Fashion- or beauty, or even portfolio photography isn’t my main forte, and I don’t sell myself as the best in that field either. At times, I get to just “play”, with Fujifilm X-photographer Mardee Maree, when he is in Johannesburg or Pretoria, busy with his own shoot.
This wonderful portfolio shoot we fully enjoyed, and this great model played along so well. Previously that week we had both been speakers at the annual Photo and Film Expo that happens every year in Johannesburg, South Africa, and for the Expo, the clothing label Black Coffee sponsored some amazing and interesting dresses for our models to use.
Before we had to give them back, we had one last shoot with them, at Stornoway Lodge in Muldersdrift, and this extraordinary orange dress fit perfectly.
It took me a whole semester to understand contrast when I studied. In all various aspects of photography. Not just in black and white, but also in colour, and what can make an image punchy and vibrant, and impactful, with the use of colour.
The blue sky and it’s amazing clouds which I love so much, the silvery, bright-green strands of the grass, the beautiful reeds, and her striking dress made for a good image.
Mardee and myself used an outdoor Elinchrom lighting kit with battery pack, and a huge beauty dish to be able to get all exposed in this manner – and it started a whole new love for off camera flash, a tool that can be used so artistically, and in such a greatly executed way.
I by no means, say that I am at all a good fashion photographer, such as Mardee himself, but I can take a good photo, and sometimes even in this genre, I get great images I can enjoy and be proud of.