A couple of weeks ago I had the opportunity to photograph my first fashion shoot.  I was told it was for the back to school fashion section and was going to have a hippie-chic theme.  Our lifestyles intern Anthony Hagan found a great painted bus at the Venice Cafe in Benton Park that would serve as an excellent backdrop for the shoot.

Leading up to the shoot I was nervous. It was my first real fashion shoot. Shooting fashion goes against much of what I love about photojournalism.  I was drawn to photojournalism because of its chaos.  I love walking into a situation that you have no control over and searching for moments, finding beauty in the imperfections of life, and waiting for all the elements to align in your frame.

Fashion is very different.  You control everything.  You control the lighting. You can use strobes and reflectors or rely on ambient light.  You select where the models stand and instruct them on how to position themselves and move and react.  You tell them to look happy, or laugh, or be fierce. Some photographers love this part of it, for me it felt foreign and awkward.  I’m not used to telling my subjects what to do.  I was lucky to have the help of photo intern Brittanie Williams and feature photo editor Lynden Steele with setting up the lighting and bouncing ideas off of. In the end I think it turned out to be a success.  We didn’t do anything overly complicated with the lighting and the vibrant colors of the backdrop helped.  In the end it turned out to be kind of fun.

The above photo was cropped in the paper.  Here is what the full frame looked like.