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|| SportsShooter.com: News Item: Posted 2011-12-12

COOL GIG
Football to Fashion

By Carlos Gonzalez, The Minneapolis Tribune

Photo by Carlos Gonzalez, The Minneapolis Tribune

Fall and winter for me involves shooting football. Most of my time this season has been spent covering the Minnesota Vikings and Minnesota Gophers, so getting the opportunity to shoot the Winter Fashion issue for Vita.mn was a welcome change of pace.

The Ann Bean Mansion, a B&B in a Victorian mansion located in Stillwater, Minn. was chosen as the location for the shoot. Having a set or centralized location for a fashion shoot is helpful since having to move to different locations can cause logistical problems when you are on a tight schedule.

We had to be out of the location by 2PM for the proprietors to set up the B&B for the next day’s guests. We set the call time for 7AM and went from there. It may sound like plenty of time, however cramming 5 different looks with wardrobe, hair and make-up changes during that time frame was quite a challenge. I had about a 15-minute window to shoot each look.

For my fashion shoots I tend to use multiple light setups, but for this shoot I wanted to try something different. I choose to go with an available light look with the end result to be published in Black & White.

After a discussion with the art director she was on board. I knew I could achieve the look I was envisioning simply with reflectors and fast lenses. The 24mm F/1.4 II, 50mm F/1.2, 85mm F/1.2 II were my lenses of choice for the shoot.

All images were shot at F/1.4 and although I was getting the soft backlight look I initially wanted I felt I needed just a little more pop in some areas. I had an inexpensive Flashpoint LED light in my bag and it was enough to do the trick. I mounted it to a magic arm, which was helpful in some of the tight spaces we were working in.

There are many ways to approach a fashion shoot. Sometimes it may require elaborate lighting setups or just some reflectors and a $35 plastic led light. The key is to have an idea and execute it the best you can to achieve the desired end result.

(Carlos Gonzalez is a staff photographer at the Minneapolis Star Tribune. You can see his work on his Sports Shooter member page: http://www.sportsshooter.com/members.html?id=3567 )