How would you change direction

Afrofilmviewer I tried to shoot with you, I think just before lockdown. Nothing came of it. I have applied to your casting for models over the age of 35+ and no reply. Maybe I'm too old 😀I'm not what you're looking for.

Edited by MaristarOxley

MaristarOxley said

Gothic Image I wasn't criticising you work. Just responding to you saying you may not get people wanting to shoot fashion with you. I am kind of saying you have the elements of fashion.

Don't worry, I didn't take it as criticism, just helpful comment!

Gothic Image I do like your work. I used the example I gave to illustrate something that is from my experience on things like when I have done styling on editorials, people in the fashion industry telling me what is considered this or that.🥴

MaristarOxley said

Gothic Image I do like your work. I used the example I gave to illustrate something that is from my experience on things like when I have done styling on editorials, people in the fashion industry telling me what is considered this or that.🥴

And I thank you for it!  :-)

MaristarOxley I don't delete anything so I should still have the message...?

I am one of the people who want to shoot fashion and after reading this thread come to the conclusion that I am definitely not a fashion photographer more a shoot people wearing clothes photographer 

I would hope that I could start by being a little more studious and try to read more but really what is fashion ?

BLA@K Hi 🖐🏼,

It's a really difficult thing to explain.

I can only show you examples of images that are considered Fashion in a broad sense, but it's for you to really look at what the photographer is conveying on a shoot. I find it the most open genre as you can pretty much do anything, as long as you understand the fundamentals of what a conceptual image needs.

Going back to the original questions...

- How would you change direction?
- I honestly would be interested to know how you would sell yourself in a casting, if you want to try shooting a new genre...

- It's a mistake to assume that PP portfolios show everything people can shoot. 
  I do a few weddings, a bit of commercial fashion, and I'm a pretty skilled medical/photomicroscopy photographer. there will be others.

- I'm learning to shoot video
  So I practice. And I shoot a bit at each shoot.

- Paying. So I would expect to pay for a video shoot (or a fashion shoot)
  In the same way, if you suddenly decided you wanted to shoot art nudes, paying one or two of the better shooters would build a portfolio for you much faster than messing about looking for TF.

- Another question...   Why would I (or anyone else) want to change direction?

MaristarOxley said

BLAMissKW Hi 🖐🏼,

It's a really difficult thing to explain.

I can only show you examples of images that are considered Fashion in a broad sense, but it's for you to really look at what the photographer is conveying on a shoot. I find it the most open genre as you can pretty much do anything, as long as you understand the fundamentals of what a conceptual image needs.

Thank you and Hi 

I am doing a shoot on Tuesday with a new model and a friend I will try by then 

Huw there are a fair amount of photographers here who want to try new things. I wouldn't do nude, because my body is crap and I would be more likely to only shoot that with a female photographer.

"...how you would sell yourself in a casting, if you want to try shooting a new genre?..."

I probably wouldn't use a casting for the first few shoots of a new genre. I would either hire someone or approach a suitable model with my idea outlined in a succinct brief and attached moodboard/Pinterest page. I believe this direct approach is more likely to achieve a positive result. It's worked for me and a "no" is better than wasting time on no hopers.

I'm currently exploring a mix of dance and fashion. I have no experience of dance or ballet but a direct approach with a brief and a few fashion pics yielded some dancers and their teacher.

I hope this helps.

BLAMissKW said

I would hope that I could start by being a little more studious and try to read more but really what is fashion ?

Commercial photography intending to facilitate sales of clothing items and accessories.
That simple.

See my post about shooting people on plain white for the opening pages of the glossies.
These are pretty boring routine jobs, the clothing is important, the models ideally don't
distract from them.

That's one part of it - it simply serves a purpose and has a clearly defined target use.

The other part is what most people probably imagine when they think fashion.
Campaign shots with glamourous environments, dripping from luxury.

You can do almost anything and then slap the brand logo on top of it.
Might work, but is everything but guaranteed.

Remember: Selling is the objective.

Create a mood that speaks to people and attach the brand logo to that positive
or otherwise attractive mood. Make people more welcoming towards that brand.

It is not about you as a photographer, it is not about the model, the brand clothing
and brand name worth is king and queen in this scenario. You and your complete
team serve this prime directive.

Ace I thank you for your thoughts on this. I hope some photographers would take your advice 👍🏼👍🏼🙏🏼

MaristarOxley said

Lindbergh doesn't edit photos, he does not like highly stylised models, he uses outdoors mainly and has the models doing normal stuff.

Lindbergh could do both. I had a bunch of original fibre based black&white prints by him lying in my
office for some time that had been shot for a German company. Tack sharp, excellent craftsmanship,
printed from medium format.

That wasn't what he was famous for, of course.

People didn't book him primarily for the pictures, they booked him for "The Peter Lindbergh Experience".

He would set up huge motion picture film sets, and then shoot between backstage campers his most
famous stuff with handheld cameras. That wasn't the actual campaign stuff, that was an extra which
often ended in editorials. Massive sets were needed for that. I once organized two huge Mole-Richardson
wind machines that he demanded. At that time there was one in London, and one in Paris. Not a single
one elsewhere in Europe. So a stringer got into a van in London, picked up the first, over to France,
picked up the second, drove to Spain, ferry to the island - and back after the shot.

Only for two wind machines being in the back, slightly out of focus.

‘Fashion’ on this site is a bit generic. As someone else has said, really it just means clothed, even to those of us who understand the difference. I have no real interest in true fashion photography. At least not enough to spend the time needed studying the genre first. From my perspective as a photographer though it would not concern me in the slightest that I did not have suitable images, any more than it did moving to fine art. I am paying you to provide a service and would not offer you the work if I did not feel you were suitable.

In this situation either I would approach models direct who do obviously understand fashion or in the case of a casting, only follow up on those models with the right portfolio. So for example all the obvious glamour models with their enhancements would not get a look in.