'Vintage Fashion' Styling Blasts From The Past...

I have been thinking a lot about fashion styling lately. Styling; finding garments for your shoot or, even harder? Finding a good stylist for your shoot is paramount for good fashion photography. looking over shots of mine from the late 80s reminds me of the different approaches I took to styling shoots.

For smaller tests, as often as not I would visit one of the designers I knew and borrow a few outfits and 'style' the shoot myself (I know what I like but I am hardly a stylist). Just a few items I though would fit my vision for a handful of shots. If we were on a roll I might get together with a real stylist and put together a shoot that looks more like todays 'Editorial Submission' type of shoot. Of course in the days before the internet (OMG!) about the most you could do with a non-commissioned shoot was put it in your book. And then hope like hell you would land a commissioned editorial with your awesome work!

Of course most of my tests were ah, not awesome at all but you keep on plugging away at it. eventually you start to get it right, eventually you start to land some editorial work. Fashion Editors are also Stylists with very high Fashion IQ. That Fashion IQ is also something of a game changer for a fashion photographer. More garments, the pick of the seasons crop. Ideally you have been chosen to shoot the story as your style matches an idea the editor has for the next issue of their magazine.

Fashion by Stephen Galloway, Styling by me.

Styling, designer, Emma.

Mode magazine, fashion editor Kate Stead.

Mode magazine, fashion editor Kate Stead.

Location Test, Styling byNadine Degroen.

Botany Test, Styling by me.

Naturally every stylist has their own approach to fashion creating their own unique look which is something I am very interested in, working in a team that develops everyones visual range. As I have mentioned before, I am always on the look-out for stylists to work with. If you are looking for a photographer to work with please feel free to drop me a line.

Bring Back Sexy, Studio Fashion.

A little Summer story we shot at The Photo Studio last October. Although I managed to put some shots up on my web site I seem to have forgotten to blog the story as well. Our model was Neada from Platform, H&MU by Kaori, styling by Lucinda Petroeschevsky - Mayer.













French Lingerie meets tailored shorts, halter neck tops, body suits and Boyfriend Jacket. We used a mixture of daylight and studio lighting to create a contemporary fashion feeling.

Freeway Wall 8:52

I spotted this reflection of the freeway wall walking through Pyrmont this morning. I reckon there is a fashion shot here for sure... Stay tuned!

50s Vintage Fashion - Made New

I think we came up with a lovely vintage L.A. feeling as a branding exercise for this vintage-style fashion label. Choice of talent for the shoot; location and post processing of the images have all been designed to help create a true-to-life vintage 40s 50s feel. Something along the lines of what you might expect to see in a vintage magazine or perhaps, cherished family snap shots taken back in the day.













Vintage Fashion made new, Sydney.

Modelling Portfolio - Model Looks

Three looks with variations for a fashion modelling portfolio.














Shot at The Photo Studio, Sydney.
Hair and Make Up by Kaori.

Corporate Fashion - Studio White Background

For Look-Books or Catalogues, on-line or in print its hard to go past the versatility of white background studio photography. With the growth of web fashion sales sites, white background photography seems to be growing in popularity offering seamless integration and blending into most shopping pages.

And of course when selling on-line it really is the picture that makes the sale, you don't want the quality of the photography to let you down. Show them what you've got. As the saying goes, a "picture paints a thousand words", make sure those "thousand words" say the right things about you.

Black and White - Fashion on Location

I keep seeing these black and white duo-tone location shots popping up on my screen saver and every time they do I think "Wow I really like these shots, I should do something with them". They are of course from the December 2009 'Alice's Dreamtime' story that I posted here back in March. These are some of the out-takes; or if you prefer, some shots from an alternative edit (which sounds a little better I think).

I love the moodiness of these scenes, the filmic quality and the different post work/Duo-toned finish to the images. These versions were worked up while we deciding the final direction for the post which was eventually a hand coloured black and white look. I hope you enjoy this edit as much as I do whenever I spot it scrolling across my screen.













Fashion Stylist, Rhiannon Bulley
H&MU, Kaori
Model, Melise @ Chic
Photography, Kent Johnson
Assistants, Harry Perlich, Guy Woolrych

Full styling details are on the original post here.