This was the first shoot that I did with the incredibly talented Sara Shamoon. This idea was inspired by the vintage 1950's pinup look. Sara's naturally curly hair really added to the look. She was able to pull out this red dress which popped against the bright yellow backdrop I selected. We were in luck, Sara's boss loaned her a set of bright red Mary Jane's. Join me as I walk through the pictures from this incredible set. I'd never really shot a classic vintage theme before. I was excited to try a 50s pin up theme. As an illustrator in self-training, I was a big fan of the vintage 50s pulp comic look.
In these first few images, you can really see how instantly she vibes with this dress. Her lipstick, footwear, ear rings all come together extremely well. Despite this being our first time shooting together, she was extremely comfortable in front of the camera. Almost instantly, the enthusiasm took over, and it was all sunshine and smiles.
She was an absolute pro. Normally during photoshoots I like to have some tunes going in the background that fit the theme of what we were shooting. Elvis, Johnny Cash, Frankie Valley.....all great musicians...…..None of their music was played at this shoot. I just forgot to turn on the radio!
The image below definitely could make its way into a 50s Ad!
She has an absolutely dynamite smile. As I'm sure you can tell, she is having an absolute blast in these photos!
Onto some close ups! Both of us were fans of anime, so just for fun, I asked her to do the typical anime salute (at least that is what I think it is called).
Here we just tried some fun pin up poses! Got to love how well that red pops against the yellow!
We had only 1 hour booked in the studio so I was eager to get a bunch of different looks in. Sara luckily had brought a pair of cherry red glasses. She rocked them like Jail House Rock!
You'll notice that she has a bit of color in her hair. I made the choice to leave it in. Not sure that would fly in the 50s. Her hair was sometimes tricky to light as the curly bangs could cause unwanted shadows across her forehead. We had multiple strobes set up. Once we got into the rhythm of the shoot, the poses became more dynamic. If she faced a certain position relative to the strobes, it would cause a dark shadow . I was so captivated by the overall look that I would not notice these small errors. As I am writing this, it hit me that with her hair style, she would be absolutely perfect for playing Betty Boop!
Those glasses! Can't say enough! Simply glamorous!
In these next photos, my idea was to pose her in a seductive style. I can't point to exactly where this inspiration came from, but I recall seeing these poses in vintage magazines and artwork. I'm note sure if it worked, but in the end even she got a laugh from it!
We tried a few variations of that sexy seductive look in the top and bottom image. While the top image is a very straight foreword look. The subtle look in the bottom image absolutely knocked it out of the park.
Breaking out the sitting stool! A staple of studio shoots!
In the below image, I added another strobe over top of her so that I could bring out the details of the hair. It did cast some highlights onto her shoulder but overall I was a fan of the look!
Then, Sara broke out the dark shades and the red umbrella. This was so 1950s that I could hear "Duck and Cover" in my head! She is at least covered with her umbrella and shades.
She gave so many amazing looks! 50s pulp personified!
These next few images are some of my favorite from this set. Everything from her poses, expressions, and props just worked perfectly!
We were running out of time at this point. It seems that is when all the ideas start rushing to your head. We shot a few more great close ups before we had to move on. I had her bring back the red shades since I thought they worked better than the dark ones.
For the last couple images from this set, we used a yellow seat that the studio had. This was very lucky. Having an intentional color palette from the get-go really made these images work!
Why not add the red glasses in again!
Since she brought the black foot wear, we couldn't end the shoot without at least shooting a few with them.
Last shot idea I wanted to grab was this classic pose. Time honestly flew by and we had so many more ideas we wanted to try. Sara brought amazing energy and enthusiasm! I can't wait to do another vintage vibe shoot!
