The Motion of Fashion

The fashion image is often the result of a solution to many obstacles.  As we often do in industrial design, if we can't hide it, then we feature it.  

I shot this image for a Halloween promotion, and I have three international models to shot, and of course the costume, hair and make-up to match. Problems, one female model was 3-4 inches less than the other female model, and much less than the male model; so in order to compose a balanced picture, one has to wear high heel while the other two with bare feet. The costume is also rather weak to portrait the desired Halloween look, so I have to divert the attention of the costume and to reduce its final visual impact, especially the cloak. 

The result, as presented in the final image, is to have the shortest model to bring motion into the picture, and the motion, was the weakest costume, which in any case, won't be seen much if wore by the male model.  I shot a small sequence of 6-7 images with the shortest model flipping the cloak to capture the cloak in the right position of the image so I can put a cooperate logo of the company who hired me for the work, as well as to hide the high heel she was wearing.

Motion in a still picture is a frequent used option, just as motion pictures often use slow motion to try to present the sense of freezing the moment, in order to bring the audience to a mode that they can have enough time to share the same emotion of objects in the picture.  As the case with the final image, a slower shutter speed was use to give a bit of blur effect to the cloak, while try to maintain the models in good sharpness.  Very little Photoshop was applied; at most, it was the blood.  Camera in use was Phase One P45+ fitted on Contax 645, with Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnar 45-90mm.

The final image is far from what was planed.  

Today's commercial work, quite sadly, has in large part neglected or simply don't understand the photographer's role as the creative master.  In stead, many so called creative people or directors try to involve in the process, few made positive contributions, more made it worse, some are simply useless, and all of them at the same time try to tell photographer what to do??  Photography to me is about the man and the subject, with the camera or other media the tool to capture what is in the mind of the photographer. Of course, as the case of fashion photography, the model plays an important role, as thru the expressions and postures, he or she help deliver more depth and dimension to the final image. 

The image was in such a hurry, it gives little time to prepare anything. No time to cast the model, not enough time to get the appropriate costume, and the final image needs to deliver few hours after the production.  Is there luck?  Hardly any.  It is the result of a photographer to use his or her imagination, communicate to the model, fix the problem at the spot, and finish the picture in minutes.  Is this the best result possible?  Certainly not!  There are countless talented photographers can come in, solve the problems in each own way and create the final image in different perspective and execution, and probably all equally good or better.  

What do I try to explain, quite simply, the term photography and photographer came from the same root and they cannot be separate.