Fashionably late...

In an entry from the other day, Don over at Hotel Room Nudes makes a good point that I'd been considering blogging about myself. (Sorry to crib your topic, Don...you just beat me to it, again.) He discusses how properly photographing models in clothing raises a fair number of problems and questions for the photographer. I left a comment there that sort of sums up my feelings on the topic, so I thought I'd just expand upon it here. ("Never write what you can cut and paste.")

Besides the problem of presenting the clothing exactly right, if a model wears an outfit in a shoot with me, then wears it in a shoot with another photographer, it can be awkward. Like two women wearing the same dress to a party. (Seen here is Rose and our attempt at 80s retro... you tell me if we succeeded or not.)

But with nudes, everyone wins. And you don't have to worry about the model wearing "last year's fashions" or I've even seen shoots where the model wears the clothing wrong. (I even did one... the model mistook a high-waisted skirt for a dress cut insanely high on the legs. It actually sort of worked though...) And if you're selling prints, unless there's something else spectacular going on in the shot, a person isn't likely to buy a shot of a non-celebrity model wearing some outfit. A good nude is timeless and universal... and that's what makes it art rather than commerce, while paradoxically giving the image greater potential to sell. (This is one of my favorite works of art, Jackie... more from that shoot coming soon.)

Now this isn't to say that I will be shooting strictly nudes... but when nudes are not an option, I tend towards glamour over fashion. Personally, I define the difference as being that fashion shots are about the wardrobe, while glamour is about the model. Also, I realize that fashion photography requires a real dedication to knowing the latest trends and almost requires a team of wardrobe, hair and make-up people, and that's just not practical for me at this point in Dayton, OH. So when models ask me about outfits to bring, I always tend towards classics, like jeans and t-shirts, little black dresses, lingerie, or even formal wear. To illustrate, the angsty Rose returns wearing a classic lace top... it could have been shot in 1920, 1960 or 2006, at least as far as wardrobe is concerned. But it would have been even better without the Victoria's Secret bra. ;)