A while back we featured a behind the scenes video on the making of the 2011 Pirelli Calendar and people enjoyed commenting on it (especially Karl Lagerfeld's crazy gloves). If you aren't familiar with the Pirelli calendar, it's basically a glamour nude calendar that is only released to VIPs and Pirelli customers. Even though the calendar is not for sale, it has become an icon in the fine art world. A few days ago this BTS video on the making of the 2012 calendar was released and it's pretty interesting at well. It features photographer Mario Sorrenti as he and his crew scout out locations throughout Corsica in pursuit of the perfect light for each nude image. There are two video versions available below each having a slightly different perspective. While I wouldn't consider this pornography, this video is definitely NSFW so you might want to revisit this later.
Second BTS Video:
amazing, amazing, amazing, best thing i've seen in a while. gonna write/sketch down all the poses! great inspiration! thanks for sharing!
love the final results, but i'm not a fan of the spray and shoot approach... especially for portraits? seems like insane overkill.
i understand how it might be justified by sports and media photographers who can't afford to miss the moment.... but a fashion/portrait photographer of this type shouldn't *need* to machine gun that shutter...
also, what's up with all the lighting equipment, and then all the images SEEM to be naturally lit? if they're ALL lit with those Profotos... then DANG, they do a really, really good job of blending the ambient with the strobes.
Good/professional model is always have those subtle continuous body movements while posing. And if you shooting more than one frame you will have at least few 'different' versions of the same pose. I agree that photographer in situation like that shouldn't as you said "machine gun that shutter" but 1 frame/second (if your model have those movements) is a good thing. :)
Sure...but how many times have you said to yourself..."I wish I had the shot a fraction of a second sooner or later." I do that a lot, but I am very picky too.
Anyone else notice that this is almost ALL ambient light. All Natural. No fakery not tricks. Just a guy, a girl and a camera and a good eye for details. The way it should be. I have been shooting that way my entire life.
I don't know... It looked all ambient from the video but the contrast was very very controlled in the final shots and they did haul ALOT of gear.
I'd have a hard time believing some of those shots were pure ambient, but it wouldn't change whether or not they were awesome either way, i have nothing against flashes.
The final results is what counts no matter how you go about doing it, and this is one of my favorite Pirellis right next to the 2007 one, can't say i've been too much of a fan of those in between but thats whats great about Pirelli calendars, always willing to try new stuff and get Creative Artists and give them the go ahead to create Their artistic version.
Just awesome! the only moment i suspected to be artificial light was the shoot indoors. on the other hand, it was about fifty fifty with medium format.
There was on one of the models where i heard a series of three clicks when he was using the hassie and he told the model to not move... was he bracketing? it´s weird a possibility of he doing hdr shots with an already hdr camera.
but my last word again: awesome!
Lara Stones voice!!!!! Kill me now!
This guy is a rock star. Doesn't use a camera strap!!! And he looks like Van Damme! I feel like Pirelli owes me money for not including these in the book I bought from them years ago.
Photographer and model only for video. After cut there are 10 guys with reflectors, flags and diffusers :D
Really nice, at least they had a real photographer this year. Not a clown like Lagerfeld
Thats kinda what i love about Pirelli tho... they experiment and are open about who is shooting, Hell they had Terry Richardson, Avedon, Annie amongst others. Its great that they are open to try the different styles these people have...
Though i kinda agree that Lagerfeld didn't really catch my eye, i think he has a stronger influence in clothing then he does with nudes.
While I agree, that Lagerfeld has taken great photos, I really have to disagree about the pirelli people being "open" to a lot of styles. It's not as iof they had a great creative director who seeks out relatively unknown talents who then go on to be famous photographers. They buy a "product" that is already successful.
Go look at his body of work. I think you might take that comment back.
Link to Karl's work. Those that don't consider him a worthy or REAL photographer should have a review. I'm wagering to bet his skills are beyond the average or better than average shooter that may or may not post on these forums.
http://forums.thefashionspot.com/f71/karl-lagerfeld-photographer-47580.html
I bet that if you'd leave him alone in a studio he wouldn't know what to do and would end up with just a few snapshots.
It's very easy when you have assistants setting up everything for you...
That's a cop out. This guy has been shooting top level for years. And its not about your lighting setups, its about your vision. I think he has proven for decades that he has an approved taste in fashion globaly. He is also a fashion photographer so its fitting. If you look at the link I posted and view all the pages you will see he has style and good taste.
Lighting, and work flow have very little to do with a good photo. Its much more than that. If you left him in a studio he would come out with images that appear on the front covers of Chanel ads, Dior ads, and fashion magazines. Because that's already what he does.
Of course his pictures would be on front covers, but not because of the quality of his work... Just because of his name!
That's easily the case with a huge number of photographers that are well-established. At that level, it's vision, not gear. I'm sure Lagerfeld knows how to set up a light, he just has the luxury of having assitants now to do that for him.
I wouldn't be chimping if you have models in a vulnerable (nude) position in front of you.
He proves it's about the vision, because his light is ridiculously simple. 1 light in front, and 1 in the back as a rim. Even a moron could set that up. The photos look amazing though because of the theme, styling and execution. And please don't start with 'I bet he had people photography the living shit out of those shots'
Look at his body of work before stating obviously and even more obnoxiously wrong comments. It says more about you than it does about him.
what a great video. Inspiring and beautiful images along with simple, yet eloquent video production. thanks for posting this one.
Watching the videos really made me feel at peace... weird. Anyone else? The sound of birds chirping, wind rustling through the trees and water flowing really set the tone for the shoot and the images. It was all so calm and serene.
When everyone knows exactly what to do, working pro, the results are great