Fashion Week: Couture Show

I'm not a commercial photographer, but I did go Friday evening to the Westin Hotel to photo my friend Jasmine at a couture show in the Westin Hotel on 43rd Street. 

Of course, my name did not appear on the guest list, even though Jasmine had requested it.  But I was in luck.  The two women at the registration desk, not knowing what to do, finally said, "Well, if you're a photographer, I guess you should just go in and set up."  Without waiting for them to change their minds, I went into the ballroom and joined the other photographers at the end of the runway. 

The photographer next to me told me she was "totally bitched out" after having shot in a tent for the last week and having had her camera stolen in California.  But she was really very helpful in giving information about ISO settings and what spots on the runway the models would pause long enough to shoot.  (Flash, though not forbidden, is not used because the light can blind a model as she's walking.  ISO's higher than 640 -- I went with 400 -- create too much noise in the digital images.  Accordingly, in order to get a reasonably sharp photo, it's necessary to photo the models while they pause to give the audience a better look at the clothes.)

"You've really never shot one of these shows?" the photographer asked.

"Lady, I've never even been to one of these shows," I answered.

As for the show itself, I thought the European designer showed too many outfits. There were definitely a few great pieces, some of them very sexy, but just as many failures.  I thought of the photographers' old rule of favoring quality over quantity when showing a portfolio.  There was also something too ornate, perhaps the use of flesh colored fabric to cover bare skin, and overdone to be really glamorous. 

Aside from Jasmine, the models were all caucasian blondes and brunettes.  Jasmine later told me many were Russian.  They were all the right height, but some seemed much too wide in the hips to be working runway.