Fashionista Group Blog

So I’ve been watching FTV forever and frankly all the other channels don’t compete for fashion coverage. Some have some great shows but for wall-to-wall cover FTV has it covered. The only thing that sucks is that for a channel cover outward appearance and style its always only been available in standard definition and on a satellite feed that left a little to be desesared in the US. I know its free I shouldn’t complain, but FTV is my background noise so it would have been nice to at least be watching it in PAL instead of NTSC. Well now FTV have launched high definition service but unfortunately only in Europe. Hopefully in the one up manship that DirecTV and Dish play for HD channels one of them will pick it up. April 1st is the launch party and I got an invite, unfortunately also in Europe.

So I for one cant wait for this movie, I’ve been a fan of Sacha Baron Cohen since “Da Ali G Show”. I know some people don’t think he’s funny but you know you have to be able to laugh at yourself. I can only imagine how the fashion industry is going to look in this movie, but these days I think we all need to be reminded to laugh a little. July 10th I’ll be laughing my ass off I know that much.

www.thebrunomovie.com

I don’t know why I love Topshop so much but I do maybe its the line of clothing that Kate Moss didn’t design, maybe it because I’m English and anything that advances the retaking of the American shores for king and country and all. Seriously though, its a pretty bold move. The dollar is extremely strong against the pound at the moment and doubtless you’ve all noticed that the economy stinks at the moment. Needless to say Topshop will have that shiny new feel to New Yorkers for a while, so they’re not going to lose any money in the first year.

Images courtesy of Racked.com

If you’re in New York this week your should head over for the opening, free makeovers and manicures, free Britannia t-shirts and a bunch more have been promised. The new store is at 478 Broadway. I have to wait until next month when I’m back in New York. Kate Moss Hearts Topshop collection will be debuting at the store this collection sold out in London in three minutes apparently.

When I shot in Arizona, I got to meet Barbara Love is a really talented artist. I got to see the work Barbara Love has done on the images I shot in at her place in Glendale. Here they are, nice to see my work taken even further than any retoucher has before.

This is titled

Adrift On the Wind

This is titled

Wake up..The world is on Fire!

So I stumbled upon a great blog that’s written by Elaine Maria, she is a photographers assistant. I get lots of people contacting me wanting to assist or intern with us; its a little disturbing when I describe what an assistant does and they seem really disappointed that they not going to be shooting half the images during each set. Elaine’s blog describes what goes on when she is assisting and give a fantastic insight into the duties that an assistant performs before, during and after a shoot. I highly recommend it to anyone that has any interest in becoming a photographers assistant. You can find her blog here.

So I had no less than three new items to use on this trip

Hasselblad H3dii-39 – Loved it I can see what all the fuss is about there’s a bit of a learning curve for sure going from the 1dsm3 to the H3D but its a rocking system. Beautiful lens. I had planned to shoot about 10% of this shoot with the Hasselblad but ended up actually using it for about 90% of the shoot instead. Focus was a bit of a chore but think I just need to work with the system a little more. Software wise I’m not a big fan of Phocus and wish I could stick with my Aperture/Lightroom – Photoshop workflow. This is a common complaint from people moving for DSLR to the Hasselblad platform I guess. I just never understand why the camera manufacturer have to try and lock their cameras into propriety software when in my humble opinion they are much better options.

So today we shoot at this amazing hotel in Geneva called Herrington inn. Anyone that lives within a thousand miles of it sound consider it the place to show how romantic they are. It’s truly special hotel in an amazing town.

On arrival I found two small bottles of milk and two chocolate chip cookies. It reminded me of being at school as a kid in London. I have no idea if that still happens or not. The bed is something out of this world. I know I was really knackered but anyone that knows me know the first night in a new bed means next to no sleep. Oh not here I rolled over and was asleep instantly.

I spent a quieter day shooting three models and then celebrated wrapping with dinner with the client, learnt a whole lot and formed an instant friendship with them. It’s great when something that starts as a job, no matter how passionate you are about it, results in making new friends.

We got to shoot at this amazing house that the makeup artist Jodi had built. Meet the client Dawn from a high end salon called Sorelle. I Instantly fell in love with her and her team. Had five models to shoot today. A lot of beauty shoots and some editorial concepts.

A bed in the garden? A great place to put the inlaws on those cold Chicago nights right?

So I figure I’ll shoot the gamut from the most conservative mid western to as crazy as I can muster. It ended up being a long day but was worth it we had a lot of fun and I got to make a lot of new friends as well. Although I was so tired I started to doze off as I was packing up. Cant wait until I’m back in my hotel room….

So off travel day to Chicago starts with flying to Chicago. super early way over allowance for my carry on. Need to sneak on. Sitting on the plane ready to go and battery for the navgation system is dead. All off and fast forward six hours and second plane with a tenth of the original passengers and we’re on our way. Finally made it at 2.30am, sleep for three hours and off to see the Julie @ Dame Couture to pick up the clothing.

Lots of new toys to play with on this shoot new Mac, Hasselblad H3Dii-39, new Hensel lighting right. Tad excited…

So I got into a big conversation with Jodi recently about obvious mistakes that people make when we’ve shot with them. I guess I’ve always just thought it was mostly common sense but of course could be because I’ve been shooting for a while and it seems like second nature to the professional we work with. When I work with someone who is new to the industry I typically have a boiler plate email I send them to cover the basics.

So I thought I’d put together some probably quite obvious blog post for professional involved in a shoot. I’ll start with my own profession photography. If anyone has any tips you’d like to have me include send them my way.