This season, Hallie and I had the opportunity to attend several Fashion Week events throughout the city. My wife and I love fashion week. It’s such an exciting time to be in New York. There is so much creative energy in the air, as a photographer, I just can’t help but to be inspired, and I know, my wife feels the same way.
Fall/Winter 2014 was my third season shooting photos during NYFW, and I had the opportunity to shoot 6 shows over the course of the week. As a relative newcomer to NYFW, I’m still learning the ropes, but with each season, I learn something new.
The first time I shot a show at NYFW, I was completely unprepared. All I had was my camera and a kit lens. I didn’t realize what I would need to shoot the show properly. As I shot more shows, however, I tried to pay attention to what the other photographers were doing. While most of them didn’t carry a crazy amount of gear with them, I noticed that most of them shot with a long lens, were stabilized with at least a monopod, and many brought step stools with them, just in case they needed to shoot over someone’s head.
By this season, I felt I had the process pretty well in-hand. I shot the shows with my Nikon D800, had upgraded my kit lens to a 70-200mm f/2.8 lens, and was using a monopod to stabilize. In addition, I also shot my photos using continuous auto focus (in 3D mode) so that I wouldn’t miss the focus as the models walked towards me. This all helped me to get better photos.
While the gear, and settings that I was using helped significantly, I also realized that positioning was also important. Being positioned in the center of the runway, so that the models walked directly towards me, significantly improved the quality of my photos. That way, I wasn’t shooting at an angle, and into the crowd. Positioning isn’t something that can really be controlled, however, it’s really just luck of the draw. Getting there early helps.
With each season, I feel like my shots get better and better. This season, I felt that my shots were better than they have ever been. Hopefully, I’ll have the opportunity to shoot many more fashion weeks in New York, and hopefully, overseas. Below are a few of my favorite shots from this season’s NYFW.
Tracy Reese Backstage
Before Tracy Reese’s runway show, I had the opportunity to shoot some photos backstage, while the models prepared for the show. I love to shoot these types of photos, and think they turned out great.
Tracy Reese Runway
Because I shot backstage photos at this event, I got to the show a bit late, and unfortunately, there was no room for me to shoot with the rest of the photographers. Fortunately, for me, one of the event staffers grabbed me, and found a space for me to shoot at the very last moment. Thank you, whoever you are!
KaufmanFranco
All I recall thinking during this show was how amazing those dresses looked on the models, and how I couldn’t wait to show the photos to my wife.
Ruffian
This was one of my favorite shows. It was in the Studio in the Lincoln Center tents. I like shooting in the studio as it’s not quite as hectic as it is in the theater. After the show, my wife brought home a goodie back full of Ruffian’s beauty products. She asked me to shoot a photo of it for her to post to Instagram. A couple days later, I received a message from the Ruffian team asking if they could use the photo I shot on their website. I was happy to let them use it.
Lacoste
At the Lacoste show, they used a really interesting-looking light panel as a backdrop for the models as they walked the stage. It looked great in real-life, and in the photos, but I found that it threw off my camera’s auto focus quite a bit.
Rolando Santana
At this show, I was really happy where I was positioned. I wasn’t exactly in the center of the stage, but I was close.
Lars Andersson
At Lars Andersson, I was able to get there very early and set up before just about everyone else. That meant that I was able to set up directly in the center of the stage. I really loved how this set of photos turned out because of that.
