The goal last week was to learn how to take professional photographs.
Iron Horse Jeans asked us to come out to Vegas where they were sponsoring an event and photograph some lifestyle shots for them. To make things more interesting, the models we were originally scheduled to shoot canceled a couple days before we flew out, so it fell upon us to cast their replacements.
In all honesty, we were decent, sort of hobby-level photographers before we started doing some research last week. As a small creative studio - we're not experts at everything, but when given a task, we try to dig in and prepare as much as possible.
These first 2 shots were from a bunch of random outdoor lighting tests we did Tuesday in San Diego
There are always some people that know more than we do - but we don't really let anyone outwork us. (I say that knowing full well that this blog, at times, depicts our lives as some type of semi-permanent vacation) Anyway, I think that ethos of perfectionism and preparedness has really helped to get us to where we're at today.
Wednesday we flew to Vegas. Read photography books on the plane (and listened to the new Usher album on my iPod).
Drove straight to JR Lighting to rent some equipment. By far the nicest staff at any place I've ever rented gear from.
Dinner with the Iron Horse crew at Sergio's Italian Garden Wednesday night.
The day before we flew out to Vegas, Matt and I dissected a few women's fashion magazines and brought our favorite ads with us to reference. If you saw Matt scouring issues of Elle and British Vogue, you'd understand how seriously we prepare for things.
And then Wednesday night we ran indoor lighting tests until about 2AM.
And the call time Thursday morning was 6AM.
We shot all day Thursday and Friday morning. Between Matt, Ryan and I, we photographed, styled, and art directed everything all sort of at the same time.
Candid outtake from one of the Thursday shoots
Had time for 2 meals Thursday - the buffet at South Point and dinner at P.F. Chang's
And here's a sample of how it all turned out. Can't really post most of the shots at the moment - as Iron Horse will be using them for advertising and marketing over the next few months, but here are a couple for now and I'll get more up later.
Click to enlarge - these are uncropped and unretouched
Overall, it went really well. We learned a lot and most importantly we were able to deliver the images that Iron Horse wanted. If we'd only won money at Craps it could've been the perfect Vegas trip.
Oh well, maybe next time.
