“The Last Supper”
My very first fashion shoot that came from joining networking site ModelMayhem was for the Mandy Heng label run by duo Mandy Heng and Bojana Zjacic and funnily enough first shoot through that site. Their previously booked photographer had cancelled out on them less than a week before their shoot and so Mandy found my profile while searching for a replacement and messaged me if I would be interested. I was free for that day and offered to take the challenge without really considering how big the shoot really was. Most new people start off with small shoots consisting of one or two models on location. My first was to be a creative interpretation of Da Vinci’s “The Last Supper” with twelve models wearing the designer’s creations at the quad section of Sydney University.
On the day we had a crew of eleven models, two hair/makeup artists, a few other photographers assisting and the designers. The weather was sunny but windy and maybe being the only exception everyone was freezing. We picked out a shaded area based on its structural features but from the time we got the studio lights up and running and all the models dressed and ready the sun had moved significantly most of that area harshly lit. We had to rechoose another section on the opposite side of the quad still under shadow and also made sure the sun wouldn’t be an issue. Only now the winds had picked up a bit and were close to knocking down the lights especially ones with the umbrellas. Due to safety and high risks studio lighting the scene with 5 lights was no longer an option. Shooting under natural light in shadows also means a lot of compromises in image quality due to higher ISO’s and lower shutter speeds and apertures. To improve that situation we ended up using all gold reflectors we had around and getting the other photographers/assistants to hold them in place. We posed the models and were finally able to shoot the scene.
With post processing and styling the image I tried to create a sense of night time lit by fire so had to keep the lighting warm and vignetted. Most of the additional retouching was working on the skin tones, removing the bird droppings and a little sharpening. Altogether the shoot had taken just over seven hours and post processing about two hours with a result I’m very happy with.
