Contempo-Retro: Pinup 2.0

Nicole Dodson contacted me in December 2014; she expressed interest in doing a pinup photoshoot.

I never did a pinup shoot before, so I researched some concepts on 500px.com, which was not very helpful. I searched for ideas on the Internet, but it wasn't until my creative director, Nicole Sue showed me images of contemporary pinup model Dita Von Teese, and old Hollywood images of starlet Cyd Charisse, was I able to jump-start the concept. The decision was made to do a mash-up imagery of vintage and contemporary pinup styles. The end-results were brilliant, beautiful portraits!

Inspired by those images, I started organizing a talented team to assist with executing and realizing the concept. It can be difficult at times to convey to others what your expectations are without using tangibles and visual aids; especially when utilizing electronic communications such as email and Facebook messages, things can quickly get lost in translation. I adhere to having a vision that I can thoroughly articulate and present to others thereby minimizing any occurrences for confusion.

The team consisted of Shannon Sharpe who did an amazing job with the MUA and was our generous host for this photoshoot. Andrayah Ponce did an outstanding job with the evolving hair styles. Wesley Yuan Shang and James Thomas, two very talented photographers in their own right provided assistance with this shoot. Wayne Wonder, also an amazing photographer, was the videographer who captured all the footage to help viewers understand how the creative process unfolds behind-the-scenes on the day of the shoot. Nicole Sue was the stylist and creative director for this shoot; her vision for this high-fashion, contemporary spin on pinup was key to implementation and final execution of the concept.

My process for this shoot was the same as with my other shoots. I had an amazing location but I focused on finding good quality ambient light, because although I had all my strobes, I really didn't want to anchor myself down with lights. My primary tools for this shoot were ambient light, the IceLight, a video light and one speed light (no modifiers). All the model’s poses were my idea and they were all organic; perhaps I could have come in with predefined poses but given I had not met with Nicole prior to the day of the shoot, and I did not use the location before, I had no idea what poses would have worked. Nicole did a great job! She went with all my suggestions, which was great for me because if you don't have a willing subject the images will show it. She put all her trust in me and the team to produce high quality images which will be proud additions to our respective portfolios.

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