Once in a while a project comes along that promises to challenge me. About 2 weeks ago I got a Facebook message from Toronto Canada from Dawn Maglish, a student of cosmetology who was in Toronto at a conference to further her education. The message stated that she was entering a national hairstyle contest. Her mentors advised her to hire a professional photographer as her designs were really strong and she just needed someone to who could illustrate her designs to the panel of judges in the best possible fashion. She was going to be back in town in a couple of days and she would only have a few days to get the pictures taken and submitted for competition.
Although my entire career has been dedicated to portraiture, I've admired model photography for some time. Yes, I admit, I watch America's Top Model every time it's on. I read Vogue, Elle and In Style magazine in order to keep up with the current trends of the fashion world. I have found this to be a very important part of the photography business.
I'm finding that a fashion vibe is starting to infiltrate my work and I'm actively finding ways to incorporate it into my High School Seniors and Wedding work. Now there was no incorporation...it was going to be all about fashion.
We scheduled a couple of appointments to accommodate the model's schedules and went to work. Rule number one: everything else fell secondary to the hairdo. Secondly: the light had to illustrate the point of the hairdo. Either the coloring, the styling, or both. Nothing important could be allowed to fall into shadow. Thirdly: the picture is all about fashion, and using traditional portraiture or just snapshots were not going to get these hairdos noticed.
It was great to work with Dawn, she has the makings of a great hair stylist, and I look forward to working with her again in the future. It was also great to work with the models, Melissa, Julie and Bailey. They were great to work with and very patient as we fussed over the light and the hair.
In the end both Dawn and I were pleased with the results, it was a great session! Dawn got all three of her images for competition, and I think I have another competition print for PP of I this year. Yeah...it was that good!
