Prior to leaving on our two week vacation to China I had composed some themes and concepts for a fashion editorial assignment for one of my classes at FIT. I enjoyed our vacation so much that I lost track of the assignment and it's due date. When I returned from China I found that I had only two days left to pull it off. I had not done any of the prep work required for the original editorial themes that I had envisioned and therefore I was forced to scramble.
Suffering from jet-lag and an acute lack of time I improvised an idea and enlisted Joanne's help to make it work. Joanne and I did some last minute shopping at the mall to pick up some tights and see if anything interesting could be found at Forever 21. After our quick shopping trip, Joanne braved the freezing cold weather wearing too little while I composed and shot the various parts of the editorial.
The improvised concept was to create an editorial based on a sequence of images with an unexpected and disruptive element that causes the viewer to see the clothing in the image from a different perspective. The disruptive elements ended up being various props from some of my personal hobbies, including a 20 year-old video camera, an R/C car and helicopter and our '87 Red Alfa Spider. All of the shots were very rushed and done without much if any consideration for the background (my original theme concepts had called for consistent and relevant backgrounds). Moreover, all shots were done with available light using a standard lens and gratuitous PS work.
The following are a few of the final images from the completed editorial assignment.
Joanne posing in the hallway to our kitchen with a 20 year-old Sony BVW-200 video camera that weighs over 15 lbs.
A few more images of Joanne with the video camera. These shots were inspired by the Colour Block editorial styled by Grace Coddington for the September 2009 issue of Vogue (featuring the cameraman who shot The September Issue movie).
Joanne posing in front of our Alfa Spider. The car itself is the epitome of Italian style, with a timeless Pininfarina designed body that is instantly recognizable. Joanne managed the perfect pose to make this shot work.
This is my least favorite shot from the project. I wanted to include a shot featuring the full length of the car, however I could not figure out how to make it work. I dislike the bold red type and the checkered-flag border, but could not come up with better.
Here Joanne is posing with my FG Leopard R/C car. In this shot Joanne's face was not supposed to be out of focus, however this was the only decently composed shot that I had for this look and I had to go with it. In retrospect, the out of focus actually works to the advantage of the shot, drawing more attention to the clothes.
Joanne and I struggled to make this shot work and could not come up with any good poses. This was the last pose that we tried and I think it ended up working out the best.
I had originally envisioned the helicopter playing a more prominent role in the editorial, however it proved to be very difficult to hold and pose with and this was the only shot we were able to make with it. In this shot the strong cold wind that made shooting outside so uncomfortable ended up helping us out by blowing Joanne's hair to add to the "flying" context of the picture.
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