I’ve been doing a lot of elaborate shoots lately in the pursuit of creating a “fashion” portfolio.  My fashion shooting has been leaning towards an editorial style that is shoots that present an idea or mood often using story telling elements to create a concept about the products.  In many ways editorial shoots are as much about the; photographer, stylist, hair/makeup people, and models as they are about the clothing or accessories being sold. 

Most of my non fashion shoots can be classified most easily as photo illustration with a little art photography thrown in.  Really I prefer this kind of work but I also like doing fashion shoots.  Seems like a bit more practical for actually making a living than anything art related.  I’m pretty familiar with how dismal the prospects are for any type of artist trying to make a living at any type of art especially if they are in the “fine” arts.  I think the above image would be considered an “art” photography piece.  I did this shoot entirely as a creative art shoot.  It doesn’t serve any commercial purpose.  It isn’t really about selling a product or idea.  It’s just an image I was inspired to make.  It is also not finished.  I will likely produce a small set of finished images but I like to take my time with this kind of thing. 

I like to take my time when I am doing art work and time is usually not something that I have much of.  That is one thing that is actually good about doing commercial oriented shots.  It forces me to work through the creative process quickly.  It’s kind of like sketching or doing spot illustrations but unfortunately I rarely feel finished with the images I turn in for assignments.  That’s just the nature of it I guess.  They say art can’t be rushed and I agree but some times it can use a kick in the pants. 

I don’t think I would ever be able to do just commercial style shoots no matter how creative they were because of that very thing.  There is always a deadline that must be met.  It can burn you out pretty quickly. 

So I suppose I should get into the whole what I have planed for this blog thing.  Well I have decided that I need to separate my artistic photographic pursuits from my commercial ones.  So this blog will likely turn into my general art and art photography blog.  I plan to launch a new blog for “Nate Miller Photography” that will be the home to my professional portfolio and commercial work.  Hopefully soon it will cover actual commercial jobs.  So this blog isn’t going away.  It will still be posted to my facebook.  I will still post photo projects and ideas and artistic influences here as well as any other artistic/creative pursuits that lie outside the commercial photographers scope.  So stay tuned.

My big project for the fall is a set of fashion editorial shoots based loosely on the Irish legends about the Sidhe (Shee) or Tuatha De Danann.  These are faire folk but not in the modern “Tinker Bell” kind of sense but rather powerful imortal beings who look human but are very different for normal people.

I’ve got a couple of shots here from the first two shoots I’ve done for this project.  These are works in progress.  The final product will be different but this is basically where the project is going.

Kayla

Kayla

The first shoot I did after the Spring semester was over was a shoot with Kayla at Pertle Springs in Warrensburg.  I’ve done a number of shoots with Kayla over the last three years.  She is a fantastic model and she just keeps getting better.  She’s also a fellow photo student so she knows whats going on from both sides of the shoot.  For this shoot my wife had made a number of different tops and we were shooting them with several different styles of jeans.  Unfortunately this shoot got cut short unexpectedly so we only got this one top shot but we are planning on trying to finish up the shoot in August when she is back in town. 

Tara

Tara

I did this shoot with Tara at Culp Park.  The concept for this photo illustration project was “Dryad”.  I was joking with Tara during this shoot that I’ve never shot her in normal clothing but she’s so good at my photo illustration concepts that I’ve never really considered having her do anything else.  She’s also amazing at posing and another photo student.  She always understands everything I am doing during a shoot.  My wife made this amazing costume for the shoot.  She’s good at that kind of thing.

Annie

Annie

This is the first shoot I have done with Annie.  I met her when she was modeling for my friend Mike.  We tried to set up this shoot before the end of the semester but we never could get our schedules to match up.  I’m so glad we finally got this shoot in because Annie is so beautiful and great to work with.  My wife made the costume too.  Notice a pattern? 

Kayla

Kayla

Kayla and I tried to reschedule the shoot we had to cut short but the weather wasn’t playing nice with us so we ended up doing a different shoot in the studio.  My wife and I put this outfit together out of things we had from other shoots.  Kayla did such a good job modeling it that it looks completely intentional.  I got a number of great shots from this shoot which I plan on doing a lot of digital artwork on. 

That’s what I have shot so far this Summer.  I have more on the way and I have some personal projects from earlier in the year I haven’t published yet because school assignments got in the way.  Keep checking back!

Sarah "Tank Girl"

Sarah "Tank Girl"

Sarah "Tank Girl"

Sarah "Tank Girl"

Sarah "Tank Girl"

See more images from this shoot on this flickr slideshow.