How to plan a photoshoot abroad?“ This is a question I am asking myself right now. I am sitting in an overbooked and packed airplane on my way to New York City. A dream came true honestly. I don’t know how I managed to get that opportunity. I have no idea what I did that this is happening now. But I am not going or getting paid as a photographer. I am doing my regular assisting work. Assisting Jonathan for the 16th time now. It is great to be trusted by a photographer and be asked to accompany them internationally.
It happens to be my first time in NYC. Also my first time in the US at all. I am quite nervous. And even more lucky am I because I can extend my stay there. I don’t have to fly back the same day as Jonathan. The best opportunity to do some free stuff and plan some test shoots.
That leaves me with the question you all clicked on that article too. Planning a fashion photoshoot abroad. I guess you are also wondering. Little bummer here. There is no clue from my side as well. I am determined to find out.
But here are a few ideas I had when putting together a mood board and thinking of how to make this come to life. So let’s dive into how to plan a photoshoot abroad.
But let’s get into it.
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Modelling Agencies
Most obvious first. To find some proper models – fast – I always email agencies. Since I am going to NYC I, of course, thought of messaging the big agencies and trying my luck. Low self-esteem made me push that thought aside as fast as it came to my mind.
I wanted to give this idea a chance though and searched for a solution. The following conversation popped up in my mind: Okay, so if the NY agencies are too big and famous. What could I do? I’ve worked with modeling agencies in Germany before. I know one model that has its mother agency in Germany and is based in NYC. Maybe there are more people like this. So what if I mail the German ones and see what happens?
Boom. The idea was there. Now action has to follow. So I prepared my mood board and researched some more agencies. Emailed them and asked for New Faces or Developments who are on stay or based in NYC. One replied, saying there is a model that would be interested in collaborating. Whoop Whoop.
Fingers crossed everything is going to turn out well in the end!
Stylists and Makeup artists
Technically we could pull off the shoot with just us two. We don’t need much more hands or people. On the other hand (pun intended) I do have this perfectionism in me that forces me to not get into stuff I am not good at. Like makeup or styling someone’s hair. Really. This would end up in a catastrophe.
We could say that the model could do that herself. Styling her hair, putting on some natural makeup, and maybe pulling out some fashionable clothes from her wardrobe. I just don’t want her to have this much effort for a test shoot I don’t pay her for.
So my next task is now to get us at least a stylist who can lend us some clothes or nicely style her wardrobe. Since this is supposed to be a test shoot for me as a fashion photographer – to get back on track and finally get my shit done.
There are agencies for talent booking that I could reach out to. It is the same as with modeling agencies. The only difference is that I’ve never worked with those before. So there is a certain thought again that is holding me back.
The other way is just to search the internet. But I hate to do that. I hate searching Instagram for specific stuff or people and honestly, google is just spitting out ai-generated and highly SEO-optimized websites that don’t give me the information I want.
"Boom. The idea was there. Now action has to follow."
Not directly people but important too - the location
As I say. It has nothing to do with people but you can’t shoot if you don’t have a location to shoot at.
Since I thought of this beforehand I planned the shoot to happen on the streets of NYC. Generic and not so creative but I want to have this in my portfolio honestly.
But then again: where?! NYC is massive. Especially for a small-town girl who got major overwhelm when she stayed in London for just 2 days.
Now there are two options here as well that I am going to consider: Google Maps & Street View and – the even geekier approach – Reddit. There must be a subreddit with shooting locations on the streets of NYC. I mean. It is the city. The Big Apple. The city is known for its creatives. Since I am still trapped in a plane without any connection to the internet I am just guessing here but I feel you are with me on this one.
I will let you know.
A little update on the location: I dived deep into Reddit and into Google Maps and Street View but didn’t find what I was looking for. So I showed my mood board to some people in NYC and they gave me recommendations based on my mood board. I did the same with the model and she said the same areas. We ended up meeting at one of the subway stations in SoHo since that was the area we went for and just roamed around.
That’s how we found this toppled mailbox.
The last approach
Asking some connections in NYC if they might know people. Honestly, this idea came way too late to admit. However, I ended up discovering that I have some mutual friends and colleagues in NYC. Just because I made a silly Instagram story and people messaged me because of it.
So I might just message them and ask if they have someone in their bubble who is a stylist or makeup artist or knows about a pretty corner in the city that they might want to share with me.
If that is not an option for you you might just want to do what I don’t like: dig deep inside Instagram or TikTok or any other social media platform and message the hell out of people haha.
If you want to see the images of that very spontaneous photoshoot abroad please head over to my portfolio at laraslevec.com. I am going to upload the final images soon.
Summary
Hopefully, this gave you at least a slight insight into how to tackle all the challenges of planning photoshoots abroad. From finding people to location scouting it is tough to have to do all the work again as at the beginning stages of your career.
That’s all from me for now but please keep looking into other articles and helpful tips if you’d like.
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