Wig Spokesmodel Shoot - aka Sedona Roadtrip

Chaoslillith

Hello all,

A friend of mine wanted me to photograph her so she could submit shots to the wig company "Gothic Lolia Wigs". She is very much into all the newer , unique styles like Lolita, Visual Kei etc and she always brings tons of clothes to a shoot which makes it fun. We randomly decided to head to Sedona and do spontaneous shoots as soon as we found a neat spot. I love shooting like this because it makes you think on your feet and compose on the spot. We found some snow patches left which got us both excited because of one of the outfits she brought with her. Just wanted to share the shots.

For those of you not up on current Japanese trends, there is a concept called a maid cafe, take the concept of Geisha, put the women in cute dresses and include Japanese pop music and dancing and there you go. The hands shaped into a heart is a rather common gesture within the maid cafe world.








I called this next look her Saloon girl - Wizard of Oz set. The purple shoes keep making me think of Dorothy's red slippers for some reason.







This last look was gothic lolita





Hope you all enjoy. As always any C and C is always appreciated.

Kat

RyanS

IMHO, the backgrounds do not work. Also, since I'm a little familiar with cosplay, the setting on this one is just... doesn't quite fit the style. The Japanese thinking here is a little odd to this American, I don't appreciate how they view women. That said, isn't the "maid" supposed to be serving a master? As in, semi-erotically serving? Think sexy French maid, but not as sophisticated and more childlike. I know that's disturbing, but that's the way they roll down there.

Costumes are good, but she probably needs an apron on.

Chaoslillith

This wasn't designed as a Maid shoot. If it was she would have had her maid outfit with the apron. She has two or three of them. The idea of this was to just show how she looks in wigs and if she is a good model. I agree the maid cafe is a bit odd, I don't get it either although in the maid cafes they are not erotically serving their masters. They serve food, play games and dance and entertain. Just like in the traditional Geisha world they were there for entertainment, the high end ones were, not for sex. The maid cafe is really set up for people who are really into cosplay and anime, it's sort of a themed restaurant when it comes down to it. The girls all create a character and act in character the whole time. Out here the cafes really only go during Comic Cons, it's all volunteer stuff. Japan is just odd but never dull trend wise that's for sure.

If this was a maid shoot I would probably have done it in an urban setting. I actually photographed most of the girls in her cafe once, the shots came out really well. She liked them and so did all the girls.

RyanS

Oh, okay. I think I simply misunderstood your original post to indicate this was supposed to be maid cafe style. I agree that odd is the best way to describe those things.

Chaoslillith

No problem, I should have explained it better I guess lol. Thanks!

zoomer

The park looks a bit odd with this look. Urban or studio would have been more fitting.
I like the last look the best...what I can see of it.
The first three shots....white on white does not work very well.
456 kind of put your model in awkward positions where she had a small chance of making shots work, awkward settings and/or crops.
7 is your best shot, the frame is a bit cluttered.
8 the pose is awkward and frame is cluttered.

Probably not what you wanted to hear... on the bright side the idea is solid, the costumes are solid, you have a good model and the models hair and makeup work.
You are 1/3 of the way there...now choose a better location and choose backgrounds that feature your model at her best with nice clean frames and in good light (late evening).
If you have no way to get your flash off camera don't use it, or use it just enough to provide minimal fill.

Chaoslillith

I use on camera flash only as I don't have an off camera flash at all. Thanks for your input. Apparently spontaneous outdoor shots are not all that popular with lolita attire. The awkward posing was sort of on purpose, if you look at anime or maid dances they do awkward cute poses quite a bit so I was going with that theme. The idea is to replicate little girl style posing. The reason I thought the snow would be cute with the white dress was the blue and pink colors would pop out more and it struck me as sort of an ice princess feel. To each their own I guess. Since many of these styles are worn in Japan on the streets and out and about I wanted to capture that sort of feel to it. If you look at a lot of victorian lolita shots they are out in parks or wilderness areas. I agree the purple skirt look is a bit out of place but hey it was fun. Thanks