My First Step in Becoming a Fashion Photographer

After my last blog (What to do with Photos that Don’t Make the Cut) I’ve been hooked on finding old portraits and adding textures to them.  Here are some of my favorites.  And yes, one of them is me, can you guess which one?

It was the first one. I ran out of old portraits so I started photographing myself. The one I took of myself was actually a double exposure and then I added a texture.

Because I was loving what I was doing so much, I started thinking, maybe I could go down to English Bay or to Robson Street in front of the art gallery with a popup portrait art studio. I wonder if people would want an abstract portrait? I was so excited by the idea, I bought two portable, collapsible backdrops, printed off some of my pictures, got some cheap frames from the dollar store and went in front of my apartment building offering free portrait art. I had a questionnaire typed up asking if my models would pay for such a service and how much would they pay for it etc. I had a small contract typed up saying I owned the copyright and I may use their photograph for self promotion etc. I didn’t have a super long contract like if I were doing a job since I was offering free portraits and I wasn’t paying anyone. I’m actually not sure at all if I did the right thing, but figure if I were to do this for money I would have a lawyer look over my contract and make it as short as possible so I don’t take up too much of people’s time.

Here is a short clip of my set up:

It was quite nerve racking asking passersby if I could take their photograph. My street is busy, but there’s quite a few markets around so I didn’t want to disturb anyone with groceries. But people were curious by my display and I did photograph 7 people in about an hour. I can’t tell you how much I learned in that one hour. For instance, my posing needs a lot of work. I didn’t want to take more than 5 minutes of people’s time, so it’s not like I had hours to try new things and take my time thinking of poses. I need to come up with 5- 10 “go to” poses. I had a lot of tall people. I should have had a stool for them to sit on or I should have had a step stool. My back drop wasn’t very big and I didn’t have a lot of space. I also didn’t have anyone fill out my questionnaire. I felt bad for keeping people. I also think that my backdrop was too dark, so I’m hoping my white backdrop will work better. I also kinda felt like no one would pay for such a service. Then I got to editing. All my shots were the same, waist up shots. My back drop came to the ground so I wouldn’t have been able to do full length shots. I think a lot of my textures work well with full length portraits. That way if there’s a bit of texture on someone’s face, it’s not in your face. I got to say. I’m not in love with my pictures. They’re just ok. I’m actually quite disgusted in myself for my terrible posing. I guess I was just nervous and starting thinking maybe this is a stupid idea.

I actually gave up after doing 4 of my model’s textures. My neighbors brought out their newborn. I couldn’t for the life of me find a texture for that little baby. I tried to move on, but nothing seemed to work. So I took a week long break. I don’t even think I took a picture all week. I guess I needed to re-evaluate. I want to be a fashion photographer. I want to be unique. I know, says everyone, right? I really want to bring my abstract photography into my fashion photography. So, maybe street portraits are not the answer to my dreams. BUT…a popup studio will teach me so much. I will learn to be an excellent poser, I will learn to be comfortable with everyone and make them feel comfortable. I think I will continue with the popup studio for the summer and offer free portraits so that I can become a better photographer, a confident photographer and a better person all around.

I’m calling this my first step in becoming a fashion photographer because I know I’m going to do a lot of things that don’t make sense, I’m going to have a lot of bad ideas, fail a lot, well I hope I fail a lot so I can keep learning. I feel like this first idea of mine will lead to something better. I will have a better idea for my fashion photography, it may help me land a job as a photography assistant somehow, maybe it will guide me to creating the best portfolio I can do for graduation. I don’t know. That’s the thing, and why I’m blogging about how I will get to where I want to be. What were my steps. And it’s easier to write about it as it’s happening than remembering. Maybe my texture idea is just a dead end and I’m writing about it for nothing. But, just in case it is something, here it is. And at least it’s been fun.

Ok, so you want to see my shots from the Popup Studio?