The Other Side: Mustard Skirt for Practical Purposes

As mentioned in yesterday's post, today's will be featuring the photos from the Mustard Skirt photo shoot (see below).

This set of photos was actually taken the same day as Carlie's park and blossoms set, just a couple hours after and at a different location.

Featuring this skirt
(in case you've forgotten)

The Other Side is a mini-project I've decided to pursue as part of my photography journey, in which I take complete control over a photo, becoming both the photographer and the subject (this sounds like a very fancy way to describe a "selfie").  In addition to having very specific ideas for photos, another practical purpose for being on the other side is to gain a better understanding of the model's perspective.  While she took many of my suggestions very well, my session with Carlie made me wonder about the difficulties one would face if not blessed with the model gene.  As I should have known, I, too, am not fortunate enough to have the natural ability to model (Amanda darling, teach me your ways!)  It's kind of funny because my mom is actually quite good in front of the camera, but I guess the trait isn't hereditary :(

Why is my arm so stiff and awkward :( why is one leg twisted around the other leg

What I found was the most difficult was taking direction, since I'm much more used to giving it.  When I'm behind the camera, I can see exactly what the image through  the lens looks like and then I give directions to alter it to my liking.  Being in front of the camera and trusting someone else to help create the image I have in mind, it's a lot more tricky.  Natural shots/candids don't really work for me either because the only thing I am is naturally awkward (also because of the moral/ethical issue discussed last post; I wouldn't feel comfortable claiming an image that wasn't my own vision).

On the topic of trust, I prefer having a close friend help me rather than a professional photographer.  I actually have had some experience being a model for a photography association and it was a bit traumatic, to be perfectly honest.  There were many people playing around with lighting and multiple cameras going off at once, I felt pretty much like a bowl of fruit in the middle of an art class.  The end results were very well-lit, well-photographed pictures, in most of which I don't like the way I look.  This also ties back to my  philosophy of making the model feel comfortable and happy during the shoot and with the photos themselves.  The same "bowl-of-fruit" experience was also a reason why I wanted to try changing roles again; to gain more understanding of anything else I can do better to help my models.

Another main reason for my preference would be that regardless of where I'm physically standing, I'm wearing my photographer hat.  Even when I'm in the photo, I don't feel like a model.  In my opinion, a model doesn't need to worry about the same things as a photographer; the model just needs to feel happy and trust that the photographer will make them look good.  I feel too strongly the need to be in control to be a good model, and if I were working with a real photographer, there would be a very bad power struggle.  If I had a clone, I wouldn't want to work with me either (again, God bless Anita and John's never-ending patience <3)

This shot took 8 attempts til I got the one I wanted

So what kind of photos can you expect from The Other Side?  Well, most of the time, they'll be fashion shots – that is, on the rare days where I'm happy with the outfit I'm wearing and want to create photos to feature them (I'm usually quite the bum).  Also, as seen from my Kingston Mills boardwalk shot, sometimes I want a people/person instead of scenery shot but no one else is around.

Inspiration for this outfit comes from one of my favourite bloggers, Jean from ExtraPetite, specifically, this outfit and this outfit, where she also wears a mustard skirt.  Both her and Wendy from Wendy's Lookbook are my biggest influences, making them another reason for me to step in front of the camera.

I hope you enjoyed these last two posts!  Based on your feedback, I'll decide whether or not to continue with this project.  It's definitely been one of the more difficult photo sets, not only from a shooting perspective, but also taking moral/ethical implications into account, out of 200 photos, I'll end up with maybe 2 or 3 that I am happy with and feel comfortable using.

Thanks again for stopping by!​