Have YOU ever been stopped by a streetstyle photographer? Were you flattered, or bothered; did you say yes, or no? What’s it like being the photographer, and what are they looking for?I headed in to NGV to hear the photographers behind capturing online street fashion project, I AM Melbourne Now, in conversation.
I Am Melbourne Now is essentially a snapshot in time recording what people on the street are wearing, in a collaborative project between the NGV and VAMFF Virgin Australia Melbourne Fashion Festival. The blog, live from 1 – 23 March 2014 at I Am Melbourne Now, is not so much a fashion blog as a glimpse into street culture now in Melbourne.
Moderator Danielle Whitfield, Assistant Curator of Fashion & Textiles at NGV, introduced attendees to the four photographers involved in the project: Mia Mala McDonald, Liz McLeish, Sam Wong and Tom Ross.
The public event was an interesting insight not only into how they gathered the street style images and way, but really into the varying ways that different photographers work.
Mia will walk around for two hours sometimes and not be able to approach and interact with anyone. She says her work crosses over from street style into portraiture. “I’m only half of this process; it’s a beautiful colaboration” she says. “You have to respect them.” Mia spends about 15 minutes talking to them and then shooting them and gives them the option of pushing delete if they’re not happy. People are very vulnerable in photographs, as “people all want to represent our ‘better selves’ in an image.”
Sam by contrast will sometimes shoot a shot first, then talk to them. He was the only photographer to shoot all in black and white, in images that captured unique moments, rather than strictly fashionable outfits.
Lisa however has an eye for fashion-oriented shots; she appreciates that people get up in the morning and make an effort in how they present themselves. Lisa stops them in the street, has a conversation and “pays them the ultimate compliment; you look amazing, may I take your photograph?” Lisa likes a shoot outfits with a mix of high and low labels. Liz asked Lisa what she thought made a good fashion photograph, and she replied someone who had thought about what they’re wearing – not necessarily money spent – but it had good proportion, and individuality.
Tom, whose streetstyle subject appears in a blue apron on the slideshow in the picture below, has less of a fashion approach and more of a photo-journalist angle in his work. He says “the anxiety of stopping people for photos is greater in me; I find the people themselves are generally up for it!”
Below: Me standing outside the NGV.
Megan Robinson
15 March 2014
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