Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery ...




For inspiration for a current personal project I have drawn on the work from the 1962 shoot by David Bailey, for which I would like to share the background with you. I think the process of getting inspiration from other photographers work is a great way to develop our own style as photographers. There is no reason why we cannot imitate those we admire, whilst at the same time adding our own spin to things. I am sure some of my Blog readers will have seen  the BBC program "7 photos that changed the fashoion world" were Rankin recreating some iconic images whilst also putting his own unique stamp on to them.

So the background ...

In 1962 the then hardly known David Bailey did a fashion shoot in New York for UK Vogue, which was to become a 14 page spread entitled "New York: Young Ideas Goes West" and was to change the way high fashion would be photographed for decades to follow. This iconic work of the model Jean Shrimpton was shot totally differently to anything Vogue or it's rivals had done before. With what can only describe as a photojournalistic style shot totally on location using everyday urban scenes. Shrimpton appears to breeze through the frames wearing the then latest fashions , themselves as big break from the "twee" 50's as Bailey's shooting style.

If my images here inspire you then Bailey's original work is a must and is now published in a book entitled "NY JS DB 62" .

Bailey said of his then model and muse Jean Shrimpton "She was magic. In a way she was the cheapest model in the world - you only needed to shoot half a roll of film and then you had it"

Bailey & Shrimpton where also accompanied on this shoot by the fashion editor of UK Vogue, Lady Rendlesham and with the title of "Lady" came the whole establishment of Vogue and "high" fashion, which was the very establishment that Bailey was to do much to reshape. His images to me stand up as well today as they did almost 50 years ago, he manages to capture both a certain voyeurism and yet at the same time an intimacy with not only the model but passer by in the frames, which he must have orchestrated very well, as no one is really playing to the camera. The other factor in Bailey's work is that it was New York in January and although all shot in natural light very much like the UK there wasn't a lot of it at that time of the year ...!!!

So for my interpretation of this great work, I chose Blackpool for my location for a variety of reasons in that it has some elements of the 1960's or at least of an earlier period still about it, along with a certain look of transience that holiday resort can have, whilst at the same time having some very key landmarks such as the pier and tower . My possible advantage to Bailey's was the day I shot although starting cloudy ended up a glorious sunny summer's day, which does much to lift the mood of the images. My model quite simply has to be of equal talent to Shrimpton with her ability to get almost all the shots I wanted within a matter of no more then four hours of shooting, this being the very talented Raphaella McNamara. Although I had only shot Raphaella once before I knew she would be perfect for this shoot, although she is an experienced model she is also a trained dancer and brings a lot to shoot that other models simply can't.






Although these images are only quick mock ups, from the first shoot,  I am happy enough with them to share them with you here.

The question for me, is although I have many of the the images I want from this first shoot, is it worth while  re-shooting them using a authetic camera and film of the time ? Or could it also be argued that as Bailey's 1962 shoot broke the mould of convention with 35mm instead of mediun format, then perhaps my project should also be current using digital capture ? I welcome comments on this or anything else you feel I may have missed.

Thank you for looking and hope if you aren't alreday this will encourages you to do some personal projects of your own.
Marc;-)

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