- The Dress
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We sent four wedding photographers the same Daisy Brides wedding dress and gave them the complete freedom to bring to life their creative vision in one shot.
With an open brief, and the dress in hand, they each had the challenge to create a single image using the dress. The images were then unveiled at an event in Wellington NZ, during NZIPP InFocus conference 2017
All four photographers hadn’t seen each other’s image until the big reveal, here was their experience:
Danelle is a wedding photographer based in Auckland. She is one of New Zealand’s best known wedding photographers and consistently produces beautiful world class images.
Taking inspiration from artists such as Julia Hetta, Irving Penn, she wanted to create an image that was quite different from how she would photograph a real bride.
Danelle found the process of working with a model who knows how to move and is confident in front of the camera a collaborative process which worked well with her time constraints.
What was your biggest challenge?
Time limitations, winter only allows for very short sunset to capture just the right amount of light, however being a wedding photographer I am quite used to working with time constraints.
I also wanted to challenge myself to shoot an image that’s a contrast to how I would usually shoot.
What is one thing you enjoyed?
Having time to plan, usually with weddings I am working to a reactive process, rather than thinking of something that is a concept first.
I’m in the middle of a sabbatical, I’ve almost had 10 years of wedding photography, so thought I would give myself 4 ½ months off this year. Then Canon got in touch. In the lead up to this, I was a bit dirty at myself for taking it on, I said yes to something again... When we started shooting it, I was thinking, gotta get this done, we’re short on time. I surprised myself when I started exploring the files and shooting my paintings and textures, I got this injection of creative adrenaline again, it was something I’d been missing for so long. This challenge was a godsend, it forced me into post production, and shooting completely differently.I wanted to create something that I would display in a gallery, because I haven’t done that in a couple of years. I shot some of my old paintings, and used that as a texture over the image, combining the two.
When I finished the image, I walked away with so many ideas, and thought I’m going to shoot so many things. I was seriously inspired, it got me hungry to shoot more personal stuff.
Jenna Young is a portrait artist based in Christchurch who has a love for the colour green along with tree tunnels, and whilst driving is always on the lookout for the for the perfect driveway lined with trees.
What was your inspiration for the shoot?
Even before I had seen the dress I knew what I wanted to do. I had so many ideas, it was difficult to narrow it down to just one.
On the day of the shoot we had fantails flying around, diving in and out of the shot, so I decided they should be part of my image. I went to a location before the day the image was due, and tried to photograph some fantails, they’re much harder to photograph than you think!
What was your biggest challenge?
The hardest thing, was keeping it a secret! I really didn’t realise how much I’m inspired by other people, it was tough not being able to bounce ideas off people.
This challenge allowed me to create anything, it’s not a normal scenario, so I wanted someone to check in with, bounce ideas off, to make sure they were actually good ideas.
It came at a really good time, the challenge taught me it’s so easy to forget about doing things for yourself. The concept seemed really big at the time, but it actually wasn’t. I am always adding things in front of my subject, so I thought this was the opportunity to do something a bit more innovative, and for me to create something different to shoot through. It’s something I've wanted to for a long time, and it really only took me an hour and a half to make the circle with leaves (we named the circle a front drop).
When I saw a photo of the dress with the beautiful lace, I knew I wanted to choose somewhere that was in contrast, something darker. I knew exactly what I wanted to shoot, at what time and what location, this challenge made it possible.
Uniting exploration, photography and the natural world, Tales by Light offers a rare glimpse into the eyes and minds of some of Australia and the world’s best photographic storytellers.
