Thursday 28 February 2008

Fashion Catalogue & Advertising.

With two catalogue shoots coming out this month I can safely show a few shots and ramble on a little bit about the shoots. The first catalogue was a winter knitwear range for both men and women. We shot over two days in the warmth of mid December and I think we successfully managed to achieve a nice sunny Australian autumnal feel. Well autumnal minus the falling leaves. This was not really a problem though as we were shooting a pine forest type location. Think Southern Highlands; but only 10 minutes from the Sydney CBD!

Knitwear catalogue photography, Sydney Australia, beauty photography.

The art director and client were very happy with the results and decided to add additional pages to the catalogue including double page shots for both men and women and some scenic shots of the location I had made some time earlier. To add to the editorial feel of the shots we ran some of the shots as classic B&W. I must say that even after five years of shooting digital (where all shots are initially colour) I still find it a little odd that I always have colour and black and white in the camera at all times thanks to digital post production.

Knitwear catalogue photography, Sydney Australia, location photography.

Mens Knitwear catalogue photography, Sydney Australia, location photography.

The second catalogue was swimwear so it was a bonus that it was still summer. This catalogue was running late and turnaround time on the shooting and post production was urgent. We selected a harbour beach location next to some beautiful harbour parkland. We were looking to create more of a lyrical fashion feel and not so beach oriented. The parkland with glimpses of blue water through the trees was perfect. The location, although typically Sydney has a slightly exotic feeling; I made a point of keeping identifying landmarks out of the shots, we could have been almost anywhere on the Australian coast.

Swimwear catalogue photography, Sydney Australia, Location beauty photography.

Of course when your close to deadline and you need a lovely sunny day it will rain! And rain it did right up to the night before we shot. On the day of the shoot we had beautiful clear sky and the soft light that you only get when all the pollution has been washed from the air. A perfect day for a perfect shoot. As budget was tight the location shots were limited to a selection of swimsuits from the range, all the swimsuits were shot the following day in the studio against a white background 'look-book' style. These swimsuits also included children's and plus size swimmers.

Swimwear catalogue photography, Sydney Australia, Location beauty photography.