Drawn into a Betsey Johnson store by the pin-up style dresses on display in their window I was taken aback by the Dita Von Tease look of one of the "shop girls" in a perfect white dress with red anchors. I knew right away I wanted to photograph this lovely girl! As luck would have it she had done some modeling in the past and was excited to try the pin-up look she pulled so well. A few weeks later we set a date and time and Emily arrived in the white dress with red anchors ready to ham it up for the camera!
Red shoes or black? Red. Would you like flower for your hair? Yes, please. Luckily, even though my stint as a photographer in this incarnation is fairly new I have had years of experience wardrobing, posing and shooting women in various locations, poses and states of dress, or often, undress. For this shoot, it was the dress that inspired it all. The dress and Emily's perfect pin-up look. Ali, Chrissy Jean and now Emily. All with different looks but the same wonderful style.
We were meeting at 5PM on a Sunday in downtown Jacksonville and I arrived an hour earlier to caffienate and find the perfect locations. For anyone that shoots with me it is important to note that I am infamous for not really having a specific location in mind beforehand. For the most part I let the models pick their outfits so it is seeing them, getting a feel for the person and then finding that perfect setting which makes a lot of my photos. For Emily's shoot, a photographer and art student herself, I had found a few locations I wanted to use, all in a one block radius of our Starbucks/changing
room.
Parking garage, alley, brick wall, electric meters, yellow tiled wall, mirror tiled entranceway and the soon-to-be infamous Sally Corporation's building all were used for this shoot. Ironically, the alley I had chosen was one that Emily herself had used for photo projects. Which, I might add, made it a lot easier to say, "Hey! Let's go down this secluded alley and shoot against a brick wall!" to someone I really had met in passing for a few minutes in a retail store!
I love the photos we ended up with! I hope to shoot more of Emily as well as more pin-up style photos. Look for some featuring Jess in the near future. In the meantime, check out Emily's wonderful photos and leave your love for her and constructive criticism for me. Feel free to go back and check out Ali's and Chrissy Jean's photos as well. More to come from all of them!
Anyone out there think they have "the look" for a pin-up style photo shoot? Contact me and let's do it!