by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner
Oh, Jesus am I old to be thinking about trying to break into fashion photography. I’m too old. I live in the middle of nowhere. And don’t really have a background in anything that might give me an “in” to the business. In other words, I’m being pretty delusional to even contemplate it.
But what I do have is talent. A lot of it. And a love of fashion as an art form. As I’ve grown older, I’ve grown a lot more jaded about thinking I’ll be accepted by any of the characters in the industry — without a huge, massive amount of hard work, natch –but I’m notorious for taking a tiny opportunity and running with it to such an extent that I shock the “haters and losers” who think I’m better simply to not talk at all.
One reason why I love fashion photography is the female form is, by definition, art and there’s a lot you can do with it because a woman catches the eye of sexes. It’s interesting, on a creative basis, to toy with expectations and interests that people have about what people wear and the beauty of the female form.
Or, you could say the above is pretentious bullshit and I know I have an organic talent for photography and I like taking pictures of hot chicks in beautiful clothes. All I can say is, welp, you caught me. My entire life, I’ve had an eye for beauty. In the past, I’ve latched on to a subject an event to the point that husbands have gotten annoyed, to put it lightly.
The key thing is to remember is no one ever got anything from playing it safe. Also, as I approach a milestone birthday, I’m growing very, very nervous that I’m going to shuffle off this mortal coil having not really accomplished anything. And I like idea of having a lot on my creative plate.
Yes, I have four novels I’m working on, but why not throw myself into attempting to break into fashion photography as well? I like a challenge and I like proving people who think I’m just an Internet crank wrong. So, here I am, patiently waiting to save up enough money to buy a Nikon 780 so I can begin to try to establish myself as a fashion photographer.
We’ll see, I guess.
