In our area of business – dairy related products and systems – photoshoots are quite common, but the main models are things and cows. That has its own perks as well as challenges like finding a photographer who doesn’t mind their equipment later smelling like shit – literally – but perhaps this is a topic for a future post. Today I want to talk about human models and planning for a whole day photoshoot with tons of different clothing combos.
Our company recently launched a new clothing collection. This is far from our everyday business and perhaps clothes themselves are technically less complicated than some of our other products. That, however, didn’t make the launch any simpler.
A big part of the marketing package I was responsible for were photos and don’t get me wrong – a fashion project is always fun. It just takes a lot of work. As a tradition, we use our own people as models. They often look more real and relatable than professionals. We usually go with Caucasian looking models but not blondes so that images would work for as many markets as possible. This time we wanted to be more specific so I had to find colleagues who looked presentable and agreed to model for us. And they had to look Asian, Middle Eastern, European and Latin, young and older, thin and rounder. We ended up with 11 fantastic volunteer models and even a few extra candidates.
We only had one day for shooting split between those 11, alone and together, to shoot a bunch of different outfits, keeping in mind that all clothing items will be represented for each look by men and women. Yet we didn’t want them to look like awkward twins, wearing the same thing (at the same time). And considering, this was my first attempt and our agency just left the running order for me to organise, we did surprisingly well.
After we had found the models we liked and somehow even agreed on a date that worked for us all, holding our breath that no-one falls ill or has to cancel for another reason, I had to plan for each person’s clothing items according to their size, order everything from another country, have them try things on and adjust plans, and set up a very strict time plan for the big day. Of course, it took a few attempts to get to the final running order as some people could only be available in the morning, others in the evening and each of them had a partner or two whose times had to be aligned according to changes in their schedule. We also changed our minds about some clothing combos last minute. If the above written doesn’t already explain it, believe me, it was a lot of logistical work and and brain exercise.
As you can see, a new model was to arrive every 45 minutes or so – in reality I asked them to be there at least 15 minutes early and some came even earlier as it was exciting for them as well. There were moments when we were done a bit quicker than planned and others where we were a little behind schedule. All in all, we finished just in time.
During the day, I ran around, ironing some folding wrinkles out, showing models to their locations, finding new locations, holding lights from falling in the wind, organising food and snacks, instructing all parties and keeping track that every planned photo is taken and everyone finds their right clothes – especially the ones who were sharing some items.
Of course, someone had transport trouble and was late, half of the clothing arrived just the previous afternoon and one scene just didn’t work out. But we came out of this with a lot of great images thanks to a professional photographer, art director, super models, support staff and great weather. Everyone was happy to show the images off to their friends and team mates and after some touch ups also to customers around the world. It is still one of the assignments that I am most proud of and having now shot more of clothing in studio as well as outdoors, I feel much more confident in organising such shoots in the future.
Does anyone reading this want to share their experience or have advice for me?