Last week I talked about the creative process behind my photo shoots. There was so much information, I decided to break it up into 2 parts. Part 1 was last Friday and dealt with conceptualizing a photo shoot, location scouting, and organizing a team. Part 2 covers what happens on shoot day and after the photo shoot. Enjoy!

Step Five: Shoot Day!  

This step essentially explains itself. Most of my shoots are all day. My most recent Brigitte Bardot shoot started at 9:00 am for hair and makeup, and ended at 4:00 pm. Sometimes photographers like to break up the shoot into two half-days, but I just like to shoot all day and get it over with in one day. Hair and makeup take about 1 hour each. While hair and makeup is being done, I organize the garments with the wardrobe stylist and decide the order of the outfits. In larger scale shoots, there would have been a fitting done prior to the day of the actual photo shoot so that I wouldn’t have to do the prep work last minute. Wardrobe and hair and makeup changes take about 20 minutes, depending on how intricate the new hair/makeup/wardrobe look is. I like to keep things simple and change up the makeup and hair just a tiny bit; like changing lip color and easy tweaks like that.

Step Six: Editing and Post-Processing  

A lot of people mistakenly use the terms editing and post-processing interchangeably, but they actually mean different things. Editing refers to narrowing down to a select few of the strongest shots out of the entire body of photographs taken, whereas post-processing refers to the actual retouching of the photograph (adjusting brightness, contrast, color, retouching skin, blemishes etc.). I can take anywhere from 500-1,000 photographs when working with my digital camera, or 4-6 rolls of film when working with analogue. I generally try to narrow down to my 30 best, retouch those, then narrow it down to 15 from there. In the end, about 6-10 final images get published.

Step Seven: Post your work for the world to see!  

Again, pretty self-explanatory. This is when I post my work on this blog, my online portfolio, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. Anything for self-promotion! Another possible step is submitting to a magazine. I do not always plan on submitting my photo shoots to magazines, although if the images come out good enough, I may pitch my shoot to a few magazines on a whim and see what they say. For larger shoots, like this past shoot I did, it was intended to be a submission to a magazine. In this case, I cannot post the final images until I hear back from the magazine on whether or not my submission made the cut, which is why you’re only seeing the behind the scenes shots right now and not the final product

Annnnd there you have it: a photo shoot, from concept to execution! There are a few small steps I’ve left out (there are many emails, phone calls, and meetings to further discuss the logistics of the shoot), but these steps give a general overview of how my photo shoots usually work. If you have any more specific questions, please feel free to leave a comment below or else drop me a line at hello@drifterandthegypsy.com.

instagram photos by erin of calivintage

I don’t know about you but I am wholeheartedly smitten with “The Voice.”

I am not a TV show watcher by any means, in fact I don’t even have TV (but do have Hulu!), so a few times a week I tune in and watch my favorites sing their pretty songs. I always have such a soft spot for the humble small town guys and gals. Also those that play their own instruments. I so wish I had kept up with my piano playing and had taken up on my mother’s offer of voice lessons when I was 12.… ahh those days long gone. Do you watch The Voice?

(all links to the clothing can be found here)

imaginary outfits is a weekly column curated by rodellee. for more imaginary outfits click on over here!

I alluded to this project on Instagram a few weeks ago, and here it is in the flesh!

My latest project for SCAD was a paint swatch sculpture. Using easily accessible/recyclable items (and the A+B+C modular design scheme), we had to design a sculpture for our hypothetical client’s (the owner of a small chain of organic food stores) waiting area of his/her home office. The A+B+C modular design scheme is basically when you take one item, (which equals unit A), then repeat unit A in some pattern to make unit B, and then repeat unit B in some pattern to make unit C (a good example of modular design would be bricks).

This project reaaaally made my mind work and all week I was racking my brain trying to come up with a good material to use for my sculpture. One day, I took a browse through the hardware store for inspiration and bam! passed by a wall full of paint swatches. Needless to say, I got my idea:)

At first, I wanted this design to be a lantern and have it hang, but the paper ended up being too thick and opaque so no light could shine through. Sad face:( It ended up being a sitting sculpture instead. I’m still pleased with it though!

Materials:

Scissors, white thread & needle, drafting tape (to temporarily hold the swatches in place), and-of course-paint swatches.

I began by folding each 3×5” paint swatch sample in some sort of random triangular origami form I came up with by playing around with the paint swatches while watching TV one night. This created my A unit.

Then, I hand sewed (tedious!) two paint swatches of the same color together to create a diamond form, which was my B unit. After my B units were completed, I hand sewed the outer four edges of each B unit (more tedious stuff!). After the B units were sewn together, they formed a spherical form.

…And then a paint swatch sculpture was born!

I was so pleased with the result, I took my sculpture down to Pottery Barn for some sneaky pictures in one of their staged furniture displays:

I love this cool (and educational) stop motion about the history of typography.

video by ben barrett-forrest, found via frankie mag newsletter

This is what I wore to the Dear Creatures sample sale at Asmbly Hall in SF this past weekend. Usually sample sales are kinda meh in my opinion. Everything still ends up being overpriced and picked over, but this one was actually really great (nothing over $50!). I came home with a pair of high-waisted shorts and a skirt (both of which will probably be making appearances on the blog soon). It was also a good day because I walked by Crossroads on Fillmore Street and saw my picture hanging in their window.

Laughing and looking super Asian:

Also, the pops made an appearance on my blog! I love it when he’s game to take pictures with me. He dresses quite dapper sometimes:)

too much fun in grapefruit dress c/o modcloth, sweater: bcbg, shoes: urban outfitters, necklace: tiffany & co, sunglasses: ray ban

A bit of nature and a bit of technology:

one: some flowers I picked by my house // two: iPad cases c/o The Snugg

A lovely Flickr to look at. Getting the week started off right with pretty pictures! This weekend was pretty fabulous to me, and I left feeling inspired. Happy Monday!