fashion friday...tips for dressing for a photo shoot

From early childhood I had two loves, clothes and cameras. I spent equal amounts of time watching my dad put together and clean his Minolta 35mm and playing in my mom's closet full of heals and shoulder pads. Into high school I fell in love with photo journalism and went to college in hopes of finding some way to study photography. In a turn of events that I honestly can't even remember, but I think might have mistakenly had something to do with what the responsible choice might be, so I instead went the sensible way of pursuing a degree in fashion merchandising. I can not explain the choices, but I can say how thrilled I am that my job now brings me back to both of my loves. 

It is my biggest thrill when I get to be involved in dressing clients or at least working their clothing choices into a story and our location.

This is the Chino family. If you have been around my blog much at all they will be familiar. They are family and friends and were some of the first people that I photographed regularly. They are also always completely willing to go and wear what I want. Alison and I have approached photographing their family in many ways over the years. We have started with a pair of tights we loved for Mary Polly or that I found this building that I don't think I will be able to talk other people into entering or that we must photograph the family camping even if none of us have showered in days or like this shoot we are really starting with a concept. Last summer the Chino family moved to Scotland and before they left we wanted to document this stage of their lives. It would be a time for them to cling to one another, packing all their belongings and pretty much taking all they could carry to chase a dream. Right away I thought of a train station and really had visions of Harry Potter, subdued colors and baggage.

In all aspects I would call this a styled photo shoot, from the clothes to the location and even props. This type of photo is certainly not for everyone or for all seasons, but I love it as a way to bring in what is important or happening with your family at a certain point. SO today I will give a few tips on dressing for a styled shoot, though some might apply to any photos or just life.

1. Think about what you want to say. Alison is a blogger so we knew we wanted the photos to tell a story....family moving overseas to do super smart school stuff (my words, as I still don't 100% understand all the smart things Taido is doing).

2. Love what you are wearing. I think this is important in life, but certainly important for photos you will repeatedly look at and hopefully have up in your home...also your kids will look happier if they don't totally hate what they are wearing. Give them something that feels like a win. With Alison's kids we usually give them choices of things that will work starting with the one that cares most about clothes and moving down accordingly.
3. Think from head to toe. I love shoes and they do matter and an accessory or two goes a long way. I love how much is added to these photos by the addition of the ties.
4. Make sense together and try on before. You want to make sure things fit, especially important with kids who are known to grow overnight. Also just seasonally and such you want it to flow together. It was a 90 degree August day when we took these photos, but we wanted them to be seasonally ambiguous so just think that way. I also lay things out as I start to pull clothes and make sure they work in a variety of groupings. This really matters when you start to work with more color, like most design pick color in odd numbers so you can easily mix it up.
5. Color matters. I am a girl who deeply loves color so as we started to pull for this I was struggling with the lack of color, but I knew that in this case it would really help the location and props to pop if we stayed neutral. Also it felt very studious and European to be subdued and serious with color. In picking color for a personal shoot I always imagine how the images fit into my space, I go with colors that make sense in my house.
6. Have fun. Clothes are probably the single most intimidating thing about having your photo taken, but they don't have to be. At the end of the day if you have fun with it that will show.

Happy Friday everybody!