We've all seen the pictures that come from photoshoots. The ones with supermodels, celebrity icons, athletes, and even seniors for their senior portraits.
But have you ever wondered what goes on behind the scenes? I have, and I finally got to find out.
If you've been following my last few articles, you'll know that I've been studying abroad in Florence, Italy. Part of my educational journey here is getting to intern at a fashion store called Fashion Loves You, or FLY for short. This store is part of the school, Florence University of the Arts (FUA), is student-run, and contains student-made products, vintage pieces and articles of clothing from local designers in Florence.
This past week, the other interns and I got to set up, coordinate, and direct a photoshoot that took place right here in Florence, and was photographed by FUA's fashion photography students. Now, I know it's not high-fashion photography like the many pictures you're probably used to seeing, but it was still cool to catch a glimpse of what really goes into snapping the right picture.
First off is the management and the delegation of roles to assure that the photoshoot will run smoothly. The main student in charge was actually a friend and fellow fashion merchandising student from Washington State University. Her and our professor got together and split people up into teams, from setting up/clean up, styling, makeup, and models. I was put on the makeup team.
Secondly, the stylists go together with the student manager and picked out clothes and outfits for the models to wear before the shoot, that way, we weren't carrying racks of clothes all around the cobblestone streets of Florence. A cool component of this shoot was that all the clothes came from New Kid, who was our featured local emerging designer for the season, so we got to use all kinds of trendy gear for the shoot.
On the morning of, it's up and at 'em and go time. We met at the shooting place with the models and my partner and I started on makeup. In a traditional fashion shoot, there would be hair stylists there to get the hair just how the photographer wants it. However, in this situation, the shoot was more for FLY and New Kid, and the photographers were there for the learning experience and pictures, so we just let the models come with their hair however they wanted it.
Once all the makeup was done, we got the models dressed and ready to go! The photography class showed up shortly after and we gave them a briefing on what the brand, New Kid was about and what kind of aesthetic the brand had. After that, we let the photographers run free and do with the models what they willed.
Finally, once everyone gets the pictures they need, clean up and take down happens, and that's when we call it a successful photo shoot! This experience was something I would never have experienced, and if you know any photographers, definitely go and get the chance to see what goes on behind the photos.
