I caught this post the other day on Thefashionisto.com (a not infrequent source of ideas, as you'll likely see on this blog). Its a preview of the McQ line by Alexander McQueen and in the 6th picture, there is a shirt paired with a scarf made out of the same patterned material.  It caught my eye because last year there was a trend of shirts being sold with skinny ties made out of matching material.  I never ended up buying one because I never found it in a price range that justified a shirt I knew would be dated in a season.  But I did like it. A lot.
    So when I saw the same idea again, I started thinking of translating it into a fashion shoot.  The trick on something like that is to keep it a theme but not make it gimmicky.  Or do you simply want to go over the top with it?  Brainstorm time.  Possible ideas:

• Each outfit in the editorial is made out of a singular patterned fabric; 
• The two pieces that match don't touch (like shoes and vest, or pants and hat) to break up the look); 
• The fabric is used on the wall and one piece of clothing in the outfit matches the wall
• Or maybe not always the wall, but different in each photo- table cloth, curtains, etc.
• Maybe cover the whole room in a fabric, but not have any of the clothes match it.

    I'm not ready to commit to any ideas at this time though, so this is a time that I would keep the idea simple and short.  Maybe list some of the above thoughts after the inspiration.  Now into the OSPS idea journal:

"Exact matching patterned material, like in tie/shirt combo (maybe on walls or furniture? whole outfit? broken apart?)"

-Tuffer

MusicToShootBy: So Jealous (Tegan and Sara)  I'm not always sure why I pick the music I do.  Here I think it is mostly because I think their hair cuts would go so well with the look of matching patterns I'm imagining.  Plus the sing-songy indie pop almost punk would match the attitude I'd want in the shoot.

Labels: StylingIdea MusicToShootBy BrainstormProcess

    Some ideas are more just interesting locations, or at least start that way.  I have a whole list of cool locations written down.  Some are close to home and therefore I really should use.  Some are in countries I had visited and I write down in the pipe dream that some day someone will commission me for a fashion shoot that allows me to return their on their dime.

    I forget why I thought of Au Pied du Cochon, a grand yet accessible Parisian restaurant.  The colors in this editorial (by Jem Mitchell for Flair) may have reminded me of the burgundy leather, golden lights, and rich tones of Au Pied du Cochon.  Or I may have just been thinking of places I would like to visit before I move home from Belgium (1:45 to Paris by train!).  The setting is decadent and rich with bowtied waitstaff (mostly career old men).  Open 24 hours, casual locals, underdressed tourists, trendy young and fancy old come through creating all kinds of scenes.  The Paris restaurant look is certainly nothing new in fashion photography (see Madonna by Steven Meisel for Louis Vuitton, though admittedly shot in LA) but my idea notebook isn't always about innovation, in fact it usually isn't.  Its about starting places, cool locations and things that interest me.

   But until Louis Vuitton decides Steven Meisel is old hat and they decide to fly me back to Paris to shoot their next campaign at Au Pied du Cochon, I probably won't be shooting there.  Plus, I'll be back in Seattle in one month and that made me wonder if anywhere has a similar atmosphere in my hometown.  Well, of course not.  But 13 Coins certainly has the feeling of a "dark poor business man wanna be gangster, spend your travel per diem here on a fat steak while not comprehending this is not a fancy restaurant".  Its like if Black Angus flew someone to Au Pied du Cochon to steal their style on the cheap and they ended up watching the whole Godfather series on the flight home.  Super high back leather booths, bowtied waitstaff, black and red leather.  Tell me that doesn't make for an OK location for a fashion shoot.  Ready for the OSPS idea journal:

"Locations: Au Pied du Cochon in Paris (decadent, a lot touristy but a lot french local. elegant yet almost cheesy)"
"Locations: 13 Coins in Seattle (over the top wannabe gangster, lonely business man, leather high backed booths)"
-Tuffer

Music to Shoot By: La Bien, La Mal (MC Solaar and Guru on Jazzmatazz album).  A little hip hop for the updated gangsta feel but keepin it cooled out french bistro feel with the jazz flow and of course MC Solaar's french flow.

Labels: musictoshootby LocationIdea

    Ok, since this is my first idea post, I will talk through my process a little in regards to coming up with what I write down.

    I was just going through a post at TheFashionisto.com and the new fall coat collection from Topman caught my eye.  I had two thoughts.  1)  I have become obsessed this season with finding a classic yet edgy beige trench coat for myself. Unfortunately, I didn't see one here; and 2) "Fall Coats" is a good foundation to base a fashion editorial on.

    Now sometimes, this is enough.  I would just write "Fall Coats" in my idea notebook.  Maybe I would add some descriptors, because really I'm picturing longer jackets for women, medium thickness with some edge in the color or texture.  So it may look like this "Fall Coats, women's, longer medium thick with some cool edgy textures or color".  But with a little more thinkin' time on my hands (like, say, I'm riding the metro) I will start building on that.

    Juxtaposition is always a good first start.  So... fall coats at the beach on a sunny day.  But I don't like the feeling of heavy coats under all that sun, at least for fashion editorial.  It doesn't make the viewer want to buy coats, as they would subconciously feel too warm in that scene which would translate to a conscious discomfort with the clothes.  How about making the beach gray, overcast, and windy? (An easy jump for me living in Seattle and Belgium)  I like it but did I lose the juxtaposition and edge?  I can bring that back with a little humor by putting in people laying out, kids building sandcastles, sun umbrellas, maybe even someone out in the water.  But even though they are doing summer beach activities, they would also be dressed appropriately for the fall weather (though much more demurely than the model who would be high fashion).  I also think color is less important as I will use very low saturation or black and white to match the mood of the overcast day.

    And there you have it.  A mental note made while surfing my usual blogs.  Then 10 minutes of brainstorming while walking from the metro to fill in the big strokes.  Ready for the notebook, OSPS style:

fashion editorial: long women's fall coats on a gray overcast windy beach.  scenes of summer (sandcastles, laying out on towels, umbrellas) in the background but all dressed for fall. frame full beach scenes but model prominently in front, slightly set apart from scene.  texture in coats to contrast with sand texture.  maybe b&w or low saturation.

-Tuffer

Music to shoot this by: Standing on a Beach/Staring at the Sea (The Cure).  The name and the mood of the cover photo obviously brought it to mind but the music is also the right feeling of meloncholy for the windy fall day but upbeat enough to get good energy at the shoot.

Labels: FashionEditorial PhotoIdea MusicToShootBy BrainstormProcess

The Posts?
    So now you know a little about why I am starting this, but what will it look like?  What should you expect to see here from week to week?  For the most part, it will look just like my offline idea notebook.  There may simply be 3 words meant to inspire future ideas ("red angular hair") or it may be a full brief for a complete fashion story.  From time to time, I will try to include sketches, either scanned or drawn in photoshop but never drawn very well.  Lighting diagrams to experiment with, avant-garde makeup ideas, and I've been thinking a lot about video lately so who knows where that will go.  Then from time to time I will include links to fashion editorials, photography articles, films, lighting techniques and anything else that inspires me.  Expect quick brainstorms, half baked ideas, and scribbles masquerading as diagrams.  This will be an unfiltered pile of virtual paper napkins and notebook pages.  Just as I would jot them down offline  without being prettied up.


So What Do I Mean by Open Source?
    Open Source is a term often used for software source code (or hardware specs) that are made available publicly under various licenses but usually meant to encourage others to add to the code and allows public use for free (its a touch more complicated then that but if I go further, the IP lawyer in me will take over and bore you all).  How can that possibly apply here?  Ideas are just a piece of the giant photography puzzle.  If I can put my ideas out there, others can build upon them, thats what an Open Source Photo Shoot is.  
    And I am a huge believer in the Photography 2.0 quasi-movement.  Some reading this may be sick of all this "Photography 2.0" / "Web 2.0" talk but for the rest of you, here's a quick run down.  Web 2.0 is the offhand description for the growth of social networks, crowdsourcing, and other people empowering internet applications.  Photography 2.0 plays on this idea, specifically how the web 2.0 world has democratized photography.  It's a belief in spreading photography knowledge instead of keeping it as a trade secret.  Of communicating and sharing the love of photography with others both online and offline.  A rising (digital) tide raises all boats, and all that.  (Ok, so all of this is kinda my own defintion, but lets just say I got it right)  There are sites out there to learn lighting, understand the business of photography, and get an editor's perspective, among a large number of other things.  So I thought, what is missing?  What isn't being shared?  After almost no research or verification that this is true, I decided there isn't any blog out there sharing the raw output of an idea journal, the creative brainstorm process.  My piece of this giant open source project, which is how I see the photography 2.0 movement.


So Can I Steal Your Ideas?
    You mean use them, right? Well, 1) noone can copyright ideas (again, a bit more complicated than that, but basically, yeah, believe me thats right), so I can't keep you from them; and 2) Uh, did you read the rest of this blog?  That's kinda the point.  
    But I would like to see how this site influences you and what results it leads to.  If you use an idea from Open Source Photo Shoot or if something here inspires you, let me know and let others know.  This is the spirit of open source.  

• If it is a significant idea you have used, it would be great to give credit to OSPS.  Write about it in your blog, list us in the contributors to the photo, tell your friend, colleagues and clients about OSPS.
• OSPS would love to have you as a guest blogger to discuss how the ideas inspired what you created.
• Send us your ideas and we will post some of the best on OSPS.

For the last three years I have jotted down all of my photography ideas in a creativity journal. Everything went in there: inspirational words, lighting diagrams, sketches of possible makeup, even full story boards spanning 20 scenes. I took the journal everywhere and wrote down everything no matter how large or small. And then one day... I lost the journal. I think I left it on a plane. I don't know. I felt deflated for days.