One dispute that seems to come up for me, over the years that I’ve been a fashion photographer, is the treatment of the models. Or better still, what to do with a model who isn’t giving you what you need. So here’s the dilemma: you cast a girl who you think fits the look you’re going for on a particular shoot. You organize the team, putting together the best hair stylist, make up artist and stylist for the job. You rent or find the location. You go over and over the details with your team before you even get to the set. You leave no stone unturned: all the details are complete. You’re finally ready to shoot and the girl just won’t emote. You’re playing her iPod, everyone is happy to be there and in a creative mood, food has been offered and eaten. And the girl just won’t give it up! What do you do?
Fashion Photography EXPOSED – The DVD!
We’ve kept it under wraps for over a year. But now the secret is finally out! If you haven’t heard by now, we are releasing the first full blown educational fashion photography DVD ever made! We have pulled out all the stops to leave no stone unturned, no question unanswered. And I am honestly very pleased with the results!! Initially we wanted to base the format of the DVD loosely around what I teach at my workshops: a chance for photographers to work on a real fashion shoot with top models and professional hair stylists, make up artists and fashion stylists. And that’s great for a seminar when you’re in the room with me so I can show you what a difference it makes when you work with a pro team. But then we took a look at the bigger picture and realized that the real challenges that most young or up and coming fashion photographers face is inside knowledge on how to break into the industry. On Fashion Photography Exposed, I show you how to produce better fashion shoots with better lighting and then I show you the importance of promoting yourself and your business so you can compete in a very competitive and unpredictable industry. There is so much that the DVD offers but I’m not going to go into all of the specifics here in this post. You can find out all the information about it on the Fashion Photography Exposed DVD website.
I have to apologize for not posting more often. We arrived in New York City on January 3rd and I have been working non-stop since we moved here. With jobs for Ralph Lauren and Nike, which took me back to LA for a week to shoot and then back to NYC to finish the job, my schedule has been a whirlwind of exciting jobs and networking. I’ve also shot two amazing editorials which I’ll blog about as soon as they’re published! Let’s just say that my decision to move to New York was definitely a good one! I absolutely love it here and have acclimated to it faster than anyone could’ve have guessed I would.
Before I moved to New York City though, I had one last shoot in LA for Rusnak Automotive Group. Elizabeth Rusnak, Vice President of Rusnak and head of marketing and advertising for the company happens to have been my best friend in High School and after having a Good Bye dinner in Hollywood with “The Girls”, her and I decided to do another shoot together with my models and her cars! Trust me, Rusnak doesn’t sell ordinary cars. They sell high-end, luxury automobiles of the Rolls Royce, Bentley, Jaguar, Porsche caliber. I have worked with Elizabeth over the years on various projects and since we go way back, there’s a great collaboration between the two of us. Liz was witness to my initial discovery of photography, we even worked on the yearbook together in our Senior year of school waaaaay back in 1980!!
Should you or shouldn’t you go
When young photographers are starting out and beginning to learn the technical craft of photography, there seems to be a lot of confusion on whether or not photography college is the right choice. I get a ton of emails asking me whether or not I think it’s important to go to college and/or to get a degree in photography. And honestly it’s one of those questions only you can answer. Everybody is different and everyone learns in their own way. For some people, college is an important, integral part of their growing process and really want to participate in that kind of schooling process. Others are more self-motivated and learn better by doing. Experience is their best teacher and they flourish without the restraints of a school environment, all aspects of it including peer pressure and social mine fields. I can tell you about my experience and you can use that insight to help determine your own destiny but I, in no means whatsoever, would ever assume I know what’s best for you. So while I’m eager and happy to share my story, I suggest asking a lot of different people their opinion and do your research. One person’s perspective is not enough when you’re really on the fence about something this important and life changing.
The second half of day two of my seminars addresses the business side of fashion photography. I jump in by reminding my students that one of the biggest mistakes photographers make is forgetting that fashion photography is a business, like any other business, and the purpose of being in business is to obviously make money. That’s kind of a no-brainer, right? We are all aware that we need to generate revenue in order to survive. However, after reminding my students of the importance of remembering that this is a business, I then ask them WHY they are interested in pursuing fashion photography. I mean, why aren’t they interested in say, food photography or portraiture, weddings or cars? Aside from teaching at my seminars, I also answer a huge amount of emails. And again, I ask the people emailing me with questions about how they can make it as a fashion photographer, why are they interested in fashion photography as oppose to other avenues of photography. What baffles me is not very many people can answer that question. What IS fashion photography? I mean, the answer is right there: FASHION photography is about the fashion. It’s the business of photographing the fashion for either editorial or advertising purposes. It’s about selling the clothes! The CLOTHES!!!!
