I mentioned it in a previous post, but before I left Japan, I had a gig where I shot some website photos for a small town in Japan that makes fabrics for kimono and other accessories and clothes in the traditional futagoori method.

I got this job from a friend who was in charge of marketing their products, and overall creative direction for them. She just recently messaged me to let me know that the website had finally been completed, so I figured I might as well share a few photos that I thought were decent.

I first want to say that the process for shooting this was… intense(?). I was hired to shoot photos for their website of all of the fabrics that they sell, and also a short video as well. They only ever sent me 12 of the 20 or so fabrics that they offer though. The video shoot was… interesting. The MUA and I were the only two with any kind of experience being on a shoot, and so he, thankfully, stepped in to help with things that he shouldn’t have had to (like helping me not walk into the street while taking pictures, holding a reflector, etc.).

To confuse things even more, I was told that I would be shooting a video, but when I arrived someone handed me a stills camera to take photos in between shots! I was fucking livid. To make it worse, they didn’t have a memory card big enough to shoot RAW on, so I had to shoot JPEGs, and they only had a zoom lens of questionable quality. I didn’t, however, refuse to do the shoot. This is sometimes the experience of shooting things for people, or groups who have NO fucking idea what it takes to get the job done. They see what we as photographers and videographers do as “easy”, thus they don’t really see it as an inconvenience to ask for more suddenly. The clients themselves had NO idea what they wanted the ‘look’ of their photos and video to be. They actually consulted me, the videographer, on what outfits the model should wear!? It was a very eye-opening experience to say the least. However haphazard the production was, I am actually still grateful for the opportunity. It was a chance to shoot something that I hadn’t done before and some deranged, masochistic part of me actually really likes the intense pressure that working with inexperienced people bring, and having to cover for their ignorance.

I’ll start with some of the fabric shots that I took. I’m going to post a bit later on about the IQ180 and my small dive into medium format photography, but I thought that this project would be a perfect chance to use it and see what I could get out of it, even though it was definitely overkill for this. The 80MP did mean that I could crop until my heart was content and not have to worry about losing too much quality, although the person hired to do the website did complain about the size of the photos I sent through (not sure why). Here are a few of the fabric shots that I liked:

I just used a light box, and a couple of lights (I have some Colorspike lights that I use from time to time). That was it. Even though the lack of direction on the client’s part was frustrating, it was also kind of nice. It gave me the chance to really delve into it and look for inspiration on my own, and really make the job “my own” project if that makes sense. I resized the photos so that I could save some space so you’re not getting the full effect on here, but the 180’s crispness is really insane. I learned so much about using it, and the 645 during this, and it made me feel like the 3-year search for it was justified. I know that there are wedding photographers who are lamenting over the fact that I used my C645 for this, but it is what it is.

So, I did not edit the photos I took when they threw the camera at me for the random unannounced photo shoot. In fact, I didn’t even take the photos with me. I was terrified. The camera they gave me was a D700, which is a camera I actually own, and love so I guess I got lucky with that bit. For a second just imagine you show up to a location ready to shoot video, and then someone hands you a random D700, with some unknown zoom glass on it. The client was trying to keep their costs super low, so I was already weary about how much time I would have with the model for the video, only for them to then throw a fucking stills camera at me at the last minute… So, the photos I took of the model were not edited by me, but they do exist.

If you are reading this and you are a budding photographer. Don’t be stupid like I was in this situation. First and foremost, any photo taken by you is yours. Don’t let other people edit your work, unless you really want them to. Secondly, don’t let other people throw extra work on to you. Looking back, I’m not exactly sure why I allowed this, it will definitely never happen again. Regardless, here is the link to their homepage where you can see some of the photos I took (it should be quite obvious which one is not my photo):

http://futagotextile.com/index.html

The video won’t be discussed, until I re-edit it, but they were happy with it. Until I re-edit it (if I ever get around to it), I shall deny its existence with the same fervor that flat-earthers deny our planet’s roundness. All accusations that I shot that video will be taken as defamation of character, and civil suits will be filed. /s