This past week I was asked to shoot for a reginal 'Next Top Model' event in a town about 3 hours away. Working on location out of my van, I drove down hoping to get some great set ups and work with some solid up and coming raw talent. Working with aspiring or new models is always a challenge, but after working with Mary DuPrie in Detroit this past summer and getting some experience here in Halifax, I felt I had a bit to offer, and that given some time with the new models, I'd be able to offer some useful instruction and guidance on modeling for still photograhy.

Well, as it turned out, we had 18 models to shoot. On day 1, we needed to fill out 4 looks for a comp card mock up. We had just under 3 hours to shoot 18 models in 4 looks. Doing the math, that was about 2 minutes per look. Scary stuff. We ended up doing 10 frames per model per look, and essentially puppy milling them through.

To top it off, we had to shoot jpg, and then hand off the files directly out of the camera to be sent to the printer - the plan was to get the comp cards back by late afternoon.

The task was made a bit easier as I was working with another photographer - a young local who actually specializes in food and product work, but who knew his way around strobes quite well, and as a bonus, he was a pretty good guy too. So on that first day, we set up with me shooting full length shots on seamless and headshots one two of three headshot sets I'd made, and the other photographer in a large closet shooting 3/4 length images.

That was quite the grind, and I still haven't really seen the images.

On day two, we shot on location at a hair salon, and reversed rolls. I set up in a tiny room and shot headshots only, and the other photographer shot full lengths and various other looks in a large, under-construction area.

On that day, I ended up with 10 minutes per model. Normally that would scare the heck out of me, but after the previous day, I hardly knew what to do with all the extra time (/sarcasm off)

Anyway, I set up for the headshots so that I could use a beauty dish and kicker; or the spider lights, just by moving me and the model about 5 feet. It was raining pretty hard outside, but the light right in the salon's entrance was kind of nice as well, so I did shoot two models there - but I had to stand in the pouring rain to do it, and after two, decided I didn't want to spend the rest of the day in the cold and wet. Heh - I'm so lazy.

Anyway, back in the room, the beauty dish had as a background a giant (4x6) painting of parrots. Lots of colour, but a bit odd as a background. With the spiderlights, I had to climb up into the corner of the room on some desks, and shoot down so I could use a tiny section of a red-wall as my background - pretty much the only area of the wall in the room not loaded with product or other distractions.

Heh - still 10 minutes with very young models having little to no experience in front of the camera was quite the challenge for me, given that I'm traditionally a bit of a slow poke in the studio, taking 2-3 hours for a shoot with a model.

I'm working through the headshots now. Here are a few samples of the headshots from day two...

This one is in the doorway with me in the rain..

excellent work ... especially considering the tough time constraints !!!

Hi,

I always enjoy reading about the backstory to images. The challenges one faces to make or get the shot are very interesting to me. Fun to read.

So...I enjoyed reading your detailed intro. I wish more people would do the same.

The photos look very nice for the need and the scenario. Good work. Well done.

Amazing eyes in the first shot... all are great but her eyes in the first photo are captivating.

Great job all around! I can't imagine the pressure you had to produce shots with the time you were alloted. Awesome job!!!

Hatch

Awesome work and it's good to read the narrative. Thanks for including it.

Now you've gone and spoiled a bunch of models who will forever now believe it only takes 2 minutes to do a shoot. Shame on you!

There is something special about each photo and the only ciritique I could offer is related to whomever pile the hair so high in #3, so nevermind. Great work.

hatch1921 wrote:
Amazing eyes in the first shot... all are great but her eyes in the first photo are captivating.

Hatch

They definately are. She still reads very young in almost all the photos (this is one of the ones in which she looks the most mature, and I still think she reads young in it), but at 16, she's got some shot at doing commercial and catalogue work (likely too short for fashion or runway) in this part of the country. Absolutely wonderful personality too.

B

Can't say anything - very well done - my fav is all of them

Nicely done, but noticed every head shot is tilted - is that the style ?
Great shots, love the eyes of the first...

best

steve

Beautiful shots and models, both.
SJMD--Without the tilt they tend to look too stiff and formal, at least to me.

I'm still undecided about the tilt when shooting, so I do some tilted, some not. I also shoot some landscape, and often leave empty/white space in some of them (former editor's tendency, I think).

But in the end, I tend to edit by looking first at the mouth, then at the eyes. I'm looking for the perfect mouth, and then good (or better) eyes for beauty; or I'm looking for just a genuine expression (in rare cases I get both, but in 10 minute shoots, I find I just have to pick something that's in the ball park)

B

Very nice work Brent. I've yet to see a single piece of your work that I haven't thoroughly enjoyed, and these are no different.

Cheers,
Rick

#2 and 3 are nicely done. The subject in #2 has very expressive eyes.

Great shots with a great story. The scariest part of the story would have been the handing off the files straight out of the camera.

Thanks for the post.