Hello Beautiful models and fans of Style & Curve, Angelita Aronce Sorensen here with my weekly blog. Today I’m going to blog about Concept Shoots. What is a Concept Shoot? It’s slightly different from a regular shoot. A theme is selected along with specific models to achieve the right look for the shoot. Hair and make-up is professionally done, specific locations are chosen, and sometimes more than one photographer will be shooting. Wardrobe and props are very important to convey the theme of the photo shoot. It’s important that when selecting the team for this shoot everyone understands what the theme is supposed to convey. I’m going to share my experience with my first well-planned concept shoot.
Every year my best friends and I like to find matching costumes for Halloween right after Halloween to get the best deals. I went to the costume store and contacted my friends to ask them for ideas on what they would like our costume for the next year to be. Several ideas were thrown around but the key was to find three of the same costume in the right sizes. My friend June suggested a stewardess type of costume so I looked for one and hit the jackpot. I found the cutest costume that didn’t look “cheap” “costumey” or poorly made. The fabric was nice, the original price was $59.99 and the best part was that they had three in the sizes we needed. Since it was a couple of days after Halloween and the store was closing that day since it was only open for the season, I was able to procure the costume for 75% off so the costumes came out to $15 each. I’m not even sure why but I also purchased a Pilot’s shirt and hat thinking my husband could wear it for Halloween. It turned out to be a great decision.
I also found another great costume online for only $10 on www.buycostumes.com and the regular price was $89.99 that I couldn’t pass up for all three of us. It’s a good thing I purchased another costume since we ended up using the stewardess costumes for our concept shoot. After I sent pictures of the costumes to my friends, June suggested that we shoot with a real plane. Needless to say, we couldn’t exactly go to the airport and ask to shoot for a multitude of reasons and we didn’t know anyone who owns a private plane so we put the idea on the back burner. Fast forward to Christmas Day, our friend Justin was home alone. My husband and I offered to have him spend Christmas Day with our family so we went on base to pick him up since he’s in the Military and lives in Military housing. He lives on a part of the base that I’ve never been too. As we were going in, I saw a beautiful Presidential Jet that was on display. It was just too good to be true so I inquired with the front gate guard about taking photographs with the jet and they said it was absolutely permissible.
I talked to my friends and let them know that the plane was available then selected the date for our shoot. The first person I reached out to is a very talented Hair Stylist and Make-Up Artist named Angela Parker. I called her Angela personally, explained my concept idea and she immediately said yes. She is also an aspiring photographer so she is becoming a triple threat in the industry. I also reached out personally to several photographers and two more photographers came on board, Washhboy Photography and cosplay photographer Mars Leon.
Initially the shoot was only going to be me, June and Valerie but June suggested a pilot would be the icing on the cake for this concept. Luckily I had already purchased the pilot shirt and hat and It had to be someone fun, not shy in front of the camera and could convey a believable pilot. After some thought, I reached out to my friend Anthony De La Garza who is a well-known local cosplayer. He cosplays several characters but is best known for his Batman Cosplay. I reached out to him and he immediately said yes. Everything was falling into place and we had our concept shoot dream team confirmed and excited about the shoot.
We also decided that our jewelry would be the jewelry I gave my friends for Christmas with the necklace having the word “Believe” on it. The concept was a late 60’s early 70’s Airline Stewardess and Pilot Shoot with the Presidential Jet on display. June decided to call the shoot “Believe Airlines” inspired by the necklaces we all wore for the shoot. You can actually see the necklaces pretty well in some of the images.
Two days before the shoot, we had a severe cold snap with ice on the roads and school closures. I checked the forecast and had faith that we would have a nice day. The day of the shoot came and it was an unbelievably beautiful day and a comfortable temperature. Since this was a portfolio building shoot and we were going to spend several hours getting ready and actually shooting, I purchased snacks and drinks and we took over my friend Justin’s house since he lived just down the road from the plane. We started Hair and Make-Up at 1:30pm as planned and left for the location right at 4pm, which was also planned.
We only took a few “posed” photos because we wanted to have fun and capture a story. We tried different scenarios and just had a blast! So far we’ve seen some amazing images that have been captured by the photographers. We even shot some some videos because we were having so much fun that we just went for it. Angela even captured an image of us watching the video we just shot. It was a spur of the moment decision and Justin Wharton shot the video while my daughter stayed next to him playing the music. 
The shoot was only four days ago and the photographers are busy editing but the images that they shared so far are absolutely amazing. This was my first time organizing an elaborate concept shoot although I had organized a few before but without professional HMUA and only one photographer. The key to this successful concept shoot was that our dream team was on the same page and we just had fun! Also having several photographers allowed for us to have some fun behind the scenes shots as well.
If you have a great idea, put it into action and make it happen, whether it’s just you or you and several models. Reach out to the artists in the industry and contact them personally. You could easily post a casting on a site such as Model Mayhen but I highly recommend working with people you know and trust since it will be less likely to have someone not show up. I hope you enjoyed the images I shared here with you today.
As always, don’t allow the negative people along the way bring you down and trust me; there will be negative people that will cross your path. Take control of your future, even if it means smashing through preconceived boundaries in this industry. Again, if there is a topic you’d like me to blog about, feel free to contact me. Until next week, stay positive!
Our Dream Team consisted of:
Me
June Griffin Garcia, Actress/Model – http://imdb.me/junegriffingarcia
Valerie Anne Chavira Luna, Model & Mrs. River City – https://www.facebook.com/ValerieAnneLunaMrsRiverCity
Anthony De La Garza – https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000617739823&fref=ts
Angela Parker, HMUA & Photographer – https://www.facebook.com/pages/Angelas-photos-hair-and-makeup
Kevin Washington, Washhboy Photography – https://www.facebook.com/pages/Washhboy-Photography
Mars Leon, Photographer – https://www.facebook.com/marsleon80?fref=ts
Everyone except Nikki is pictured below because Nikki took the photo, she’s in a red dress in the behind the scenes image above:
Follow my career at:
https://www.facebook.com/AngelitaAronceSorensen
