This past Sunday, I had the pleasure of getting backstage access to the Weddings Magazine Bridal Collection show at New Zealand Fashion Week. This kind of shoot wouldn’t ordinarily be my thing (women floating about in poofy white dresses), but Crane Brothers is a menswear shop in Auckland where I buy my favourite blazers (and the occasional long-sleeve shirt) and they provided the formal menswear counterbalance to all the gauzy, floaty wedding dresses that would be swishing down the runway.
And I’ve always wanted to shoot backstage at a fashion show, so here was my chance. I mean, c’mon — Sunday Afternoon + Male Models + Beautiful Clothes + Voluminous Wedding Dresses = Big Photography Score!
Little did I know how chaotic the actual backstage scene would be, with dressers, models, hair stylists, makeup artists, videographers, other photographers and show managers all vying for precious elbow room. I stepped on wedding dresses and polished toes and said “pardon me excuse me oops sorry pardon me” a lot, but everyone was surprisingly cool about it (a typical New Zealand trait), and as most of the models were in full model mode, they happily posed for whatever lens happened to point their way.
It was funny. Ordinarily, I’m used to people shying away from the camera when I’m out in public, but here I had subjects exhibiting a near unsettling ease with gazing directly into the lens. It made for some candid images that are pretty much a photographer’s dream because of the insanely natural comfort level on display.
Which is what separates the average joe/jane from the professional model. Another thing that separates the average joe/jane from the professional model? Professional models look terrific from *every* angle. Seriously, there was simply no way to take a bad picture of these people — unless they were in the middle of a yawn, or had tripped and fallen on their faces. Other than that, it was photogenic goodness from left, right, centre, back, whatever.
Which was, again, almost unsettling, yet still an amateur photographer’s dream come true. I can’t tell you how many otherwise good photos I’ve had to delete through the years because the subject simply wasn’t appealing from the angle I had chosen to shoot, but these pro model guys? Not a bad angle to be found, even if I went looking — and that made my job easy-peasy.
Unfortunately, about halfway through the photo-shoot I reached down to help lift a very heavy cart that was in everyone’s way and wrenched my back. Yes, I should have known better because I’ve had back issues in the past, but I didn’t realise just *how* heavy this cart was, so the latter part of my backstage shooting was shot through gritted teeth and a desperate need of pain medication . . . but what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, right?
Or so I’m told.
Silver lining: I crawled to the doctor’s office on Monday afternoon and got some appropriate (and much needed) pain medication for my trouble, so editing the hundreds of photos from the show became exponentially less tedious. Because, really, it’s amazing how pain medication helps the brain concentrate on whatever creative task is at hand. I wouldn’t trust myself behind the wheel of a car (hell freaking no), but I could certainly whiz my way around Photoshop like a Superman on adderall.
It’s times like these that I greatly appreciate the 21st century with its modern medicine and miracle pharmaceuticals.
But the backstage shooting wasn’t all just brides and grooms. There was also a kids fashion portion of the Bridal show, and though I couldn’t much tell the difference between wedding clothes for children and fairy princess costumes, they all looked adorable nonetheless. Fairy wands not included.
And yeah, wow, the child models played it up for the camera, too, just like the adult pros.
Honestly, this was the most fun I’ve had on a photo-shoot in, like, ever, and I’m going to have to make certain this “backstage at Fashion Week” thing happens again, by hook or by crook. Because there’s nothing like a cramped, crowded, badly lit environment to bring out the adrenalin-pumping best in me.
You can find a more complete set of my New Zealand Fashion Week photos here: New Zealand Fashion Week
Enjoy!
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