Riva Designs Photoshoot Week 1

Never in my life did I imagine how much work went into a photoshoot, nor did I realize how insanely hard I was going to work. Too bad it wasn't full time because, that would be one heck of a work out plan. The days started off very early and went until 7:30 at night. In this post are a few images to show the style of shoot, we weren't allowed to take pics.. Don't want any pesky idea stealers to have access to the designs any sooner than necessary.

Day One: Danny Acres Internship

Today was incredible! The day before the official photo shoot. We met Danny at the Riva Designs, his client has a warehouse in the back of their office and if I had to approximate the size, I would guess a football field. Today’s objective was to get everything prepared for shooting all the prom dresses for their upcoming catalogue. They have two looks: Sweet and Sassy and then Sweet and Sexy; Riva Designs and Dreams. We walked into a warehouse that was wall to wall prom dresses.

Two huge walls, paper floor, Plexiglas over the paper, huge Styrofoam shapes. Extra coat of paint, sanding the edges of the forms, scraping the Plexiglas to make sure the paint and marks didn’t show in the shot and then cleaning with Windex. The 4x10 Plexiglas sheets were layed 3 across and two in the back. The floor and “walls” were not level so I shimmed it with paint stirs that I had seen earlier.

The 1st day was set up: which included:

1) Painted large styrofoam props

2) Find a set of stairs to use as a prop

3) Buy batteries

4) Make coffee- He hated my strong coffee… Note to self!!

5) Act as a stylist for the models, pinning, fluffing, powder faces etc.

6) If you see him messing with his tripod- Help him

7) Grey card test

8) Make sure his lens stayed on 90mm to ensure good exposure etc.

9) Moving lights

10) Rearranging the set-to shoot different angles

11) Cleaning all the Plexiglas for the set: 6 4x10 sheets of Plexiglas for the floor.

12) Call PPR

13) Breaking down the set

14) Making lists for the photo rental company to let them know what equipment Danny used

Things to pay attention to:

Buying batteries, Danny wanted stairs so I went o GTC to get the stairs we used for Holiday Portraits, Painted the form.Test Shots for the client so he and Danny could select their picks. Danny worked very closely with his client to make sure he liked the lighting, pick the model’s, emailing images to client to make sure the color they print is the color they see.

Computer’s tethered together: the 1^st one uses capture one software to make sure everything looks ok, but the second computer wasn’t able to show high resolution images due to the differences in the computers. Mac Mini vs. standard Mac.

List difficulties and how you solved them.

1) He hates strong coffee… No biggie- just add water J Plus, he likes one ice cube so it doesn’t burn his mouth.

2) Calling PPR and discussing the difference between the Hasselblad H1 and the Canon 5D Mark II ie: pixel dimensions and check the sync speed so he could shoot full power with his ProPhoto Pack. Or if he needed to rent a Hasselblad for his next shoot or use his 5D. I felt uncomfortable at 1^st, but then he asked me to assist in Mississippi so I must not missed any information.

3) Not having everything I needed at my finger tips- Next time I assist him I am going to wear a tool belt for double sided tape, lotion, clips, powder, brushes etc. All the stuff you don’t think you will need until you feel like a doofus fumbling around for it!!

Describe any interesting experiences on the job and new knowledge, skill, or techniques learned.

*Laying glass over Plexiglass to reflect the background onto the floor!! Too Cool.

*Setting strobes/soft boxes on the floor to pick up detail in the dresses! Way Cool. *Using a strobe on the boom with a magnum.

* How Danny Interacted with the client and the models.

Danny wished he had another tripod head so he could flip back and forth between two different tripods and we use the same kind. I let him borrow mine for two days. He told his client… See, I (he) is saving him money already! That was a great feeling!

*Using Styrofoam shapes for the models to “work” and also the “fake” walls they had built. It made me think about taping white paper to a wall instead of draping it on the backdrop stands.

Riva Designs Photoshoot Setup

The shapes in the diagram below show the huge Styrofoam shapes that were used on the Riva Designs prom dress shoot. There is a company in Gainesville that makes the shapes.
A. This shape is approx 10ft long and arched. It can be used standing up or on it's side for model's to lay on.

B. The Semi circle is approx 4ft. long and was used by the model's to prop up their feet.

Internship Liability Form and Syllabus

I went to Angel and wasn't able to access the paperwork so I shot pics of the papers that I have. they aren't great pictures.

Kind words from Danny

Thanks for all the help Allison! Sonny might want to hire you for our shoot in the summer. We will need someone to help on set with the prom dresses. I’ll fill this out and take a picture of it to email to Mrs. Harkins.

Danny

In addition to possibly being hired by one of his clients, Danny said he would like to have me assist with upcoming jobs. (provided there was room in the budget) Fingers crossed :)

Views from Danny's New Office

Danny's new office is on the 9th floor at Titan Advertising in the heart of Buckhead. What a gorgeous site!

Danny Acres Website

Danny is currently working on updating his website with current images. This is a link to his site: http://www.dannyacres.com/

Would I intern with Danny again?

I have thoroughly enjoyed interning with Danny Acres and would definitely do it again. Through this experience I learned multiple lighting techniques, acted as a stylist, see what goes into planning a large photoshoot, the equipment needed to shoot a commercial shoot, flexed my skills in photoshop, saw how Danny interacted with his clients and much more. Although I do not desire to be a fashion photographer, the things I learned about lighting will carry over into all aspects of photography.

We have recently been asked to try and figure out how to edit in photoshop in the style of Jim Fiscus. He is an Athens based photographer that specializes in photo illustration, his work is amazing. I wish I had known about him when deciding who to intern with him as well. I love photo illustration and his style seems to be the going trend in advertising.

I would have tried to do both internships.

Who is Danny Acres??

Danny is a free spirited, creative Atlanta photographer as well as a graduate from Gwinnett Technical College. His main focus is fashion photography, but Danny also shoots weddings, families, people looking to break into show business and musicians . In addition to the companies listed above Danny has also worked with Riva Designs, Wow Prom and Titan Advertising Agency. He was recently hired by Titan Advertising as their in house photographer. Titan has offered Danny space for an office as well as studio space.

Danny has an odd, yet interesting obsession with photographing bugs. He finds them when they are on their way to croaked or croaked. Molds their little legs and bodies and photographs them on a light table using a macro lens. Very cool images.

Relay for Life

We got to the relay around 6 and saw a see of people. The event overall was very moving, the attendants seemed to be one big family. I met some amazing people.


The Luminary Lap begins with all the lights and music being turned off for a moment of silence followed by the sounds of bag pipes and drums playing. The band takes a lap followed closely by hundreds of people carrying candles. Only the sound of footsteps and tears can be hear in addition to the bag pipes. I accidentally fired my camera, but liked this image.

The is a Gwinnett County Police Officer.....Hysterical!! The Miss Relay is a competition where men dress in drag and parade around to raise money. It is very similar to a Miss America competition, only VERY different. After the competition the contestants are to walk around the fairgrounds and collect donations, they have 30 minutes. This was the Miss Relay Lap. Contestants raised 9,500 in that 30 minutes. The Gwinnett County Officer came in 2nd for the competition by raising 2,200. (in 30 min!!)




I loved the angel wings worn to honor family members that had died.


The luminaries honor survivors and people that have died. I met a mother that attended Relay with her son and husband. The dad was diagnosed with Stage 2 Lymphoma and the son wanted to go find his luminary with his son. Sadly, that image was too dark. I love this one......."Are you watching?"





100's of people were wearing signs to honor family and friends that have died from cancer.





Relay for Life is an annual fundraiser to find the cure for cancer. The Relay was held at the Gwinnett County Fairgrounds at they expected 50,ooo people to attend. The image above it the Purple Glove Dance. The dancers are cancer survivors and people with family members who are survivors.

Antics of a Makeup Artist

Classic!! LOVE IT!! Impromptu shot after touching up the makeup!

Other Images from the Titan Shoot.

Images of the multiple locations, makeup artists, stylists, a modest statue and my favorite shot from the whole day......Ooh, La, La. Sassy!!

Images and a video from the Titan Shoot

After the serious poses were shot, the group decided they wanted to let loose and have fun. It's hard to see in the video, but he used 3 lights to capture this shot. You can hear the generator crank up just as Danny heads over to the computer to view the image. After this, the gang walks over and swarms to see the pics. The shoot included a chilling ride with Michael Hazzard and all the equipment in the back of Danny's truck bed, holding on for dear life and we flew up to the top of the parking garage. The ceiling was very low and we weren't sure if our heads were going to stay intact at times. Hysterical! Great 3 days of shooting. Boy am I tired and sore!!! Sheesh......Now I know how Bea Arthur felt after an aerobics class :)

Retouch WOW Prom Dress Day- OY VEY!!

This day may not look too impressive, but this day was pretty crazy. The dress above shows the detail like the dresses shot and three dresses from the shoot didn't show the detail in the dresses when printed. Once the serious burn and dodge layers where added, they printed beautifully. 11PM rolls around and I am in my car meeting the client at the corner of Peachtree and 3rd to deliver the images. The client was extremely happy and the day was saved. :) (rousing? Rooooo-shing?)

List the responsibilities or duties performed.

1) Print 3 images shot from the WOW Prom shoot

2) Compare the amount of detail in the dresses on the screen vs. what prints

3) Extensive Burn and Dodge layer to enhance the rousing of the dresses

4) Drive completed images downtown to meet client on Peachtree and 3rd

5) Get CD of images from Claudia

List difficulties and how you solved them.

Spent 4.5 hours adding all the detail back into the dresses.

Describe any interesting experiences on the job and new knowledge, skill, or techniques learned.

Got to flex my photoshop muscle skills and add value to the photographer because the customer was very unhappy with what he was printing and seeing the key parts of the dress not showing up.

Titan Agency- (3)

Today we did corporate headshots for the Titan Advertising Agency. Each image was planned between Danny and the each person to determine what they wanted their shot to look like. During the creative meeting Danny asked each one how they wanted to portray themselves, how they thought the clients perceived them etc. The days started very early and included carrying massive amounts of equipment all around the office and then onto the top parking deck for a killer group shot with the skyline in the background.

List the responsibilities or duties performed.

1) Provided steamer for clothes

2) Picked up and dropped off equipment at PPR

3) Prepare studio for shoots

4) Straighten up studio

5) Hold reflector to bounce light into model’s face

6) Hold large scrim to shield the sun from model’s face

List difficulties and how you solved them.

Need to learn Capture One and Canon software to use when needed.

Describe any interesting experiences on the job and new knowledge, skill, or techniques learned.

Collaborating with client to achieve desired lighting scenario from story board pics

Seeing the difference between shooting with a beauty dish vs. a softbox and a grid.