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Q: What is fashion photography and why should I care?

A:  Some people won’t care.  But publishers of fashion information (like fashion magazines), or designers of garments, or models who show these garments, or makeup artists or hair stylists all are extremely interested in top-quality images to help market their products or services.  This is true for both men’s fashion and women’s fashion.

                         Q: What is Lifestyle photography and why should I care?

A:  Lifestyle photography is often just young people laughing and having a good time.  These are very common in all types of advertising and you can see examples in magazines, billboards and Department Store graphics everywhere.  Getting a natural look with a genuine facial expression is key.  The marketing message seems to be “If you buy any of our stuff at all, you can be this happy too!”

QHow long have you been doing this – how much experience do you have?

A:  I’ve been in business, collecting sales tax and paying income taxes for photography, since 2010.  I’ve photographed dozens of male and female models wearing all types of garments – please take a look at both the Fashion Photo gallery and the Model Portfolio gallery for examples.  I’ve worked in the studio and on location, both outdoors for fashion photo sessions and indoors at fashion runway events (please see the Runway gallery too).

Q:  How far can you travel for a photo session?

A:  We can travel anywhere in the world.  Fashion magazines often require outdoor images in exotic locations.  We can travel with our equipment, including our studio strobes that can also run on large batteries, or we can rent equipment on-location locally as needed.  Models, makekup artists and hair stylists are usually best obtained from local agencies, but if a certain model or look is required, that can be provided too.

Q: Sounds expensive – how much does this cost?

A:  It can be a little pricey, depending on the needs of the client.  But if a client knows they need 5 top models on location in, say, Spain, they already know roughly what the cost will be.  We will provide a firm quote on all client work in advance, and we will be competitively priced vs. other published traveling fashion photographers.

Q: I’m a model and want to get into the fashion industry – can you help?

A:  Sure we can help!  We do a range of portfolio-building sessions and have a mix of women’s garments (size 00-4, roughly) and heels (size 8) in our wardrobe room.  Or you can bring your own.  I try to do one TFP session every 6 weeks or so, and if you’ve got a special look or some unusual objectives, let me know and we can build a program together where no cash changes hands.  While I know a lot of makeup and hair artists, they usually don’t work for free so if you can either do your own or cover their cost, that would be great.

Q: I’m planning a runway fashion event – how does that work with you?

A:  Please contact me here, or by phone at 803-984-6515 (U.S.), or by email at porter@donporterphotography.com.  I can come to your event, set up one or two studio strobes that will provide good lighting down the runway and capture photos of all the models and all the garments in the show.  I prefer to use a longer lens and shoot down the runway, which will give photos showing the garments in motion.  I can also capture the standard end-of-the-runway poses, but there are usually lots of people around a runway doing this.  I’ll provide you, the organizer, with all the quality photos as 72 dpi files on dropbox (there will usually be several hundred).  I can also make these photos available in our online store to models who may want to purchase prints or digital files.  The fee for this is $100/hr on location, plus travel, but if it is a special event or one that offers me new opportunities, I may do it pro bono.

Q: I’ve got a question not covered here – what should I do?

A:  Please contact me here, or by phone at 646-598-1794 (U.S.), or by email at porter@donporterphotography.com.  It is absolutely vital to our success that all of your questions are answered fully and clearly.  Please let us know of any issues where you’d like to learn more!