Since I'm pimping the work of friends (see last two posts) I might as well pimp the work of others. It doesn't matter whether I'm acquainted with those "others" or not. If I like their work or I think it's instructive or illuminating (creatively, technically, or for some other reason) why not share? We're all here to expand our photographic, pretty-girl-shooting, consciousness, right?
Friends aside, I promise I'll try to limit my pimping to on-topic topics, i.e, to subjects that relate to photographing the kind of stuff this blog is mostly about. I can't, however, absolutely guarantee I'll always do that. Mostly because, in my half-century+ of living, I've learned there aren't too many things I (or anyone else) can absolutely guarantee.
I came across a video--a behind-the-scenes video--of the Golden State Warriors' 2008 cheerleader/swimsuit calender shoot. The shooter was Cupertino, California-based photographer, Michael Soo.
I appreciated watching Soo's approach and demeanor with the models. If you've been reading this blog for a while, you are probably aware that I'm a firm believer in the creative power that results from gaining rapport with models and the much improved images that rapport almost always yields.
For pretty girl shooters, it's always rewarding when the models get all giggly and jiggly and they Oooh! and Ahhh! when looking at the pictures you've just captured of them. When that happens, it's usually a good indicator that you're doing a great job interacting with them, as well as taking cool snaps of them.
I saw a bit of my own, on-set, behavior in Soo: He doesn't affect a big-shot with the camera persona while letting minions do all the grunt work. Don't get me wrong, I love having assistants to help. I'm sure Soo does as well. It improves production efficiency and allows the photographer to remain focused on the subject. But, like me, Soo seems to prefer jumping up and moving or adjusting his lights himself, rather than directing an assistant to do so. Besides this being a spontaneous, impulse, move, illustrating how the photographer works, I often think doing this makes a statement to the models: It says something that works in the photographer's favor in terms of building rapport with them. Some models, of course, are impressed with the appearance of big-shot-ism almost as much as they're impressed with cold, hard, cash. (Albeit, not quite as much.)
Often, there's only enough room for one ego on a set. Personally, I think it's more productive to give that room to the model. I'm not condoning Diva-ism, I'm just saying if someone feels the need to flaunt an ego, I'd rather let the model be that someone. For the most part, the better the model feels about herself, the better the pictures will be.
In the video, Soo appears to be working with a single assistant on this shoot. But I'll bet his budget could have afforded another or Soo could have found others for free-- others who would have jumped at the chance to assist on a photo shoot like this.
My favorite part of the video (and my favorite image in his gallery) is when Soo has a model climb up onto the pinnacle of some structure, placing blue sky and direct sun behind her with a beauty dish, perched atop a very high stand, filling the front. With Soo and his camera remaining on the ground, his low-perspective shots with the model flagging the sun are very effective.
If you'd like to watch the video, you can do so by clicking HERE.
If you'd like to see a gallery of Soo's images from this photo shoot, they're right HERE.
And HERE's a link to Michael Soo's blog.
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