Thread asked iD Dunedin’s campaign photographer Emily Hlavac Green how amateur fashion photographers and bloggers might capture a great Street Style or ‘What I wore’ type image, and here are her tips…
Hotel St Clair played host to the Fashionable Breakfast Series as part of iD Dunedin 2013. Thread attended Day 3 featuring young designer label UNDONE, and Day 4 featuring fashion photographer Emily Hlavac Green…
She’s young, beautiful, talented AND charming. iD Dunedin’s campaign photographer Emily Hlavac Green spoke at Friday 15 March’s iD Dunedin Breakfast, and spirited her audience off to the world of artistic vision and hard yards that is fashion photography.
Emily graduated from Art School in 2009. While studying she was drawn to what she describes as ‘O.T.T. cinematographic plots’ a la David Lynch, and she has really enjoyed rechannelling that interest into her fashion photography.
Emily combines commercial photography with her fashion work in order to earn a living, but stresses the importance of personal projects, ‘getting out there and having fun,’ in learning techniques and developing her own style. “Throw your ideas of conformity out the window to infuse newness into your work”, she says.
The soft-spoken photographer listed four elements she considers when creating a narrative for her fashion photographs: location, lighting, posing and character. She doesn’t storyboard her shoots as you would for a film, but rather finds that the ‘plot’ develops over the course of a shoot.
She encourages developing fashion photographers to visualise the end product and sketch the shot they intend to achieve, Conversely, sometimes you have to be able to think very fast, too, says Emily, to frame your idea.
“I will do anything to get the picture that I need” she says. She cites this year’s iD Dunedin campaign image – ‘the most technical to date’, where she and her team worked late into the dark, cold night as the shot only started to come together after many hours.
Below: A photo shoot of iD International Emerging Designer Awards 2013 winner Rakel Blom’s collection on location in Shanghai.
Photography: Emily Hlavac Green
Models: Shanghai University of Engineering Science
Below: Mild Red lookbook image. Mild Red- Bouquet of Barbed Wire W13
Photography: Emily Hlavac Green
Model: Mary Smith @ Ali McD Agency
Make up: Katy Parsons
Hair: Kylie Hayes
Thread asked Emily how amateur photographers might capture a great Street Style/‘What I wore’ type image, and here are her tips:
– Ensure your subject is comfortable.
– Consider the context of the shot – Emily points out that’s why sites like The Sartorialist are so popular. Don’t shoot your subject on a white wall!
– Have a good camera if you can. If you can’t – you can still capture a good image on your iPhone or the like.
– Look for the light and the story.
Words and photos, Julie Roulston
15 March 2013
Leave a Reply