Photographing Vancouver Fashion Week- 3 Days of Event Photography
As Vancouver Fashion Week Fall and Winter 2022 fast approaches, I can feel my excitement for the weekend building by the day. My first experience at Fashion Week was so mind-blowing, I really can’t wait to do it all again.
In October of 2021 I was hired as a Staff Photographer at Vancouver Fashion Week. It was my first time attending a runway show, and I was thrilled to have the privilege of capturing it from the photographer’s pit at the end of the runway.
I was hired to shoot behind the scenes, runway, and street style. Doing all three of these jobs meant that I was constantly in motion between areas of the event. I spent most of my time in the makeup studio, where 16 makeup artists and 20+ models could be found in various states of readiness at any given time throughout the weekend. I also spent time back stage, photographing designers and models undergoing last minute adjustments before the completed looks were sent down the runway.
makeup
The first day I arrived, the hallways were already full of small, well dressed children of various ages. The day-time show was a kid’s show, which meant a full show’s worth of child models were running around backstage. I loved photographing them getting their makeup done, and capturing the interactions between these tiny models and the diligent and patient makeup artists.
By the time the kid’s show had ended, the hallways had filled up with adult models awaiting triage by the hair and makeup team. Designers bustled up and down the hallways with papers full of notes and drawings and other approximations of their desired styling. I was able to photograph nearly every aspect of the makeup-art process from start to finish for several different designers’ collections before my phone alarm told me it was time to head out front to capture street style shots of guests arriving before the show.
street style
I’ll admit that out of all the photos I took that weekend, the first street style set made me the most nervous. I had a stereotype in my mind for the kind of person who attends fashion shows- rich, snooty, unapproachable. I couldn’t have been more wrong.
I approached around two dozen people on the first day and asked to take their photo. All of them were very nice, full of smiles, and ready with a variety of poses that showed off their fabulous style.
runway
When I returned to the venue right before the first show started, I realized that there was a second utility to taking these street-style shots: I had had the opportunity to interact with nearly everyone in the venue, and was surrounded by a crowd full of pleasant encounters rather than strangers.
For the first show, I had a less-than-ideal spot near the back of the photographer’s pit, awkwardly craning over an array of tripods and seasoned professionals who had arrived an hour early to set up.
After the intermission, I managed to score a much more favourable shot on the floor on the far side of the pit. I was kneeling on concrete for the rest of the show, but the resulting images are well worth the momentary pain.
9000 photos
The next few days of the fashion show proceeded in much the same way. I was pleasantly surprised by how many of the models I had shot with, and how many of the guests I already knew from previous networking and collaborations.
Overall, I shot around 9000 photos in a single weekend. The terms of my contract as Staff Photographer specified that the photos be delivered no more than 5 days after the event, and so I spent every night that week staying up into the wee hours of the morning editing photos.
It was an enormous hustle, both during and after the weekend, but the experience was incredibly rewarding. I met some amazing people, discovered many talented designers, and took a ton of photos that I am very proud to have in my portfolio.
Tika the Iggy and fans
