God, I feel like I shot this so long ago, a whole history book of my life could’ve been written between the time today when I’m sitting down to write this post and the day I actually shot this editorial. But here goes! Thank God Tyler is in the other room retouching for me. He’s young….he can remember the details!
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So I’ve been really busy lately. For one, we’ve been planning the seminar that’s taking place this up-coming weekend, November 7th and 8th. We’re almost sold out, which is exciting and I want to thank all of you who have purchased tickets and are planning on attending! It’s going to be really fun, the models are GREAT and the studio we’re using is just A+ professional, as are the people who run Smashbox. Secondly, I have been spending ALOT of time SHOOTING SHOOTING and SHOOTING some more! Here are some new pictures along with a Lighting Diagram on a test I did with just 1 Big Beautiful Light!
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All Images © 2009 Melissa Rodwell PhotographyWhen asked to shoot an editorial for Genlux Magazine, Stephen Kamifuji, the creative director, gave me two choices: I could shoot a beauty story based on a man and woman kissing or a fashion story based on the famous love story of Romeo and Juliet. I chose the fashion story. The theme for Genlux’s fall fashion magazine is Love, so obviously kissing and Romeo and Juliet are story ideas that depict the theme. Honestly I would have liked to have shot a beauty story for Genlux because it’s been a few years since I’ve done one for them but when Stephen presented both ideas to me, for some reason I felt more inclined to do the fashion story. I worked with stylist George Blodwell again because I like his work and I like working with him. Whether George’s website showcases more celebrity dressing/red carpet styling rather than editorial, one has to remember we are based here in Los Angeles and our market is celebrity driven. Many talented stylists ( wardrobe, hair and make up included ) market themselves towards the celebrity market when they are based out of Los Angeles. If you click on the artists name that has a hyper link and actually check out the agency site and more importantly, the artist’s link, you will see that most agencies have a celebrity section along with the editorial and advertising sections on their artists.
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The reason I started this blog was to do something I’d always wished someone in my industry would do: pull back the veil of mystery shrouding professional fashion photography. I wanted to write about things that could be useful to other photographers, whether they were just getting started or already established. I wanted to present an honest, no-holds-barred account of what it’s like to work as a photographer in the hyper-competitive world of fashion. And I wanted to include it all: The good. The bad. The ugly.
Not long after I published my first post, however, I realized that I wasn’t going to be able to write quite as freely and openly about everything as I’d first imagined. In other words, while I can be brutally honest and truthful about most of the facets of my job, there are certain subjects I need to stay away from for the sake of professionalism. I’m a working photographer, and I need to maintain good relationships in the industry I work in. It quickly became obvious that not only students and other photographers were reading my blog. The Industry was reading it. Clients, potential clients, agents, colleagues, contacts, etc. were on here reading my words. So I’ve been careful about what I’ve presented here, and I’ve censored myself to maintain a certain level of decorum.
Until now.
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Kevin Pohl Says:
Ok so, I seem to have a trump card opportunity with this weeks blog request. And I’m sure you are tired of me nagging you with this question, but you did say that you were gonna blog about this, and you still haven’t written me your thoughts on this
so here it goes. I would like you to blog about: “How does a photographer go about defining his/her creative vision? Is it something that you just have or do you need to develop it? And, if a photographer struggles with finding his/her own voice as an artist with a vision, can that photographer take certain steps to develop and define that creative vision? ” Hope you’ll blog about this soon, as it’s an important question on everyone’s lips. Everybody says, create your vision!, build your portfolio!, and market like crazy! But nobody tells us HOW to create that VISION part of the equation. Love your work, and this Blog! It’s Awesome!
Poor Kevin! He’s right…….he’s written to me personally a few times with his question. And I kept writing back to him promising I will blog about it soon. I don’t know why I keep putting it off…it sort of hits a nerve, I guess. He asks, “How does a photographer go about defining his/her creative vision?” Is he asking, how do you define your vision or your Photography STYLE? Your style is the look and feel of your work as a definitive and continuing stream. Is your work moody and surreal? Is it bright happy? Is it colorful and smiley? Or is it dark and thoughtful? These are words that would be used to describe the look or STYLE of your work. And yes, as a photographer that wants to compete in the market, a style is something that art directors and editors look for when they look at your work.
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