Fashion Shoot!

Ah- fashion shoots!

Last Friday I had the great opportunity to see the behind the scenes action of a fashion photo shoot.

My friend and designer Consuelo Pascual (along with her colleagues Lynne Kudus and Rachael Maestas) were having their latest designs shot by photographer Jake Goldbogen, and she invited me to tag along.

So much goes into a shoot - the concept, the clothing, hairstyles, extreme make-up, the setting, creative poses, props, perfect lighting, emergency safety pins, tables to jump on to get the right angle, dozens of shoes, and lots of hairspray. The people in this industry work hard - physically, mentally - they work long hours creating a unique form of art that combines function and beauty.

I helped out where I could (note: I discovered that I'm not good at making paper airplanes), but I am a bump-it queen.

The models, Galina, Candace, Angela, and Krista, were troopers. Changing clothing multiple times, having their faces covered with make-up, black eyeliner, and silver eye shadow, getting their hair curled, then straightened, then curled again, and holding so many different poses (many of which required some uncomfortable body contorting). But throughout, they were fun, suggesting ideas, and calling their bosses to stay with us longer so that the designers could get all the shots they needed. It was also with these girls that I had my first "fashion show behind-the-scenes experience." And, I must say, you can't be modest if you're going into this business. There's little time to change, so clothes are flying everywhere, and nudity happens. Much goes into the prep work for a show, and chaos behind the stage during the show is also a staple - yet the girls come out, composed and focused, delivering us an image of the garments in beautiful motion.

It was great fun to see the designers, photographer, and models working together - an awesome collaborative effort. The group expects to have the images by May 12, and from what I could see, Jake was capturing some awesome shots. Here are some of my photos from Lynne's classroom shoot:





And here are some images from Consuelo's planetarium shoot:




It was too dark to capture photos from my camera, so I snapped some shots outside of the planetarium after Jake was done-