Today I’m sharing some lingerie photography images from a shoot with the model Dane Halo. In a recent conversation about the difference between my work and the male gaze, we landed on the word mystery. Adding a little mystery makes an image have depth and dimensionality. All things that I find inspiring and alluring.
Lingerie Photography, techniques and creative direction.
During this shoot we focused on adding some mystery and creative play. I used a combination of techniques to create dreamy, layered images in camera. Creating layers in camera is something I’m always fond of. Yes I have less control than if I made it look this way in photoshop. But that’s the thing about creativity and art. You can’t always be in control. And knowing where and how to let go is half the challenge (and fun) of it all.
For the creative direction my aim was to create visually captivating images. I’ve found that for most lingerie advertising the products are presented in one of two ways. The original, a very male gaze oriented fashion portrait – think Victoria Secret in it’s heyday. And the lifestyle commercial image – think brightly lit, women wearing their lingerie and intimates engaging in some benign activity like drinking tea or reading a book. The sorts of lifestyle advertising campaigns that thankfully at least tend to show more diverse bodies and realistic settings. But rarely do I see images that really feel like they honor the strength and mystery that our bodies hold. So for this shoot the focus is not so much on the product (the lingerie) but more on the overall aesthetic and mood.
At the end of the shoot we decided to get really weird and play with shooting through some glass bottles. The results mostly made us laugh. But there is something about these two that I find interesting. And so, in the spirit of sharing more, here they are.
Photographer + Art Direction: Ella Sophie
Model: Dane Halo
