Cool for the Summer

Date taken:  23rd of July, 2016

So I have this thing with doing "bonus shoots" or "mini shoots" inside of a main photoshoot. 

This is sometimes done because we have extra time before or after the main thing, or because some of the clothes or props didn't fit into the main theme but we still wanted to shoot them. 

In this case we met Aviv and Michelle for the "geek chic" photoshoot and I asked them to bring their own clothes, as far as they can find things that fit the theme. A lot of what they brought was right on point and still a lot was really beautiful but didn't fit with the theme. 

So we did a "pre-shoot" where we had the girls put on their definitely-not-geeky outfits and photographed them around the Weizmann Institute where we were setting up. 

Models: Aviv Cohen and Michelle Rabinkov | hair: Neta Hafif Shmulenson | makeup: Anet Nour

Street Fashion

Today we are joining Yuval on a fashion project that is a little different from any of the past fashion shoots I've done. In this case she played the role of model, stylist and director for the whole project. The idea was to do something that looked candid but also high fashion. The sort of shots a good paparazzi would get of a supermodel while she is shopping in Paris. 

To make things feel more European we needed a location that looked classy and didn't scream it was shot here in Tel Aviv. So I did what a photographer should always try to do, and went location scouting a week before the shoot. 

A good friend from Tel Aviv helped me find a string of cool locations, starting from some new buildings with a wooden deck floor around them, through some renewed buildings in the gentrified part of south Tel Aviv, and finishing on brick road streets on the edge of old Yaffo. 

Our model/stylist had several looks to go through and we managed to get quite a few shots for each of them until sunset. 

Forest photoshoot

This was one fun shoot. There's much to say about the gorgeous Einav, but you'll see enough of her after the break. What I've really learned from this session is how much fun and value you can get from doing a "model test".

This isn't what you're thinking of: a studio session in black and white where the model is wearing jeans and a tank top. It could be... but there's much more to the "test" than that. Somewhere between the fashion shoot, the portrait session and the editorial style shoot there's this weird encounter where model and photographer have sort of a job interview.

The photographer gets to see what this new model knows, what her good sides are, what expressions she can pull off and what poses she can handle. The model gets to know the photographer, too. What he can do, if she can count on him to be professional, and to supply the final image. Most of all, the shoot isn't bound by the need to get all the sets done, or by wanting to get all angles of a location or concept.

Studio Sessions - Adi

 After a few non-fashion posts I decided to jump back a bit to my first (and so far only) studio session. I had been collaborating again with Zoe from Swans Moda and this time we shot in her studio/basement. You may recall our beach shoot from the year before, or the urban winter shoot.

The model for this shoot is the beautiful, not-yet-even-eighteen Adi Hashamonai, who made things very easy for me as she both knew how to work the camera angles and looked amazing in anything we put on her. 

The studio setup was pretty simple. A white fabric with two constant lights in soft-boxes to burn it out, another constant soft-box as fill from the left, and my flash in a fourth soft-box as key. Then I alternated between the 105mm for closeups and the 50mm for full body and medium shots, as I didn't have enough room to back up to use only the long lens for everything. 

Rock and Roll Baby

Back from vacation and again trying to catch up on old photoshoots.

These images were taken back in February along with the mystery lady shoot.

We had three models and seven different looks and these two were particularly interesting.

The concept behind this production was masks, as it was just before Purim (the Jewish holiday for costumes) but we switched to a different styling after we felt the masks had done their part. The look we were going for was grungier, rock and roll club party girl look. More after the jump.

Model: Mishel Rabinkov | Styling: Jeni Ageev | Makeup: Iris Roizen Fainstein | Hair: Andrey Zukal | Dress: Natali Boychuck