Recently did a tour the force of Copenhagen Fashion Week. Very little sleep, lots of picture files to keep sorted and in order. And lots of young models that awful nice at the catwalk but way too young (16) off stage.
There you go. The best kept secret in photography explained. That’s how we make them look slim, gorgeous and fit on photographs. Simply because they haven’t started wrinkling yet and gravity haven’t attacked yet.
Anyway, I’m married and was overworked, so I stayed with the picture taking and had others do the partying. Frankly, I don’t think many of the ones involved in the actual Fashion Week had energy, nor time, to participate in the after parties.
They call it “the week” amongst us survivors. Like Vietnam veterans say “the war.”
Anyway, I found strength and time to finish a slideshow yesterday. It’s the longest I’ve done so far with 230 pictures in it.
It’s a good promotional action, I’ve learned, to do slideshows. And it’s very easy with the soundslide.com software. I have lots of people watching my slideshows online and often get calls and e-mails asking to buy a certain picture.
One thing is the nice girls in bikinis. But someone delivered jewelry and would like a picture. Some did the stage light or rented out the sound mixer. If it’s in a picture, usually they call and ask.
Speaking of which – what to photograph?
Catwalks, of course! Or may that is not that obvious though. Lots of stuff is going on such as famous people attending catwalks. There’s always a small crowd of photographers outside that shoot the famous people for the weeklies. The never come in and shoot the fashion stuff. Just the arrivals.
Frankly I don’t own a television so I kind of too often miss out who’s who (Then again, it very often happens that photographers all shoot a person and then when the person has left, turns to each other and ask “who was that.” Some people just look important and when everybody shoots…)
Lene Nystrøm of AQUA
I’m an odd guy. I often shoot people I like, and those I don’t like, I skip. For example Lena Nystrøm, former singer of AQUA. Man, she is perhaps the nicest looking girl I saw that week. She has class like a princess, the way she carries herself, she’s looking honest and clean like a Norwegian river. And she’s down to earth; which is a star quality here around.
Anyway, I would love to do a lot of backstage and behind the scenes stuff but simply did not have time for it. The required pictures were up to ten shots from certain shows and that’s it. And even that almost required an assistant to pull off.
Some shows was not on my list but I attended anyway because that gave me a possibility to se things a bit from an external point of view. One such was the Design School Denmark where I stood in the back on a ladder and couldn’t always get the models feet. But then gave some interesting stuff anyway. Like this one:
How to do it? I’ll get back to that. But let me first give an impression on how it goes. There’s a lot of fashion editors and photographers and videographers around. And make no mistake. Those people is the most important audience.
The VIP’s, celebrities, designers, good-looking bystanders and all is just fodder for the cameras and part of the event set-up.
There’s a double-decker bus for the press. The shows are spread every hour or every one and a half over the day and the press is driven to the first one in the bus. There’s goodie bags, food, ecological water and stuff in the bus between every show.
The bus stops outside, the press goes in. The fashion editors usually has names on their front-row seats while the photographers go to the end of the podium and set up. At the time of our arrival, the place is usually packed and the event starts right as soon as we’re set up.
A show takes 20 minutes as a general rule. So we run out to the bus, eat sushi or whatever while the fashion editors agree on what they think about what they just saw (within five minutes a show is either five star o bottom-out, it’s discussed and decided tight then and there). I load of pictures to m laptop and clean out memory cards, check batteries and get ready for next stop.
On some occasions a show is delayed which is really bad style and a sure way to get minus points with the fashion editors. Delays might be fashionable at some other occasions, but in “the week” it’s jus the wrong thing to do.
Because it means that the next show has to delay till the bus arrives. No point in having a fashion show while the press is at another show.
The venues are often the same, so we drive in circles. But then sometimes it’s an exotic place like a warehouse or the beach. What can I say about shooting catwalks?
Having a handful or more or different venues, make sure you got the temperature of the light right (that’s WB or White Balance) of each place. As you often arrive just when the show starts, that’s a problem sometimes.
The shows that use plenty of light, daylight and daylight lamps (like the ones on film sets) are my heroes. Gives way the best pictures.
As for exposure, go lower than normal. Burned out light on the floor and particular in light dresses are just not a good thing.
I shoot manual and often plus and minus the f-stop depending on if it is light or dark dress coming in on the catwalk. If dark, you have to get enough light in to se the details in a black shirt. If it’s light dress, you have to get the light down so you don’t burn out the details in that either.
If it is possible, get there very early to get THE spot in front of the catwalk. Television guys come early. But get there early and place a marker on your spot. Also, that will usually allow you to see the light being tested, thus you can check white balance (color temperature) and how much light is there.
That look straight into the camera and audience does count! However, the model is not the center of interest. The design is...
That said, if you come last minute, standing other places than in THE spot can be interesting. I do that a lot and the jury is still out to determine if I want to do a bunch of straight shots from THE spot or more interesting pictures from other angels.
THE spot means you have the runway behind the model, often the logo in the back, usually no audience in the picture, and the model look straight into the lens.
As many fashion magazines crop fashion shots very tight and have 30 or 40 on one page, that kind of shots are perfect for that.
Because, who are we shooting for?
Where it’s a general rule in shooting fashion (and celebrities also) to have a full picture of the person from toe to top (because again; someone delivered the shoes, the makeup, the hair, the hat, the dress, etc), my editor also told me to focus and crop close sometimes:
Because what the fashion geeks want to look at in a fashion picture is not the tits or the face of the model. No, they are looking at the details. How is the thing designed? How is it cut? Which buttons? What material?
They don’t care for atmosphere shots from catwalks. Been there, done that.
So sometimes you cut off the shoes and the legs – and arms too if you have to – to show the shirt or jacket.
The crop factor. It generates a lot more interest in the picture. Thus more picture sales.
I’m still playing around with this. On the train back home I had three hours to edit and came up with this new invention, I’m rather proud of. Because in selecting which shot to use, I notice how differently the dress looks for each step.
Triple exposure shows the details. My invention!
Funny enough, a crowd from DAY was on the same train so we had a chat and 10 girls around me looking at pictures. They are so curious to se what was on the other shows too.
So ther you have a great deal of your audience. In the old days some photographers made real good money photographing catwalks in Paris and then a day later delivering a stack of prints to the fashion houses around Europe.
That’s how fashion becomes fashion apparently out of the blue. Copying.
As for gear I used my Leica D2 because of the AF, 28-90 mm zoom and the strong f/2.0 lens. Doesn’t weight a thing either, which is important when you shoot for 10 hours.
I’m giving Leica R9 dSLR with digital back and the lovely 180mm f/2.0 a thought. But the problem is really not the straight catwalks where the 60 or so models come in, stand still and go back over a period of 20 minutes. Those are quite easy to adjust to and predict.
You can find a rhythm where you can both get plenty of shots and relax between shots to actually enjoy the design (if you shoot from they come in till they gou out you won’t know a thing about what happened at the show; you got to decide one or two spots at the catwalk; that when they get to that point, you fire a series 3, 4 5 shots. Then relax and wait for the next model).
Lying on the floow is not the normal way of doing it. But sometimes it works!
No, the tricky ones are those creative catwalks in lofty places where the models go around in a circle, where the light changes from one side of the place to another. Stuff like that. It looks great as a show, but photogenic, it’s a mess. Then you first have to decide where to shoot (where the models should be at when you shoot), and then get a rhythm in for that.
If there’s to little light, they have to stand still a place where you can shoot them. If there’s plenty of light, you can shoot them while they walk.
Worst thing is those places where the color temperature shifts from one place of the catwalk to another. Stay alert for those (because most catwalk light is set for photographing right in front of the photographers pool at then end of the catwalk).
First think I check in a new place is the lamps in the ceiling. They tell me where the best light is directed towards: That is where I want to be aiming at.
Anyway, hope that gave some useful advice. Catwalks and fashion is highly addictive.
One thing though is more important than fashion. And that is royalty.
At the hip show with Baum and Pferdgarten catwalk Princess Mary showed up. I mean; there were celebrities at many shows. But royal beats them all – it’s in the blood with those.
Princess Mary of Denmark with the crowd
I happened to know in advance which meant I took another place to stand than the rest of the photographers. So I was ready when she came in from the left, out of nothing. Also, anyone who paid attention would have noticed some guys walking around checking stuff, wearing a distinguished small pin which only the royal security wear. You see them – you know something royal is coming your way soon.
Princess Mary of Denmark talking witht he designer
She got good taste, our princess. She choused the hottest show, but not the biggest brand. And her pictures are as popular as those of Paris Hilton. Different lady, but same media buzz.
Baum and Pferdgarten – a girl wearing knee protection on a date is as romantic as seeing a guy bringing flowers...
really enjoyed reading your blog. it's nice to get a little insight into the workflow of a professional. the slideshow was great. i can imagine that some of the locations are really hard to shoot...hence the blurry images...still some great shots beneath them. for the multi-exporsures: wonder why no one else ever had that idea before...it's quite a common thing in sports photography. anyway, i'd love to see more blogs covering your work!
It has been, i confess, long overdue. But i have been procrastinating this simple task of leaving you a comment for weeks. I've been busy and only comment when commented. I do admire your work and your blogs are quite the read. congratulations on a wonderful page. And. xoxoxox :)
I just wanted to say hello and compliment you on your gallery. You've got a really great selection of pictures here, I really like your natural style and your use of light. Lots and lots of interesting stuff to read too! I reckon I'm going to be a regular reader. Take it slow... Mark
Heeeeey... You're another one on here who I see has fanagled a way around (what I thought was the max) of 16 "Top Friends." How'd you manage that one, if you don't mind me asking? Whatever the case, very best of regards to you...CCx
Thanks for the comment on my first post- nice to know I'm not alone in my technological woes! Love your photography- really beautiful shots you've got here.
thnak you. I'm just collecting all the art i see in San Francisco... check out the new slideshow on TINGLETANGLE and WEMARNY sections on the nav bar menu of http://ozcillator.com. peace, franz
Hello Thorsten. I've been doing a lot of uber-diving, and I must say that yours stands out as one of my top five blogs. It's so diverse and interesting! Keep up the good work! All the best, Stewart
Hi Thorsten, Thanks for the great idea for a blog posting on how a designer comes to dress a star at the Oscars. I will have to write it! Continue to check my blog, I'm going to continue to add great stuff in the next few weeks. xoNick
I found it annoying, the D-Lux 3, that you can't get a good grip at it. That you use the screen as viewfinder is kind of OK. But the light from the screen, as well as the red AF light at night does not make it a stealth camera like a traditional quiet Leica M.
