When I’m seated at a fashion show, it’s usually in the back row, and the photos I snap are horrendous. The people in front make it impossible to get full-body shots, and I still haven’t fully figured out how to manipulate the functions on my camera so that the models don’t look like overexposed phantoms. See an example below, from the Aquilano.Rimondi show.
Model or phantom?
My last day at Milan Fashion Week, I decided it was time for an upgrade. At Vita Senza Droga, the New Upcoming Designer (N-U-DE) showcase of Colombian designers Isabel Henao, Beatriz Camacho, and Leal Daccarett, I forfeited my seat to snag floor space at the very top of the runway, with the photographers.
A fleet of photographers at the top of the runway
In their jeans, rumpled shirts, and pro equipment vests, the Milan photographers are a fun bunch. They laugh, they joke, and they actually eat at the lavish lunch buffet offered by the Camera Nazionale della Moda for buyers and press. At this show, they were a breath of fresh air in a room stifled by pretension and self-importance. They complimented the hot models, hooted-’n’-hollered at an embarrassing nipple slip, and sang loudly in their funny Italian accents when a Human League song came onto the sound system.
One photographer helped me get situated so that I could have a better angle, and another offered to let me attach his pro lens onto my puny Nikon D40 so I could zoom in on details. My arm crumpled under the weight of the lens, but it was the thought that counted.
Plus, the photos came out great.
Look designed by Beatriz Camacho
Look designed by Leal Daccarett
Look designed by Isabel Henao
