Assigment: New York Fashion week 2012 (Fall)
February 19, 2012
Stylish event
The New York Fashion Week happens twice a year, once in September (Presenting the Spring-Summer collection, and once in February (Presenting the Fall-Winter collection)
I heard about this stylish event a long time ago, I never thought I would be part of it. But here I am... well, I'm sort of being part of it.
Let me explain.
Street-people photography
A small art magazine from Washington DC, Future Craw, asked me to portrait the inside and outside of the New York Fashion Week (NYFW) events. Take pictures of the people attending the shows. He already had two photographers photographing & filming the catwalks-- Boring! (Standing for hours to put your camera straight forward and shooting and shooting over and over... not my thing.)
I supposed to go to all of the shows, but that's just impossible, and for little pay, it was just not gonna happen.
Bobby, the editor in chief of the magazine, told me that the event was as great outside as it was in the inside. I was surprised to learn that he was right. In fact I was naively ignorant abut all of this assignment.
Street photography is a business. People do take pictures in the street of New York for a living.
I was a little overwhelmed and nervous about this assignment. I wanted to do a good job, and I didn't want to disappoint anybody.
Bobby saw some of the pictures I previously took, so before asking me to do this he already knew my style.... So I shouldn't be so concerned, but I was nervous anyway.
Assignment
"In order of priority, you want to get famous people first, models, designers, celebrities... that is what people want to see," said Bobby, "Then you want to photograph well-dreesed people."
He said this just when an older guy walked next to us wearing a very colorful matching suit. "Not like that," he said, "but like her" he clarified, pointing at a girl standing close to us wearing a much conservative outfit.
"Got it" I said, "You want people who dress well, not ridiculous" That, obviously, was the wrong thing to say and it denoted that I actually 'didn't get it.'
Bobby looked at me with disapproval and said, looking at the old guy, "That guy, actually, is a famous and successful Fashion designer and editor"
(oops)
"What I want," he continued, "is for you to show and create a story about the person and the piece you are featuring, ask them who are they wearing, most of the time they are wearing their own designs, so ask them their names, and take close-up pictures of the pieces, individually and of then take a full body shot."
("A story?" I thought...) "Got it," I said.
Well dressed, not ridiculous
There were a lot of photographers chasing "well-dressed people at each location I went. Most of the photographers were better dressed than most of the attendees!
I asked one of them, a photographer who did this as a profession, why did he think that was the case... He said, "We set the standards, so the designers have to impress us. We are the one who have to notice, we are the ones who will decide if it's either good or not good enough to portrait."
"If we don't like it," he continued, "we don't waste space on our memory cards and so no one will notice."
Some of the photographers were bloggers, they were the ones who would be most exaggerated dressed.
"Look at that girl" said Bobby, pointing with her chin at a really thin and tall woman wearing a black dress and a silver jacket. She was standing alone, in the middle of the big front entrance of the Lincoln Center.
Her arm was holding a black purse. She was allegedly texting while occasionally looking around her.
Her crossed seemly never-ending legs met her weirdly designed silver shoes matching her jacket and and part of her jewelry.
"That's the typical take-a-picture-of-me pose.'" Assured Bobby. "She is obviously trying to impress the photographers..." he said.
"And it might work," he continued, "...if one photographer find her interesting, all photographers will go and take a picture of her as well."
Bloggers
One of the photographers -a he- had a a very large hat. It was a VERY large hat. I asked him who he was working for, he told me he was a blogger.
"Do you get paid to talk about the designers?" I asked. He assured me that some bloggers get paid by magazines and brands to talk about their brands or styles but it's a "hush-shush thing".
"Most fashion bloggers that are not writing for a magazine or brand are aspiring designers, or wanna-bes," he said.
"What are you?" I asked unsuspecting that this question could have been taken as offensive. He told me dryly that he was an aspiring designer looking for trends.
"Trends?" I asked "What do you mean?"
He pointed a guy who was dressed modestly in black but wearing bright red shoes. "That's a new trend" There are many kinds of Designers, the ones who set trends, or the ones who look around and see where the trends are going... To be a trendsetter you have to be a big name or a lot of cojones...
He laughed
(Did he just told me he didn't have cojones?)
Stylish event
The New York Fashion Week happens twice a year, once in September (Presenting the Spring-Summer collection, and once in February (Presenting the Fall-Winter collection)
I heard about this stylish event a long time ago, I never thought I would be part of it. But here I am... well, I'm sort of being part of it.
Let me explain.
Street-people photography
A small art magazine from Washington DC, Future Craw, asked me to portrait the inside and outside of the New York Fashion Week (NYFW) events. Take pictures of the people attending the shows. He already had two photographers photographing & filming the catwalks-- Boring! (Standing for hours to put your camera straight forward and shooting and shooting over and over... not my thing.)
I supposed to go to all of the shows, but that's just impossible, and for little pay, it was just not gonna happen.
Bobby, the editor in chief of the magazine, told me that the event was as great outside as it was in the inside. I was surprised to learn that he was right. In fact I was naively ignorant abut all of this assignment.
Street photography is a business. People do take pictures in the street of New York for a living.
I was a little overwhelmed and nervous about this assignment. I wanted to do a good job, and I didn't want to disappoint anybody.
Bobby saw some of the pictures I previously took, so before asking me to do this he already knew my style.... So I shouldn't be so concerned, but I was nervous anyway.
Assignment
"In order of priority, you want to get famous people first, models, designers, celebrities... that is what people want to see," said Bobby, "Then you want to photograph well-dreesed people."
He said this just when an older guy walked next to us wearing a very colorful matching suit. "Not like that," he said, "but like her" he clarified, pointing at a girl standing close to us wearing a much conservative outfit.
"Got it" I said, "You want people who dress well, not ridiculous" That, obviously, was the wrong thing to say and it denoted that I actually 'didn't get it.'
Bobby looked at me with disapproval and said, looking at the old guy, "That guy, actually, is a famous and successful Fashion designer and editor"
(oops)
"What I want," he continued, "is for you to show and create a story about the person and the piece you are featuring, ask them who are they wearing, most of the time they are wearing their own designs, so ask them their names, and take close-up pictures of the pieces, individually and of then take a full body shot."
("A story?" I thought...) "Got it," I said.
Well dressed, not ridiculous
There were a lot of photographers chasing "well-dressed people at each location I went. Most of the photographers were better dressed than most of the attendees!
I asked one of them, a photographer who did this as a profession, why did he think that was the case... He said, "We set the standards, so the designers have to impress us. We are the one who have to notice, we are the ones who will decide if it's either good or not good enough to portrait."
"If we don't like it," he continued, "we don't waste space on our memory cards and so no one will notice."
Some of the photographers were bloggers, they were the ones who would be most exaggerated dressed.
"Look at that girl" said Bobby, pointing with her chin at a really thin and tall woman wearing a black dress and a silver jacket. She was standing alone, in the middle of the big front entrance of the Lincoln Center.
Her arm was holding a black purse. She was allegedly texting while occasionally looking around her.
Her crossed seemly never-ending legs met her weirdly designed silver shoes matching her jacket and and part of her jewelry.
"That's the typical take-a-picture-of-me pose.'" Assured Bobby. "She is obviously trying to impress the photographers..." he said.
"And it might work," he continued, "...if one photographer find her interesting, all photographers will go and take a picture of her as well."
Bloggers
One of the photographers -a he- had a a very large hat. It was a VERY large hat. I asked him who he was working for, he told me he was a blogger.
"Do you get paid to talk about the designers?" I asked. He assured me that some bloggers get paid by magazines and brands to talk about their brands or styles but it's a "hush-shush thing".
"Most fashion bloggers that are not writing for a magazine or brand are aspiring designers, or wanna-bes," he said.
"What are you?" I asked unsuspecting that this question could have been taken as offensive. He told me dryly that he was an aspiring designer looking for trends.
"Trends?" I asked "What do you mean?"
He pointed a guy who was dressed modestly in black but wearing bright red shoes. "That's a new trend" There are many kinds of Designers, the ones who set trends, or the ones who look around and see where the trends are going... To be a trendsetter you have to be a big name or a lot of cojones...
He laughed
(Did he just told me he didn't have cojones?)
