An Artistic Shoot: Painting and Photography

One of the last of the photos in the installation, since the yellow paint came at the end of the project.

The best work comes when the photographer and the model collaborate on the piece. In some ways, the collaboration is inevitable, given the grooming and posing and so on by the model and the lighting and framing done by the photographer. However some shoots collaborate even more than others. On an artistic shoot, both parties play a role in putting a special touch on the finished piece.

Here Julie is applying paint to the banners prior to our hanging them. Note she used 2-3 brushes at a time.

I had the idea for several weeks ago to drape paper floor to ceiling and paint some sort of graphic design on it. That way, the model could be in among the objects, not just standing in front of a wall.

I met Julie when I was shopping for some art supplies. I had reached out to 3 Model Mayhem folks, but par for that course had not heard back from any in a timely manner. I decided to ask her if she ever did any modeling, since she was selling art. Turned out the answer was yes. Not frequently. But yes she had before. I explained my concept and she explained she’s a fine art painter/instructor. Of course, I realized that if she could paint the pieces of paper, it would turn out much better than if I did so. We had the makings of an artistic shoot.

Here’s a behind the scenes look at the set for the shoot.

I’ll show a bit behind the scenes as well as some of the photographs that arose from the shoot. Productive and fun…amazing how much was accomplished in a morning. In addition to my artsy idea we also shot some promotional items for my nursery. Great day. Though she’s not a regularly active model on the various modeling Facebook pages, you may reach Julie Suchanek at julie_suchanek@yahoo.com if you want to work with her.

Standing in the midst of the banners, looking as much ballerina as painter.

We did a number of photos with the set all in black and white then we added yellow to one of the banners. Thanks Julie. It was a fun day doing this project. Be sure to click on the photos that are the finished work so you can see them large enough to evaluate.