Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Fashion Photography

Malaysian shutterbugs like to shoot fashion show in shopping mall.

Here is a fashion show held recently in KLCC, Malaysia’s premier shopping center in the capital. Enthusiastic photographers shoot the model as she walks on the stage. I can see a number of Canon L lenses. (L for luxury!)

Neo, were you there?

Usually, in this kind of event, the people who occupy the ‘prime locations’ are the shutterbugs rather than the potential shoppers.

I also shot fashion show a couple of times, but have since lost interest in it. Why?

First, with a dozen of cameras pointing at the model, it is too crowded. I have to take position 10 minutes before the show begins, or I will be blocked by the crowd. Look at the picture shown below. The white object at the bottom of the picture is probably another photographer’s hand. (I am not too sure!)


Secondly, I am not happy with the models’ facial expression. While most of them are good-looking, catwalk models are emotionless animals which hardly smile. Or they are fierce-looking as if we owe them money…


I suspect catwalk models have their own Bible, which tells them what to do and what to avoid. One of their commandments must be:

Thou shalt not smile.


I think I would rather spend some money to join a portrait photography class.

23 comments:

  1. haha.. yah, i think they not allow to smile.. :p

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  2. Yup, thou shalt not smile. Think its a way for them to act classy/stylish.

    The next commandment is
    "Thou shalt imagine that the crowd is invisible".

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  3. i too think tht they have some sort of code of conduct which they arent allowed to smile

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  4. 我认为大多数的摄影师都是醉翁之意不在于酒。。。^_^

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  5. kikey, xin Wondering what's wrong with smiling...

    shingo Very right ^^

    花木兰 当然,当然。所以服装秀可能效果不彰 ^^

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  6. I was there, but not in the pic. :)

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  7. Depends on the theme I guess. Maybe some kind of clothes the designer does not want the model to smile. You're right about taking model pics, so many cameras in front, so hard to take pics.

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  8. Yeah, so difficult to take pics, I wonder how Neo does it!

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  9. those at 1-U fashion show last weekend were very cheerful ~
    u went to the wrong place ah ? :p

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  10. neo
    Next time we should meet up :)

    JL
    But most of the time they are emotionless. Only in very rare cases they behave differently.

    foongpc
    Neo has a long lens - up to 200mm. Mine is 85mm only.

    迷迭香Nope, I went to the right place. I shoot these photos purposely for this post :P

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  11. they are not smiling so that they look cool ma...

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  12. KS, I've often wondered about their not smiling or their emotionless face. Guess what, we may have the answer here. I googled about it and found two answers from Yahoo! Thought you and your readers might be interested to know too.

    1. For the most part, a model is there to be a moving hanger for a designer's clothes. They are merely moving the outfits down the runway and are not encouraged to show facial expression or a great deal of personality, other than a strong walk. In some cases, designers like their shows to be a bit more theatrical and will encourage models to walk a certain way, smile, make faces, etc.

    2.Because high fashion isn't commercial, and it is definitely not a pageant! The designer wants more focus on the clothes too, and not as much on the model. High fashion is art, and art doesn't necessarily smile.

    I like the second answer. Very chic.

    There, now we know and we will be more tolerant the next time we are at a catwalk fashion show.

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  13. I believe when they are on stage...they are exorcised! Hence they won't smile anymore. And that explain why the way they walk are almost the same. Because...the same "thing" is controlling them! :|

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  14. annant
    Looking cool is not cool, LOL...

    happysurfer
    Fashion show in shopping mall is commercial, but the argument that the designer wants focus to be on the clothes is certainly plausible.

    In any case, I am not interested to shooting fashion show.

    tekkaus
    You're very imaginative, LOL...

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  15. Yeah, happy surfer raised good observations. Fashion designers would not want to draw the audiences' eyes away from the clothes. So sometimes, if you notice, high-fashion fashion models do not exactly look vavavoom. But they do have lean and tall bodies (for the clothes to look good). :-D

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  16. For some reasons... I prefer to watch Western fashions shows and see Western models strutting their stuff on stage. Not to mention their comparatively more natural catwalks and poses, voluptuous figures and beautiful long legs.

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  17. I'm not a fan of fashion shows either, mostly because I don't like the clothes most of the time (as a photographer, as a woman... nah, still don't like them!) and because models are so expressionless.

    They have a good body I guess but I like people full of live best.

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  18. 宝茹
    I do know that some fashion models look plain, but my main gripe is that they are expressionless.

    kyhThere are some Western models performing in this country.

    zhuYeah, I also prefer lively people.

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  19. Oh I see! That's the advantage. I know very little about SLR cameras. Haha!

    Btw, there seemed to be a glitch at my blog. My post 'My Adventure at Kinabalu Park (Part 2)' was cut halfway. It was not supposed to be that short. Don't know what happened. Anyway, it is rectified now. Go over and read the rest, will you? : )

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  20. foongpc
    Already read the remaining part of your post. Thanks.

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  21. This looks like quite a delightful fashion show. I enjoy the pics you provided. Thank you. I enjoy this post, especially since it is in English. :-)

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  22. Keith
    Thanks for dropping by :-)

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  23. I agree with you, some how those models are emotionless. After twice shooting Fashion show, I also found that it is rather pointless.

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