Avedon’s instructions to his printer
The time and effort that went into photos back when people had an appreciation for art. Now models go to kinkos and print photos, place them in a folder and call it a portfolio. I refuse to settle, nor will I work with those type of people.
Somewhere along the line the people that I come across on the daily forgot what quality was. Not just with photography or music but it even goes as far as the quality of life. They are living to impress others and always feel they have something to prove so in the process they begin to make the moves they see others making instead of living for themselves, doing what they love doing. With all these social networking sites its easy to get trapped up in the trending topic of the day. Just try to stay focused and remember that quality is important. You can lie to the people but you cant lie yourself…
I think sometime earlier this year I almost forgot what quality was… Took a small break from fashion photography to get my mind right. Now I feel I am ready again.
One Foot Out The Door
Photo Credit: Dante Marshall
Over the past few months I’ve had the opportunity to work with a lot of new talent. One of the artists that really stand out is producer/songwriter Mike Posner. The best way for me to describe his music is magical. I’ve had the opportunity to work with him both in a studio setting as well as shooting some of his live performances and he brings just as much energy to a studio photo shoot as he does to the stage. If you have not heard any of his music make sure you download One Foot Out The Door off iTunes when you get a chance.
People ask me which do I prefer to photograph more, music or models. I can honestly say that I do not have a preference. I enjoy shooting fashion and models just as much as I enjoy shooting live shows and artists. They both have pros and cons but overall I don’t see one outweighing the other. Its exciting when you can connect with whomever you are working with and capture exactly what it is that you envisioned in one shot. I ask both musicians and models all the time what the photographers name is that shot specific images in there portfolios or press kits. Often times they do not even remember the photographers names. I never want to be that photographer who’s name was forgotten. That’s not what I do this for, I would like to be remembered and mentioned with those that produced timeless images. Its going to be a long journey… That’s fine with me, I doubt I’d want it if it were accessible to the masses.
Pushing For Publication
photo credit: Dante Marshall
Often times people look at my work and ask me if the shot is from a magazine or some sort of publication and most of the time my answer is no. Makes me wonder if its because I am not pushing it out there for the publications to see or is it simply just not magazine worthy. Just because a shot is not worthy of a publication does not mean that the photo is not good. It may mean that the direction that you were taking it in is a little different from what the magazine was trying to do.
Earlier today I went to the opening of the Richard Avedon fashion exhibition at the Detroit Institute of Arts and words cant express how inspirational it was to me. I plan to go back sometime this coming week 1 because its so much to take in that I need more then one visit. 2 I got there an hour before they closed.
Paris Fashion Week
I love videos like this, they make me feel like I was there. Hopefully next time I will be there.
(via)
Homage to Avedon
Richard Avedon has been one of my favorite photographers since I was first introduced to his work so when I was asked to shoot the Ambassador Magazine September Issue fashion spread that would be paying homage to Avdeon I was pretty excited to say the least. I was a little disappointed that I was not able to keep the shots black and white in the magazine due to reasons that are out of my control but overall the spread turned out better than I thought. The shot above was shot by me for the spread.
Bianca Golden @ Major Model Management w/ Dante Marshall
Recently I had the opportunity to work with Bianca Golden a model for Major Model Management. Some may know her from ANTM Cycle 9. On the show she was afraid of heights… I forgot all about that, our 3rd outfit of the evening was shot on top of the building. Guess how that went… Nah but she was a trooper and ended up being down for the cause. Whatever it took to get the job done. So we did just that, got the job done. The photo above is a shot from on top of the roof.
Dante Marshall is back to blogging
So after about a year of not blogging and 6-8 months of not having a site due to the mean malware infection that was somehow injected on my server I just couldn’t take it anymore. I had to get another blog to share everything that goes on throughout my life. both exciting and not so exciting. A year of not blogging?! Thats a long time for someone that was used to posting something everyday. well, every other day but you get where I am going with it.
For those that do not know me my name is Dante Marshall and I am a photographer shooting out of Detroit. Spending a lot of my time in Chicago and looking to relocate to New York one of these days in the very near future. Not because I am just super in love with New York but because I feel that the opportunities are endless in the big apple.
What do I blog about? Mainly photography, art, things that inspire me. Work that I’ve done and a lot of behind the scenes photos shot on the shoots that I do. Its for you of course but its also for me to keep track of everything that is going on and its an easy way for me to look back at the progression that is made each month and make sure that I continue to push myself to become better. With that being said as time goes on I hope that you find the blog helpful in someway and like most bloggers I love feedback so if you find something interesting please leave a comment letting me know that you saw something that caught your eye during your visit.
Thnx
