Paul Smith - Photography Art Direction Project

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Brand and designer inspiration from blogs, books and web sites

Autumn/ Winter 2009

Spring 2010 Collection

Secret Garden Concept 2

Dolls House Concept 3

Photographer Proposals, Tiffany Mumford or Asli Kolku

Last September I set a Paul Smith brand campaign brief for my students to work on for their final project whilst studying on my 10 week Art Direction course at St Martins.

Please have a look at Chiara Mestre's project. She is a graphic designer from Italy now based and working in London for Paul Barry Design.

Chiara produced an excellent presentation communicating not just one idea but 3 for the Paul Smith brand ! I am able to show you two of her three ideas, her third concept has been slightly adapted and is being used for a job so is unavailable due to client confidentiality.

Click on Paul Smith to see his current brand photography http://www.paulsmith.co.uk/ I like the use of the international models on this current campaign but still think Paul Smith misses out on something special brand image wise for his girl's collection.

Lee McQueen's Genius

Lee McQueen's show in Paris lived up to the expectation of his genius.

The detail and vision is beautiful. The collection would be perfect for a modern day Czarina. The baroque detail embroidered on many of the gowns is breathtakingly exquisite.

I would predict that many will become part of private collections. I would also hope that the V&A will purchase one for it's archive. This collection should be viewed as art.

I have selected my favorites.....I have ordered three!!

Hilary Alexander on far left looking on in sombre mood.

Barcelona - a beautiful city

This is my photographic diary of a visit I made to Barcelona in 2009. In order to art direct a shoot it is important to practice the process of framing your own shots and be able to see the merits of a scene in front of you taking into account the light and the subject. For this reason I encourage all my students to get used to taking shots of things they see when out and about at home or away. When taking a photograph one can cut out irrelevant material and crop in to frame and compose the image to create the look and communicate the idea you wish more effectively. This is what you are enabling your photographer to do on a fashion shoot -

To go through the process yourself will help you direct.

Photographic fashiontent copyright - Schelay McCarter 2010

Tom Munro - Fabulous fashion shots

These wonderful fashion shots were taken by one of my favorite fashion

photographers Tom Munro.

I like the the fact the images are perfectly balanced and in harmony, creating a perfect set in which to show off this fashion trend.

The monochrome graphics of the fabric is beautifully framed on the angular blue and white geometric back ground.

Tom Munro has employed inventive camera angles and cropped into maximize the impact of the image thus making what could look ordinary look extraordinary.