The outfit issue, or what to wear?

The answer is complex. It is complex as it's tricky. When clients ask me if I provide outfits, or what to bring,
they probably believe there's a right kind of outfit. But there's not. What you wear is a reflection of who you are.
So, It would not be fair for me to provide outfits. It would make everybody look exactly like the other 550 clients I had. And...who wants that?
People come to see me because I do something that nobody else does. But the big part of that is that my images are not cookie cutter, like they would be if I provided outfits. That leaves still a big chunk out there:
So what should I bring?
Well, that depends on many things. What's your personality? Who are the images for? Are you confident? I've done session with one outfit through the whole time. And with one pair of shoes. Not ideal but I can work with whatever you have, however, I would ask you this:
When you go out, say on a very important event, maybe a wedding. You pick the perfect outfit. Spend days browsing on dresses, and finding matching shoes. Maybe some jewelry. You do this in an effort to find something in which you just feel gorgeous. Then you make an appointment for hair and make up, right?
Boudoir is pretty much the same. With on little caveat: The images might be intended to make you gorgeous on somebody else's eyes. Find out his/ her preferences!
And usually, guys and girls have different approaches to beauty and sexy standards.

Let me share some images. Check them out and see by yourself. What works best for you? simple? elaborated? is it worth it getting new stuff?
A boudoir session is the perfect excuse to do some shopping!

So, which one is more "you"?  bright color? matching set? dark? conservative? wild? No, there's not a 'right' kind of outfit. They're just different, as every person is.

A couple of things though,

• Please bring matching shoes for each outfit.
• Make sure all outfits are ironed.
• Remove tags from all of the outfits.
• Clean shoe's soles.
• If you bring garters, make sure you bring stockings and know how to attach them.
• Make mental notes of which outfits you like more and which less.
• Try to bring an average of 5 outfits per hr of session.
• I tend to favor matching outfits. But that's just me. I consider a matching outfit to be one with the same colors and fabric on both parts of it. Close enough is just close enough. However, it's your session and we'll do it YOUR way! :)
• Push yourself out of your shell. This is a once in a lifetime experience. So what kind of images are you creating? cute or mind blowing?

Adrian

Raw at the VooDoo!

 From the Voo Doo lounge at Harras,we had a great time. Met some great artists and some very interesting characters. 

This was our booth. We had to get creative to get our pictures up.

An here's my lovely wifey, who insisted that I talked to all people who visited the booth, instead of  letting them be, which was my first choice. I guess I am more of the introverted type.

Interview: Tom Foley- removed

Removed by Tom's request.

Something great can be around the corner

Last nigh, I was at the west bottoms with some other fellow photographers, on a meet up shoot.
It's so interesting to work with other guys interested in the same thing, and see how we all have a different take on the subjects, the light, the surroundings. Even how we work and the way we interact with models and customers.
So one of my colleagues had chosen this place, (picture above), with a nice long old wall, and had a bride lined up for pictures. I took a couple pictures at the same place while he changed his set up, but I wasn't feeling it. I went my ways, just being nosy and walking around, next thing I know was I was at this magical place, sort of abandoned garden of doom, with broken things, high grass and bushes, even a tree growing out of a wall. I knew this was the place I wanted to shoot at, just like that, around the corner of the other photographer's place of choice. This just makes sense, though: My colleague is into more classic-looking images, with soft hugging light and a nice safe feeling. Me? well, I'm just all about crazy concepts, nonsense, chaos, juxtaposition of contraries, drama. This is MY setting:


Now, I went to see what other photographers were doing, AKA crash their photoparty. So they had this model in front of this cool looking garage door. They even let me do some pictures with their setting. Again, although the pictures turned out nice (see below) I usually have a different approach. So, this time I didn't move the lights, didn't change the place, didn't do anything else but ask the model to sit down. That's it. why? I wanted a different feeling altogether, but the place was good for my idea, just needed some reinterpretation. So I came up with the bride sitting down between the weeds. For some reason, I love that picture.

Now, I want to recognize something a don't see often: Sydney, who didn't know me or the other guys for that matter, who was so gracious to work tirelessly with us, in such a place as the bottoms, at 10:20 at night, and putting up with all our crazy ideas, with the cutest smile in her face. all the time. Sydney rocks! This is Sydney:

Why I work with the models I work with

My take on models and photography is that each model's image has a unique feature, that helps me do a specific project. So when I get in touch with a model, I insist on meeting first. I need to get a feeling about the person, the ideas, the way they move, talk. After that, I start thinking on what theme to develop. I always ask models what ideas they have, but so far I haven't been lucky: All I get is usually "I don't know, edgy, something cool and different"
So I base the whole shoot on my own ideas. I try to come up with something unique for each model. It helps when they have lots of wardrobe, so I can play with that as well. As in everything, some models have an amazing amount of clothes, accessories and shoes. Some, not so much.
The other thing that I've observed is chemistry. I'm talking about chemistry at a personal level. I had models where we barely spoke more than a couple words, and I had models that wouldn't stop making me laugh. Those are the models I go back to. Granted, the model is an image, so the final effect doesn't depend on if he/she talks or not. however, my work flow is all about improvising. When we're having good rapport, a laugh or an interesting chat, my creative juices just start flowing and there's never enough time to do all the things I'm imagining. If the model sits there and doesn't even say moo, well, I take a couple pictures I had already in my mind and call it a day.

I've worked with Tiffany a couple times already. Something I love about it is that she's as crazy as I am. She will climb, go up, down, and do whatever takes to get the picture right.
It's been so interesting to see how she keeps growing as a model. But something that hasn't changed, is that she models because she loves it. Not for the money, not because she believes she's so cool, or because she needs images for her portfolio to get discovered by an agency and become next America's top model. She just loves it.
I love photography too, so I guess that's why we click.

Fashionably early....

About six and a half hours to be exact. that's what this professionals, models, make up artists, hair designers, wardrobe and attire people, photographers (well, some photographers) and other support staff invested in time before the event. Gee, I knew it was hard (I've seen the devil wears Prada!) but I didn't know models had to spend 6-7 hours previous to the event!
it's hard work, no doubt.
It's a whole different world too. People are just so different. interactions are different, attitudes, the way we all behave. we have a job and we got to get it done. plain and simple. So, I was supposed to do candid pictures. and I did. but of course, I also did more. I'' be posting more as I get my computer to cooperate.





I was talking to Jim, He's a photographer friend. I decided him and I have a very different take on things. Jim set a mini-studio set in the same event and did portraits of the models. He had the models come to HIM and ask HIM to take their pictures. I, on the other hand, was chasing models, putting up with their crankiness and had to actually carry a bunch of lenses, batteries, flashes and other stuff for hours, change my settings every time, and move light stands move, got stuck in stairs, under the clothing racks and so on... why? I don't know. Jim asked me, "so, would you be able to take portraits against a backdrop to 500 models?" I immediately said heck no! That's it. Jim plans his set, takes his time and gets pretty consistent results. I'm not like that. I play with the light. I play with the angles, I chase people. and I'm not that charming...therefore, models would never come to me.



This is was I'm talking about. without the strobe in the back, this would've been a plain point and shoot image. Now it has volume, texture, a certain halo that makes it work. well, just to get that light in the back, I had to haul my clamp, remote control, flash, and climb to the stage, clamp it to a pipe, then come running back and pray Gabriel wasn't done applying hairspray to the model. Luckily, he wasn't.

Guerrilla fashion or pictures on the fly...

After all, my most admired photographers created their art with whatever they had at hand. A disposable camera, old film cameras, an iPhone, polaroids, you name it.

So, on my last trip, as usual I had a long agenda, but in the back of my mind was, of course, to organize some shoot.
It always amazes me how things work, at least for me. Usually I try to hire some model, or at least place a casting call to see who's interested. This time, models were way out of my range or simply too pretentious. So I went my way, talking to some people and asking if they knew somebody and so on so forth. Well, the thing is, who doesn't know somebody who would love to have a little fashion photo session? Aha!
So with my good friend Mayra, we asked the owner of a little Cafe, if we could borrow it for some pictures. Crazy thing is she said yes! So we woke up real early, got some props, got Claudia to do the make up and Voilá! we got ourselves a photo shoot!

The whole point I'm trying to make, if there's such a thing, is that it doesn't matter all the gear you have, it can fail. what if you don't know how to use it, what if you don't get to carry ALL with you, or forgot the exact gadget you wanted?
It amazes me that still today, I see many photographers bragging about their expensive cameras (So they think, I'm yet to see any of them shooting with a Leica) or they huge telephotos, when you just can't top a simple $200 prime lens.
To me is all about creativity, adaptability and passion. if you believe in what you want, people will help you, they'll share your dream and they'll make it theirs, at least for a moment.

So I call my style guerrilla photography. almost no budget, local and mostly free talent, and ad-hoc locations. This often envolves a quick retreat. So you need to travel light, and you need to use your gear at it's best.

So, the first picture at the top is the borrowed dinner/ cafe. (Cafe Zapopan. You gotta stop there when you visit Jalisco in Mexico!)

Then, this is our brave model Itzel, before the make up.
Now, my hard-working assistant, who got an outstanding 10 minute on-the-spot training in advanced photo lighting techniques.And this is what you get to do in about 50 minutes, with bystanders and the worst light you can get coming through the windows.For that matter, we used every corner of the tinny place, the doors, the bathroom, the tables. Even the tequila bottle was improvised: it was really almond syrup of sorts.
This model had the best attitude, she just needed a crazy photographer with lots of imagination.
Then we moved right out of the joint., where a bunch of middle school boys were having a nice experience yelling at the model. Boy she's brave.
And we went for a more traditional look, just for her parents.
Finally, the make up lady wanted to give it a shot too. She had a different take on things, so we came up with this: