Cool for the Summer

Date taken:  23rd of July, 2016

So I have this thing with doing "bonus shoots" or "mini shoots" inside of a main photoshoot. 

This is sometimes done because we have extra time before or after the main thing, or because some of the clothes or props didn't fit into the main theme but we still wanted to shoot them. 

In this case we met Aviv and Michelle for the "geek chic" photoshoot and I asked them to bring their own clothes, as far as they can find things that fit the theme. A lot of what they brought was right on point and still a lot was really beautiful but didn't fit with the theme. 

So we did a "pre-shoot" where we had the girls put on their definitely-not-geeky outfits and photographed them around the Weizmann Institute where we were setting up. 

Models: Aviv Cohen and Michelle Rabinkov | hair: Neta Hafif Shmulenson | makeup: Anet Nour

Aftermath

Sometimes photoshoots go badly. Sometime you think it went perfectly but then you find that the results were not as good as you thought. Sometimes, and this is maybe the most frustrating, the client or the people you worked with are not happy with the results, even though you think they look great. 

I've been out of touch with this blog for more than a year, and in that time I've done a lot of interesting things. A lot has changed and I hope that posting in (pretty much) the real order in which the photoshoots took place will let me look back and see the progress I've made. That's why I'm going to try to catch up on 20+ posts, while I keep making plans for more shoots at the same time. 

But let's get back to this project and what we can learn from it...

Geek Chic

I think this is one of the few shoots I've done that was scheduled for a specific time of year (summer break) and enough photos were ready for posting on schedule (when school started). I was so proud of myself for that. 

It was also one of the few shoots where I had a very specific idea and a fairly general feeling for the styling and hair and makeup, and it turned out to be exactly what I wanted (thanks entirely to the awesome crew we had assembled). 

The concept is "geek chic" and the two beautiful (highly non-geek) girls we had modelling for us got into the role with ease, and the make up and hair creatives really took over where I couldn't really help: all the wardrobe and props and how to set them up to look good and not over the top - was extremely important. Always good to have a team that are creative all around (not just in their specific area). 

Living Statues 2016

Like each year, I make it a point to come to Rehovot for the summer Living Statues Festival. This would be the festival's seventh year, my fifth coming to it.

Like each year I get the usual flash from the side shots, the closeups on the performers using a longish telephoto and the wider view with the audience close by using a wide angle.

Like each year I try to do new things, try out new techniques and equipment in a situation that is one one hand very difficult, with people packed tight trying to see the performances (and it is so hot and humid this time of year!) and on the other hand this setting is great because, unlike candid street photography, you can feel free to take as many pictures as you like, try new things at length, and the results are usually interesting even if unconventional (something that doesn't always go well on fashion and model test shoots).

Wildflower Spring

This is another shoot in the direction of "model test", continuing a line I really enjoy of shooting beautiful models for the sake of shooting and practicing rather than for a specific fashion... 

It has been almost four months since I headed down to Beer Sheva (once more) for a photoshoot. I wanted to start appealing to a younger audience so I asked around for models under 15. I talked to Maya (on the left) and she was enthusiastic for doing a shoot. She suggested that her friend Bar join us, and eventually we had three models (with Aviv joining closer to the date of the shoot). I met with Adi, that did the makeup for my last shoot in Beer Sheva, and we found a cool location not far from the city, in a field next to a burned tree and in clear sight of the sunset. 

Once more, we didn't have a stylist or fashion provider. It turns out you really don't need one... you decide on the style and make a good moodboard, and the girls bring the clothes they like and feel comfortable in. It's free, and you are free to shoot whatever you want without interruptions... so less of a catalog shoot, more editorial (like the last test we did). 

Models: Maya Yachnes, Bar Shimony, Aviv Cohen | Makeup: Adi Chen

Street Fashion

Today we are joining Yuval on a fashion project that is a little different from any of the past fashion shoots I've done. In this case she played the role of model, stylist and director for the whole project. The idea was to do something that looked candid but also high fashion. The sort of shots a good paparazzi would get of a supermodel while she is shopping in Paris. 

To make things feel more European we needed a location that looked classy and didn't scream it was shot here in Tel Aviv. So I did what a photographer should always try to do, and went location scouting a week before the shoot. 

A good friend from Tel Aviv helped me find a string of cool locations, starting from some new buildings with a wooden deck floor around them, through some renewed buildings in the gentrified part of south Tel Aviv, and finishing on brick road streets on the edge of old Yaffo. 

Our model/stylist had several looks to go through and we managed to get quite a few shots for each of them until sunset. 

Forest photoshoot

This was one fun shoot. There's much to say about the gorgeous Einav, but you'll see enough of her after the break. What I've really learned from this session is how much fun and value you can get from doing a "model test".

This isn't what you're thinking of: a studio session in black and white where the model is wearing jeans and a tank top. It could be... but there's much more to the "test" than that. Somewhere between the fashion shoot, the portrait session and the editorial style shoot there's this weird encounter where model and photographer have sort of a job interview.

The photographer gets to see what this new model knows, what her good sides are, what expressions she can pull off and what poses she can handle. The model gets to know the photographer, too. What he can do, if she can count on him to be professional, and to supply the final image. Most of all, the shoot isn't bound by the need to get all the sets done, or by wanting to get all angles of a location or concept.