Wow, it has been a busy week of shooting, and sorry but this is a long post that took forever to put together.
I photographed student fashion designs for Susan Ashdown , Van Dyk Lewis, and the Department of Textiles and Apparel at Cornell for many years when I worked for University Photo. Last year someone else did it because I left Cornell to devote all my energy into my own business. This year Susan e-mailed and asked if I would be interested in shooting it freelance and I’m glad I did. The work this year is incredible and I really think the students have a good shot at winning.
The photos are for The International Textile & Apparel Association, Inc. competition. The ITAA is a professional, educational association composed of scholars, educators, and students in the textile, apparel, and merchandising disciplines in higher education. ITAA welcomes professionals employed in those fields that wish to join with members of the Association in the pursuit of knowledge, interchange of ideas, and dissemination of knowledge through meetings, special events, and publications. The purpose of the ITAA Design Exhibition is to provide an arena for design work to be juried and shown as a form of scholarship. Graduate, undergraduate and professional designs will be juried as separate categories.
The rules for photography are very specific and must be diligently adhered to for the design to even be considered. So lighting and pose are pretty much predetermined, leaving little room for technical creativity. The light can still have a beautiful quality (if it is done right) and I try to push the pose, and composition as far as possible.
The images here are not for the competition though. They are just examples of playing around in photoshop after the shoot. The end result is much more artistic than the originals, and I hope the designers don’t mind that I took the liberty to have a little fun with their stuff. Please leave some comments if you visit.
My good friend Robert Kaussner let me borrow his 74” Octa Light Bank (which is incredible) so I took him out to lunch at the Vietnam Restaurant, and dinner at Thai Cuisine ("The Best Thai Food in New York State including New York City" - Getaways For Gourmets) to thank him. Actually it was way better than renting one because I had some great meals at two of my favorite restaurants, and was able to spend a little time with Bob.
The designers are
Andriana Petrova - “Spectacularly Incognito” (the dress made of mirrors). I positioned the designer and professors in different places to reflect their faces in the dress.
Quham Adeniyi - “We're Gonna Party and Have Fun” (pink sweater and short pin striped shorts).
Olivia Ong - “Fusion” (lavender jacket and skirt with gold bikini top)
Philip Kim - “Bordeaux” (black and purple dress with squares and feathers)
Courtney Ward - “Untitled” (black and red tuxedo dress and jacket)
Michelle Diamond - “Untitled” (brightly colored wrap tunic with green sash)
Susan Dauber -“Desire” (black backless dress with gold polka-dot trim)
Can you guess what part of the body this is?
Susan Dauber -“Flower Cocktail” (beige and maroon flowered dress with sash)
I would especially like to thank Lindsay Lyman-Clarke for doing an outstanding job organizing everything and helping it to go as smooth as possible. Like I said, you were the best I have worked with yet!
Thank you Susan for the wonderful feedback too “Believe me, when our students are chosen, it is partly due to your work. Their designs were just as good as they always are last year when you didn't do our photography, and we did not have nearly as many successful entries. We will let you know how it comes out this year - we generally hear sometime in July.”
Good luck to everyone, I will keep you posted if someone wins, but in my book they are all winners.
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