Model behaviour: Yoder, Atkinson and Stable

Fashion show photography is not a job for the meek and mild. From the limited space of the jostling pack front of stage to the creative frenzy backstage, the events present pro photographers with both a logistical challenge and an almost endless source of raw material. CPN caught up with three quite different photographers at the February/March shows in Milan, London and Paris to find out how they capture the image-makers.

The twice-yearly fashion weeks in Paris, Milan and London are famous for their glamour and extravagant creativity. But the shows - 200-300 fashion photographers, and the Canon teams that support them, have to be just as creative, while enjoying only a fraction of the glamour.

CPS support

Canon has been the main sponsor of the London and Milan shows since February 2006 and one of the sponsors of the Paris show since the same time. CPS has a presence at all three shows and has had a relationship with Paris and Milan going back 15 years.

“It’s a gruelling week,” says Dave Yoder, who covers Milan fashion weeks for Fairchild Publications and who recently won the US-based National Press Photographers Association’s Best of Photojournalism Celebrity Picture Story first prize for his backstage images.

“These shows are ‘hourly miracles’, and I’m sometimes literally running around trying to get the right shots. By the end of the week, it didn’t matter how much coffee I drank, and this Italian coffee. Fairchild mostly wants atmosphere and something different to those shooting fashion and beauty shots”, he says.

Dave shot thousands of images at the Milan show in February, using both RAW and JPEG. He shot a total of 96Gb of images. That is around 500 shots a show across the 20 shows.

“Most of the time, shots don’t pan out and it’s usually because of the lighting. Some photographers have the most amazing, home-made lighting contraptions − they are like hand-held studios.”

Dave only shoots behind the scenes and is one of just a handful of photographers with backstage passes that are allowed to stay around when many other snappers have disappeared.

“I’m here to shoot what’s happening − real life”, he says.

Dave Yoder talks about his selection

• “A model at D&G during hair styling. She carried the dog around to all the shows she walked in. I used available light, shot with an EOS 5D and the EF50mm f/1.2L USM lens, which was perfect for this shot because it offered good separation from the background − nice bokeh, almost like a telephoto in a tight shooting area. I didn’t have much choice in angles due to the large stylists’ mirror in front of her.”

Helen Atkinson, a freelance photographer, covers London Fashion Week for The Independent newspaper and was therefore working to daily deadlines.

Front of stage, shooting the catwalk, requires preparation and anticipation, especially when you are covering three or four shows a day in several different venues. From finishing a shoot to sending the first high quality image down the wire back to HQ can take just 10 minutes. This involves fighting your way out of the show, downloading, a quick edit, captioning and sending.

But before all this can happen, there is the thorny question of securing the best possible position from which to shoot. Photographers mark up a space in the gallery on the Saturday before the shows start.

“There is a official time for marking up and people go along in groups − it’s a kind of organised chaos,” says Helen. “You don’t always get the ideal place and so you have to be as creative as you can at the time with the restrictions that you have. I take both a box and a ladder to all the shows giving me the flexibility of making the most out of the position that I can get.”

Helen tries to take as many different types of shots as possible to give her picture editor back at The Independent’s offices maximum flexibility. She is also in regular contact with the writers to help her prioritise the shots.

“If you are shooting for the magazines you tend to have to be dead centre in the pack. With The Independent you get more latitude and it can make for more interesting shots.”

And are there rules limitations to what photographers can do behind the scenes?

“Backstage the models generally don’t mind you taking shots. It’s just when they are changing that they wouldn’t like it.”

She insists that Canon Professional Services’ support has played a large part in her choice of equipment.

“The Canon team being at events like fashion week also means that I can try out equipment and that, in the end, is why I have the bodies and lenses I do,” she says.

Helen Atkinson talks about her selection

• “For the opening show of London fashion week, I was standing on a box and spotted Philip Green (third from left), billionaire owner of Arcadia group, who Top Shop chain collection was on show, and composed the shot to get both he and model in the frame. Used EOS-1D Mark II with an EF85mm f/1.2L II USM lens.”

• “Here, I moved around to get an off central angle on the show. The lighting created dramatic and moody shadows as the model entered the catwalk.

French photographer Patrice Stable works for some of the world’s top designers, creating their ‘look book’ of the collections made up of one ‘silhouette’ per model. The look book has to be ready just one day after the show. Patrice and his team (a producer and an editor) work through the night to select, edit, re-touch and print.

As well as silhouettes, Patrice produces shots of textile details and accessories, along with backstage and ‘ambiance’ pictures so that he can deliver to his clients a complete portfolio that can be used for PR and press pictures.

Some designers prefer to do the selection themselves, but most of them trust Patrice to do the final selection. His main clients are some of the biggest names in the business: Jean Paul Gaultier, Thierry Mugler, Emanuel Ungaro, Kenzo and John Galliano.

Patrice prefers to work with ambient light and to “stay in the shadow” allowing him to capture and reveal all the intimacy of his subject. Working for the designers gives Patrice, and other ‘house photographers’, prime position in the pack during fashion week. Additional photographers are placed on the sides of the pack.

In his studio, he also organises staged fashion shows, to get silhouette shots, for designers who don’t have a show during the official fashion week. His favourite designer is Gaultier partly because it is one of the only houses still doing the traditional range of haute couture, prêt-a-porter, perfume and accessories.

Patrice Stable’s selection

 

© Patrice Stable

 

A shot from the Christian Dior show taken on an EOS-1D Mark II N.

 

© Patrice Stable

 

A shot from the Dries van Noten show taken on a EOS-1D Mark II N.

 

© Patrice Stable

John Galilano show

 

© Patrice Stable

John Galilano show