Fashion Photography Challenge: It’s Not Me, It’s You
Becoming a fashion photographer explores a blend of product, portrait, documentary, and fine art photography. It is where art meets commerce. It is about the clothes and models placed in front of a lens to create meaning and debate.
Still, it also includes careful thought into poses, lighting, backgrounds and more – all of these elements work together to create beautiful imagery to sell an aesthetic and lifestyle.
Figure 3 - Credit @ededugdale
Figure 4 - Credit@ededugdale
Fashion photography covers such a broad area of styles and genres. While some are experts at a wide range of shoots, other fashion photographers focus on just one approach.
For this challenge, we will focus on one approach - portrait photography. A photography medium lends itself to fashion by highlighting the subject’s style creatively and compellingly.
So, what does it mean to take or capture a portrait?
“I like to give freedom to the people I capture to let them express themselves in the way they want.
The results are always very interesting and unexpected, and I think this is how magic works in a way to capture moments.”
- Peter Lindbergh
Figure 5 - Credit @megjepson ‘Winner of Portrait of Britain 2020’
Figure 6 - Credit @megjepson
Your Fashion Photography Challenge:
We would like you to capture a fashion portrait, choose your subject, and study the things they love. Look at their favourite things. Appreciate them. But before you do… consider this.
The difference between a selfie and a portrait.
Portrait photography is very different to taking a selfie. While both have a purpose, a selfie eternalises fun and/or important moments in our lives. It is when we want to
capture proof that a specific event happened with certain people. Selfies and spontaneity go hand in hand, and that’s
great.
However, a portrait is a different medium altogether. Connected, yes, but different. Portrait photography is a technical art, and one person attempts to capture another
person entirely. When looking at a portrait, we often feel a sense of intimacy or connection because what we’re experiencing is someone else’s engagement with that person, how one person sees another person.
The fundamental difference between a selfie and
a professional portrait is the story told – so what’s
the story you would like to tell?
Need some inspiration?
Take a look at:
Viviane Sassen - https://www.vivianesassen.com/
Zanele Muholi - https://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/zanele-muholi
Cass Bird - http://www.cassbird.com/home.php#
Mark Borthwick - https://www.wefolk.com/artists/mark-borthwick/information
Stevie Dance - https://www.steviedance.com/
SHARE YOUR FASHION IMAGE-
MAKING:
Share your recorded clips or quotes of your piece
- @officialgfw #GFWitsnotmeitsyou
