Learning to Shoot Fashion Shows on Film

I recently started spending more time with the portrait photography community at university, which heavily intersected with the sustainable fashion community. As a result, I had the chance to attend and shoot some fashion shows centered around circular fashion. At first, I was excited at the opportunity. Then, it occurred to me that fashion shows are often poorly lit and involve a lot of movement. As a novice film photographer, afraid of underexposing my shots, this intimidated me a bit. However, after some deliberation, I decided to say yes. 

Circular Fashion Expo (CFE)

My first show was the Circular Fashion Exposition (CFE), an event focused on sustainable fashion, where I was to primarily shoot models from BLNKD, a portrait photography club. As I immersed myself in CFE, I quickly realized how much effort goes into creating a fashion show and how intense the emotions run behind the scenes. This presented an opportunity! I could split my photography into two parts: shooting some behind the scenes shots and the actual runway. 

For the behind the scenes photos, I decided to use my Pentax Program Plus with a 28-70mm lens. I wanted a zoom lens so I could stay still in a spot and take pictures instead of zooming with my feet and running into busy models, makeup artists and designers. A 70mm maximum focal length seemed like it would be enough since the backstage rooms were pretty small. As for film, I used two rolls, one roll of Portra 800 and a roll of Kentmere 400 (shot at 800 and pushed +1). Turns out, shooting behind the scenes was my favorite part of the day! I got to capture lots of special moments. There were moments of anticipation as models prepared themselves to walk the runway, moments of tenderness as family and friends helped models get ready and LOTS of hecticness.

Then, it finally came time for the runway walk. For this, I decided to use… and bear with me… an Olympus IS-30 DLX. I chose this camera because it has a pretty fast autofocus system, a 1/2000 shutter speed and a powerful built-in flash, which I needed to take pictures of walking models in low light. I figured that minimizing technical concerns would allow me to focus on capturing the perfect moment. The choice of camera turned out to be a great idea! I shot most of the show in portrait mode (with some shots in aperture priority) and the camera performed just as I wanted. 

My choice of film, on the other hand, was a bit debatable.I ended up using a roll of TMAX 3200 on the runway for its speed and that was a bit overkill, especially with the flash. As one would expect, this resulted in ultra grainy images. However, the more I looked at them, the more I started to like the images I got out. There was something about the high grain, paired with the over-the-top outfits on the runway that kind of works.

Re-Fashioned

My second fashion show, just a couple weeks after the first one, was Re-Fashioned, a show put on by the School of Art and Design at the University of Illinois. Re-Fashioned was also focused on sustainable fashion and it was being held at the same location as CFE. For this show, I kept my strategy and gear the same. However, for the film, I only brought several rolls of HP5+ with me. For the behind the scenes photos, I shot it at 800 and pushed +1, just like I did with the Kentmere 400 and got similarly pleasant results.

On the runway, I shot HP5+ at 1600 and pushed +2, learning from my CFE experience that 3200 was overkill. The results from this were really good! I managed to capture almost every moment that I wanted to and got significantly less grain. (Although I might be starting to miss the grain? Shhh…)

So, what did I learn from these shoots? First, try to get some behind the scenes shots! They are brimming with emotions and let you get to know the models and their outfits. This can also let you plan your shots for the runway. For the actual runway, get rid of as much technical thinking as possible. Go for aperture priority mode or even point and shoot portrait mode and focus on capturing the split seconds where the models pose or move  interestingly. Unlike digital photographers, we don’t have the luxury of burst mode. So, it’s important to hit the shutter at the right moments. Finally, you probably don’t need 3200 ISO film but the ultra grainy look could work for you!

Ananthan Nambiar is a graduate student and film photographer from Champaign, Illinois. Most recent work can be found on Instagram: @filmi.nambi

Credits to @iblnkd and @circularfashionexpo for organizing CFE, @illinois_artanddesign for organizing Re-Fashioned and Brooktree Film Lab for developing my film! And obviously all the amazing models, designers and makeup artists that worked hard to make these fashion shows.

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