Model Test, Anna Z @ Scene in Sydney

A very simple studio & location model test. Anna did her own hair & make-up. The gown is by Anna's friend Anna Shin.











I am quite keen on doing these simple tests as time allows in 2010. Its great to just try out ideas, poses and techniques without needing to put together a big team. And the shots still look great! Shot at and around The Photo Studio Sydney.

We don't work we Play.

When asked how he and his design studio managed to remain so innovative, design guru Philippe Starck replied, “We don't work we Play”. I love this quote from Starck, its in perfect alignment with behavioral psychologists beliefs that innovation & creativity is more likely to spring forth from a relaxed state of mind. Its also highly reminiscent of the old saying, “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy”. And no one wants dull work now do they.

Of course when working on an assignment and delivering to a deadline a relaxed and playful frame of mind may be hard to come by so thank goodness we already know what we are doing!



But what do you do when you want to come up with new ideas?

I can't say I am a big fan of the 'think outside the box' concept. If you ask me, trying to think outside the box just won't work. You need to be outside of it to do that. How do you get there, outside of the box? Better to forget the box altogether and just Play!



A couple of weeks ago I decided I just wanted to play around with the studio lighting. I didn't have a specific outcome in mind. I just wanted to see if I could try some different set-ups & see what I could get. I also had a new Hair & Make-Up (H&MU) artist I wanted to try out; Kate Bonar, so that meant I needed a model too.



Of course once you have a model and a H&MU you start to find yourself in a situation where you have an obligation to deliver. Now there is nothing wrong with that, delivering great photography is my job. But I just wanted to 'Play' (and not worry about delivering too much). I started casting around for someone that might just be happy to spend an afternoon in the studio in like-minded fashion, happy to play with ideas and see what we could come up with. Fortunately an email from another H&MU artist popped into my in-box. Cool; its always nice to find a new H&MU & at the end of the email this H&MU just happens to mention she is also an agency model. I checked her profile (could possibly use some more shots...) & gave her a call. One model booked along with a promise of a H&MU test soon.



We started at three in the afternoon and ran through until a little after eight. Together we played around with three different light set-ups and a few styling changes on the model, Kate gave us two different H&MU looks to go with the styling changes.In the end we had a rather nice clutch of pictures from four distinct shots including a new head/beauty shot for Angela & Kate. And I now had some new lighting set-ups I knew I could safely work with on future projects; a lovely new H&MU who clearly knows her stuff & another H&MU in waiting.

Having been reasonably busy shooting look books of late, the next day at the studio I cheekily remarked that I didn't know I could (still) do four shots in four hours, I thought I could only do 44!

Playing in the studio turned out not only to be a great way to find new lighting set-ups, it also turned out to be a great way to recharge the creative batteries too. And what better way to recharge than doing what you love. Making pictures.

All images shot at 'The Photo Studio' Sydney.
H&MU Kate Bonar
Model, Angela Thomas at Scene
Assisted by Harry Perlich.

 

Editorial Fashion, Fashion Advertising & Model Folios Too.

Well I may have already blogged some of the shots from various shoots over the last few months but the Web site itself was looking a little tired and in need of some new images. For the last four days I have been working on editing, re-processing, re-sizing, re-ordering and finally replacing quite a lot of pictures on the Fashion Pages of the web site.



Its always a daunting task but one that is very worthwhile. Both the Fashion Editorial and Fashion Advertising galleries on the website have never looked better and are showing my vision for fashion photography much more clearly.

There are a couple of projects that have been in the planing stages for quite a while that are about to 'come off' so now is a good time to check out the web site before some of the old favorites disappear back into the archive.



The Beauty Photography gallery has had a bit of a make over with some lovely new images that have not been on the site or the Blog before. I have also added some of the Notorious; yes these shots do seem to be gaining some notoriety... Frankie's Nightclub Campsie shots. For those of you who are not aware, there is no Frankie's! So please, stop emailing me for the address :~)) Its an Art Project, a kind of myspace thing, but there will be more about that later. Frankie's lovers might like to check out the Modelling Portfolios pages; just because you can.



So if you have only been following the blog, please click the links and take a tour of the site, there is much more wonderful photography to be seen. And of course; the whole point of the exercise is to entice you to commission me to shoot your Fashion for you. Great shots make for great web-sites, catalogues, look-books, promotions and lots of sales!

Please call or email for a quote.

Kent Johnson

Sydney Australia 0433 796 863, kent@artcommunication.com.au

Fashion Modelling & Models Portfolios

If you want to model at some point in time you are going to need a portfolio. The models portfolio along with their comp card is the fashion worlds equivalent of a CV or Resume. The portfolio gets you noticed, it lets Photographers, Fashion Editors and Art Directors know what you look like. Your portfolio lets people know who you are and what you can do.

If you are new to modelling you will need the basic folio shots. The basic shots really do show what you look like. It’s a very important step getting these pictures that show you as these first pictures will show photographers what you are like. They can be studio photographs or location and they are probably not going to be the most exciting pictures in your portfolio but they are important, they are the first step in getting you noticed.



These photographs need to be clean and clear, show your hight, your body type, your face and your hair. What you look like! Of course once you have these shots in your portfolio it won’t be long before you start adding to your ‘book’ with more creative images. You will start ‘testing’ with photographers who are trying out ideas for there own portfolio. This is often done as a trade in your time for the photographers and make up artists time, you will probably even have a stylist providing the latest fashion for the shoot.



Location or Studio?
That is probably going to be up to the photographer but your first professional portfolio shoot will most likely be done in the studio. Studio photography has the distinct advantage of not needing to worry about the weather; the shoot will be on rain or shine. When it comes to the more creative tests it could be either. As your portfolio grows you will accumulate a variety of studio and location shots and as the jobs are published you will be putting the magazine pages, ‘tear sheets’ in your folio too.