My Fashion Photography BEHIND THE SCENES

This year I've been studying photography at Uni SA. I bit the bullet, bought my first SLR camera and had a go. For our final assignment we had to produce 6 images using photo manipulation skills on Adobe Photoshop CS6 and of course our camera skills, shooting manual. I'd like to thank all my friends who modelled and helped me, offered guidance and supported me.

6 image series – “Anywhere but Here”

Storytelling through imagery has been in my life since I first discovered my passion for art and then fashion design. Now I have chosen to explore the possibilities of digital art and photography as a medium to express, convey and hopefully provoke some reflection and feeling stimulated from my work in digital photography.

 

This series was inspired by digital artists such as Kirsty Mitchell and Alexia Sinclair, and commercial/artist photographers Tim Walker and Annie Liebovitz for their strong storytelling narrative work, though very literal and symbolic, I find their work to make great statements which are very memorable and trigger memories and stories for their viewers to unpack.

All six images are connected by a common thread – quite literally. Each model is wearing a gown or item of clothing made by myself from my days as a designer/seamstress. Subconsciously I chose each gown as I found it suited the character in each shoot. Only the Madame Butterfly doesn’t technically have a dress of any sort though.

The common thread doesn’t stop there though, in this story it is about a woman, who is represented by 6 different women. She is in the most opulent of decadent realities, the sort people can only wish for, and yet she isn’t happy, isn’t whole. Wherever she is, she wishes she were someplace else. Is it wanderlust? Is it the desire to find more meaning to her existence? And why has she woken up from this dream life, what could have changed her? We hope that wherever she is next, for women across the globe included, that she finds what she is looking for. Wherever it is. 

www.facebook.com/BelindaZanelloFashion 

These are just the Behind The Scenes shots from Instagram:

www.facebook.com/BelindaZanelloFashion

Stylist's Recount: Edgy, Fierce Shoot

Hello dear readers!

My humblest apologies for such  a long gap in between blog posts, work has consumed me and I've also been creating Fantasy Fascinators by night like a Mad Hatter! (photos coming soon!).

The latest shoot I was fortunate to style was for Photographer Antony Snape (http://antonysnape.com/home). Based around the darker side of fashion; a little street-style, a bit dominatrix, a bit sharp-edged glamour and strong shape-oriented silhouettes, I had my black corset at the ready for a structured, fierce feel!

Our lovely model Erin's stunning cheekbones and bright eyes were brought to centre stage by Make-Up Artist Marie Fiorita (http://www.mariemakeup.com/#home), who I must say impressed on all levels, with one of those folding high chairs like you see on the set of a movie for Erin to sit on while she worked her magic.. and the adrenaline kicked in and I started reaching for my Vogue and RUSSH magazines for ideas and themes I had to talk about with them.




It was a great shoot at a location I'd never been to (not local) but amazing, industrial, nautical, clean and just perfect weather (not bad for this winter!) Antony knows how to take a location and work with it in unexpected ways for fashion photography & his use of colour tones is my favourite part. There is a consistent blue theme in the fashion/accessories and I like how it's been accentuated with the background. The red tones in the corset-shots really bring out the sinister intensity I was hoping for in Erin's fashion-look. It was a privelidge to have my fashion and jewellery (& fascinator) featured in this fashion shoot.

 Erin looked incredible in my corset (first corset I made back in 2009, cinches in your waist 8 inches, if you do the corsetry course at Tafe SA Fashion, you won't regret it!). My favourite part was seeing Erin in the white GaGa style 6 inch platform stilettos wearing the black corset underneath the long blue chiffon gown (I designed & made a few months earlier).

The sun was starting to set, there were these great shadows mixing with the background and a warm golden light and all of a sudden for no reason the wind started blowing in Erin's direction, blowing up the dress Marilyn Monroe-style and creating that perfect shot, I love it when that happens! Especially when there's no powerpoints for a fan to make wind, mother nature provides!
 
 

A big thank you to the whole team and assistant Luke Greaves for keeping the whole shoot seamless and creative and supportive and exciting! It was a great day!

I'll be making a 'Behind-the-Scenes' video this week, stay tuned to see footage from this shoot on location, I can't wait to start working on it!

Belinda

(Check out the Facebook Page:)
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Belinda-Zanello-Fashion-styling-illustration-jewellery/148916288493758

Behind the Scenes at a Fashion Shoot!

I had an absolute ball at the shoot last week, styling is a bit like playing dress-ups with your favourite doll & making sure she looks a certain way to suit the style and to tell a story. Maybe my whole childhood was leading up to this, I used to have a massive dress up bin as a kid & actually met my best friend in kindergarten because we used to share the dress-ups and shoes when we'd play. Later on I'd start sewing for my dolls out of old socks and scraps of fabric, but that's another story ;)

This glamorous, luxe shoot took place at the Stamford Grand, Glenelg. One of the highlights of this shoot was (due to the fact) we were shooting on a rooftop swimming pool at the Grand hotel which has impressive steel structural architecture but no actual roof! I was cautious of the pigeons, and yes they did poop, but all my garments were covered in plastic so they lose! Apparently they didn't approve of my beige trench coat. But the AWESOME part I loved was when the wind picked up, and due to the open windows/roofless architecture we had this surreal wind blowing in the perfect direction, blowing Lauren's hair and skirt and tie, just perfectly! The fashion gods were smiling that day :)

Here is the team:

Photography ~ Antony Snape 
Model ~ Lauren Frensham
MUA ~ Lauren Parkinson
Hair Stylist ~ Ninette's Hair Salon
Assistant ~ Austen Evans
Stylist ~ Belinda Zanello


I hope you like my quick snap shots, behind the scenes of this shoot which have already been released on the facebook page, if you haven't "Liked" it, now's the chance! 
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Belinda-Zanello-Fashion-styling-illustration-jewellery/148916288493758
I'm very proud of my latest garment I designed & made, a tailored pale pink jacket, in cotton/sateen (stretch), with a floral cotton lining, jet pockets. Size 8/10, available to buy on my facebook page. Also all the jewellery featured was made by me, all for sale on facebook too. :)


And I can EXCLUSIVELY REVEAL on here first that I will be editing and producing a short film (rookie film, guys!) with the behind the scenes footage I took also, very excited! Just working on getting the perfect software. 


Until then, enjoy these "Behind the Scenes" shots!


B. Xx

Stay tuned to see the actual photography (by Antony Snape) in my next post!

B. Xx