Fred Fraser Commercial Photographer

Paper or plastic?

There was as much left over plastic as there was paper around the studio so the urge to sequel was not to be denied. Liz creates and styles again, and our wonderful freelance model is Kelsey Harker.
Click the pic for the gallery.

Liz Bell, the brains behind the beauty at Liz Bell Agency.

Click the pic for a larger version.

There have been people in the past who have fluffed off shoots I have done as being “make and create”. The implication being that a shoot is not bona fide unless the clothes are top labels pulled from the swankiest stores and show rooms. For many reasons, none of which I care to put in writing, but would be happy to regale you with over coffee, I don’t get that. Suffice to say, for myself at least, beauty and fashion are not defined by what is stitched on the collar.

International model Kelly Bean takes the paper bag princess uptown. Click the pic for the gallery.

I love making stuff, especially when I can do it without a single paper cut. While I had a hand making the flowers for the flower dress, and the “sewing” method was my invention, as usual my creative talents are dwarfed by Liz’s. Hair, make-up, paper dresses (and paper flower making lessons for me) are all her work. Here’s a little bts for ya:

I love an opportunity to shoot in places that are ordinarily off limits. Shooting for Port Metro Vancouver this year included excursions to the top of the grain loading structure for the bulk ships, into the cab of a Panamax crane, and into the belly of a cruise ship to photograph the latest in environmentally friendly power technology for big ships. So far they have not made use of any of those tasty photos, but a few shots taken in and around the various Lower Mainland terminals made into this year’s Annual Report.

Getting just the right amount of blur for the cover was a fun challenge. The “model” was very accommodating and probably walked a few hundred meters a couple of a meters at a time going back and forth me at different speeds to get something the art director was happy with. Click the photo to some some more pages from the annual.

Ivan Sayers a fashion historian, shot for VFE, June 2010 issue. Click the pic for a larger version on a more viewable black background.

In one of those strange 6 degrees of separation situations it turns out Mr. Sayers has a dress that was passed on to Liz and I from my mother who in turn received it from her mother who found it while going through a trunk with her mother. In case you’ve lost track, that would be my great grandmother. However, the dress was made for her mother, my great-great grandmother Mary Josephine Timmis, 1852 – 1918, from Montreal.

My Mom passed the dress on to us a few years back thinking we might be able to do something with it – so, naturally, we photographed it as part of a fashion story with a bit of a modern twist … Modern because I am certain that if we were going to be true to the period the model would not have been cavorting around in her underwear in front of the camera. After we had shot the dress Liz decided that it would be best to find a home for it – one that would either put it to good use or restore it to it’s original condition (my Mom had made some alterations to it so she could wear it back in the days when I was a wee beach baby on the shores of Sydney). Liz took it to a vintage clothing shop where Mr Sayers found it. During the course of conversation with Mr. Sayers, while I was setting up the camera for the photo of him, I mentioned the dress and as I described it he said it was possible that he had it in his possession. I forwarded on the photos below so he could confirm.

As far as the family historical records go the dress appears to have been made in the 1870′s by my great-great grandmother.

Click on the photo to see the rest of the shoot.