"Beauty in Mind" - The Thinking Behind Shooting Memorable Beauty Photographs By: John Farrar

"Beauty in Mind" - The thinking Behind Shooting Memorable Beauty Photographs By: John Farrar From the Photographer of the Year 2010 & 2011

Farrar’s Beauty in the Mind DVD, which includes a discussion of his widely heralded work and a live shoot in which he explains as he works. You will see a masterpiece being made.

A few notes from Farrar follow.

• Back up every shot with a half dozen brackets. The model, makeup and studio time are all set so there’s no need to suffer the consequences of trying to save a few seconds.
• Wanting to be outstanding is step one. Farrar notes that we all see a lot of photos every day but rarely do we see one that will be remembered. His advice: Plan in advance to make your shoot something memorable.
• Organize your shoot in detail but don’t become inflexible in your plan of action. Be ready to change your direction if the session suggests you do so.
• ‘Beautiful’ isn’t enough. Do something unique. Stand apart.
• Give your work a second look the next day. Don’t send anything out immediately after the shoot. Looking at it the next day will be a completely different experience. Work on it again then, too.
• Don’t rush the session. Saving a few minutes is not your goal. His average time per session is one hour, but he says, if it takes more time than that, stay with it.
• Don’t be too concerned about people considering your ideas to be odd. Farrar quotes Bacon in saying, “There is no beauty without strangeness.”
• Props can be anything. Use your imagination. In Farrar’s work we see a girl with a wet paint brush over one eye, another girl emerging from the water with a fish in her mouth, and head coverings made of a washing machine hose, a paper milk carton, etc. and Farrar’s  famous pair of red shoes. He also had his makeup artist paint a crisscross pattern on one girl’s face. It was definitely memorable.
• “Imagination is more important than knowledge.”  Don’t hesitate to do something completely different from what Farrar and other masters are doing. You can learn from them but what you eventually must do is develop is a signature style of your own.

Dozen of the world’s top models have raved breathlessly about Farrar, including one that summed up the others saying: “You are WOW!”

This training video is  available as an immediate download.

Video Trailer: