Editorial Glamour Photography
What is Editorial Glamour? Creating a different kind of image.
The Editorial Image
I use the terms editorial and glamour to describe the style of many of my images. In the world of magazine photography, the term editorial is used to describe a style of photograph where its look and feeling is crafted to tell a story or to support a written story being told. The definition is fluid and can even be a broadly defined one in how one sector of the print media-world will see/use it as compared to another sector. Suffice it to say, editorial photography "sells a story", where as fashion photography "sells a lifestyle", and commercial photography "sells a product".
In sharp contrast to commercial photography, where the look is clean and well lit, fashion and editorial photography is bold, edgy, and conceptual in its design styling, often being dramatically lit. It is...dare I say it, "arty". It is also great fun and challenging to create for everyone involved. It is for this reason that skilled and capable photographers love to create art in this form. Professional models too enjoy the chance to be "arty" and seek this kind of shoot to add depth to their portfolio and show their versatility.
One of the key elements of style often seen in editorial images is dramatic lighting. Since we become accustomed to the light seen in nature, its look and feel, the creation of something different thus becomes interesting to a viewer. This is why a skilled artist will use light sources, such as those available in the form of photographic lighting, to create a feeling of light that is not normally seen nor available in the natural world. This crafted light can be many times more dramatic and harsh, or beautiful and soft when compared to what is normally seen in our everyday lives.
This image was crafted in the editorial style with strong lighting, an artfully posed model placed in an unusual interesting setting.
Because the light is so unusual we are compelled to look a little longer. We may even ponder for a while the different aspects of the image, what it means, where it was made, how it was made, or any other number of even more pithy concepts. We may look at it not really analyzing it at all, just knowing that we are drawn to it for some reason.
The Fashion Image
"Selling" a lifestyle can be said to be the main idea behind fashion photography. The goal of fashion photography is to convey a way of life through the use of cloths, goods, and items of property in such a way as to show them to be highly desirable.
Fashion shoot in San Antonio, drawing inspiration from Italian fashion.
So it is not just about the clothes…it is about the style in which life is lived.
The Glamour Image
That which is said to have glamour really is being described as having not just beauty, but also grace, mystery, and transcendence. This is what glamour photography is to me. Creating grace and mystery in a photograph, however, is less challenging than making an image that also has transcendence from the every day of life.
In the image below, one can appreciate the beauty and grace of the model in her pose. The dark glasses and her gaze away from the camera easily add the mystery. What is perhaps not so apparent about this image is what makes this image transcendent, nor how it was accomplished.
This photo was created in the mid morning, outside on an overcast day. One way to create transcendence from our every day life is to alter the look and feel of the lighting that we see in the image. The light upon the model was carefully crafted to fall upon her in this particular way. Selected locations within the image were highlighted so as to draw our attention or to deemphasize other parts of the photograph. Daylight was "overpowered" by the intensity of the strobes and camera settings to give this shot its increased drama. The darkened background serves to draw the viewer's attention to the model and her clothes, and away from the background. Note the way the colors of her dress and pumps leap off of the screen creating a very special look and feeling, which is something not normal to what we see everyday.
The Editorial Glamour Image
For this category, I endeavor to create an amalgam between the story contained within an editorial image with the mystery, grace, and transcendence of a glamour image to make editorial glamour.
In the photograph above the setting is a fabulously edgy building in the town of Sanderson Texas located some 270 miles west of San Antonio. The story could by about the once hopeful dreams of making a way of life in this arid locale, and about how many residents are still endeavoring to do so. All kinds of interpretive metaphors can be made about the model's pose and expression as to how it pertains to a story of struggle and determination. Which is what makes this an editorial image. The edgy-mystery of her expression, the graceful pose and unique lighting is the glamour.
The next time you peruse through a magazine, take a moment to ponder the nature and meaning of the art in front of you. The degree of difficulty and work that went into creating the images you see will likely never be known to you, for it is the experience of years that you behold. Please do, however, see these works of creative ability for what the are, works of art both small and large. They are ones that were produced through the passion and abilities of many individuals who committed a considerable amount of effort to their creation.
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