Summer 2008 photo shoot

Last week's photo shoot went off really well. I had a good feeling about it before it began, but I didn’t think everything would come together so perfectly.

As I mentioned last week, we used props that people associate with summer, and for logistical reasons we used my parents’ house as our location again (however we have exhausted all corners and backdrops within the house and garden after 5 photo shoots so next time I’ll have to move out of this comfort zone ... time to hit up the willing neighbours with nice houses)!

I think what really helped this time was that my photographer and I discussed the look and concept of each image until we could visualize each of the creative shots beforehand. We wasted less time figuring out the model's posture and where the props should go. We used coconuts, watermelons, and mangoes in different shots to portray the mood and complement the clothes. I managed to hire a really old murphy radio for one of the shots because I liked the image of the model sitting outdoors, listening to music and eating fruit on a warm summer morning!
Here’s a sneak preview of that shot:
My photographer has been waiting patiently for an entire year now to do some creative photography and I am so happy with the way these photographs have come out. The model is a friend of a friend, and besides being gorgeous and a great model (she got into pose within seconds of being in front of the camera), she was also very professional and managed to sustain her energy and enthusiasm throughout the day. Our day started at 5:30am when the make-up artist arrived and we wrapped up at 5:30pm with 4 creative shots and 10 catalogue shots. The photographs will be up online in a week.

Below is a shot of a style called “Button Mushroom”- made from the thin cotton ikat fabric I had photographed in an earlier blog post. The top didn’t turn out like how I had initially planned, but I think this is better suited to the design and feel of the fabric.