms - the tension in the hand, one looking at the camera, one looking at the other model - all makes it a lot more interesting. Works well for me.

Now, back to the "fashion" question:-) (seriously - I'm not sure what a "fashion" shot is and what makes this one a fashion shot...)

Greeting to our friend with a funny sound...beepy!

 

What is "fashion shot"? What is a "fashion shot" to you?! J/K

 

I don't know. We can ask what is art? Why the hell we even think that abstract art exist. We can be all politicians and play with words and try to rationalize everything from art to different religions and patriotism. I guess few things are for "sure" such as basic mathematics. We don't even know how many planets we have in our own solar system!

 

OK...OK...I either can play it like a chess master predicting twenty moves ahead and simply say..."it's fashion because I say so" and "fashion is whatever I categorize it as fashion" or I can try to give you some answers to play with together...

 

The other day a young photography student told me that one of my photos is "opposite" fashion! Her reasoning? Because my model was not too fit and her bustier was too tight for her! The other older and wiser female photographer said..."since when we consider a photograph of somebody in a bra, a bracelet and a pair of jeans as fashion shot?" I had a feeling that young student was very concern with her own appearance and the stereotype of fashion models in the TV and magazines was filled her head, and the other lady probably is more inclined to consider Audrey Hepburn and her outfits in breakfast at tiffany's fashionable...which nothing is wrong with it but both of them have very selective angles to look at photographs and fashion photography.

 

What I call fashion is subjective and probably won't match many people's ideas of fashion...same story with my opinion of fine art photography or my other styles of photography. What I am after as aesthetic or compositional experiments also don't fall in many of older categories . Should I defend them or explain them? I don't know but I doubt it.

 

 

Anytime somebody exist and try to express her/his feeling through her/his attitude, make up, clothing, posing, characteristic masks, accessories etc I can see and compose a fashion shot.

 

Old psychologists used to suggest to depressed people to wear brighter and louder color outfits. They discuss which colors are good for hospitals and classrooms. Should we consider those as fashion and interior design statements? I think so. It effects and express the moods of certain people in those moments of time.

 

The cheapest versions of the fashion photography falls into glamour and catalogue works and then typical polished advertisements shots and later high fashion magazines and in my opinion if you get the last drops of the juice of this fruit you'll end up to a juncture of fine art meets documentary...a point which is about what is hip today or was in past or might be in future...or even only one person can consider hip one day. A lawyer wants to feel cool and drive a Harley Davidson on a weekend with a leather jacket but still can't pull it off...I see fashion there...because he exist and has tried to effect his life with things that he has chosen to wear...to me a shot from him can change from documentary to fashion or vice versa only by changing the technique and my connection to him. People tend to expect more grim looks in the documentary shots and a more polished shot and cleaner composition for fashion images.

 

In above image you can see certain basic fashion statements. Matching bras and matching pairs of jeans with suiting bracelet are there. You can see many pop stars wear less than that for a show so I don't see a lack of clothing hurt the shot as a fashion shot. They seem to be over friendly as well...now that is a fashion statement! I don't remember these many famous gays, lesbians and bisexual people in past decades. From Ellen to characters of funny sitcoms to many actresses and singers and even politicians or fights in courts for legal marriages between homosexuals...how being "bisexual" is suddenly so cool specially between younger crowds...(which one of the above ladies actually is)...

 

Now all of these could be baloneys as well. These all could be a series of soft porn shots and an excuse to take advantage of cliche.the "girl on girl" action! I think that part falls into the category of "eye of the beholder"...I tried to do my shots in my own take on "fashion" photography . "French Vogue/W meets documentary" as I said earlier. It is mine and I have worked on it for years. So whatever it is, it is not snap shots nor rushed thoughts even though I usually compose my images in less than few seconds since I think about them the rest of 24 hours.

 

Does she look proud in this image? I think she does. Does the image suggest a life style? I think it does. I think this was her first and last opportunity to be somebody who is hidden behind her typical family boundaries...few months before a healthy and normal marriage (as a matter of fact)...and I have saved these moments for her and myself by using my style and pushing the envelope. There was a film by Robert Altman about fashion industry in his usual style...in the last scene a nude pregnant woman came on the runway in Paris and all the photographers went crazy photographing her...was that fashion? I don't know but guess not...was that a fashion/political statement?...I am sure it was.

 

Baloneys I said sir!...or as I did say earlier......"it's fashion because I say so"?! :0)

 

Thank you for reading.

 

Misha,  I like this one a lot.  I also enjoyed the editorial and what fashionis to you as portrayed in your photography.  Somewhere accompanying one of yourphotos you wrote something else regarding what fashion is to you that I enjoyed, but don'tremember which photo right now.  As to ? Beepy's question "I'm not sure what a"fashion" shot is and what makes this one a fashion shot", I ran into aninterpretation by Tom Meyer in a thread on fashion that I tend to agree with very much at:  http://photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=00CAHh&unified_p=1.  Of course as you said, there is a lot of pre conditioning in society, but Tom'sinterpretation pretty much hit the nail on the head to me regarding commercial fashion.  Of course, I'm still working on how to portray what fashion is to me through myphotography, and am still studying and observing others as I hope I will always be.

Cheers!

James

EXCELLENT

cumpliments!

Powerfull shot ! Love this one very much ! Like the pose of the two girls but i would have the top girl looking at us too ... Miss C have a striking look ! Keep up The nice work !

7/7

Great shot!