Shooting in the storm

Who remembers the shoot we did with i-D here in Trieste last year, right after ITS#SIX? i-D fashion editor Erika Kurihara wanted to shoot some of the fashion finalists’ collections for the magazine in the seaside scenario of our city. As most of you itsweb readers know, we go back a long way with world-renowned i-D and their founders Terry and Trisha Jones. They have always supported us and continue to do so, giving lots of coverage to ITS and our finalists. What would you reply if the world’s number 1 magazine according to all young designers asks you for help for the production of a professional fashion photo shoot? If your answer is “no” just quit reading, feel ashamed and go write on the blackboard “I will never say no to i-D again” at least 200 times… Last year’s experience was simply amazing for us. Working with professionals teaches you so much and we feel i-D was very happy with the outcome, published with a 6-page feature in the October ’07 “World Wide Web” issue. They wouldn’t have asked us to do it again this year otherwise!

So immediately after ITS#SEVEN we dived into the organisation of the photo shoot, preparing all of the outfits that Erika had chosen during ITS#SEVEN as well as handling the whole production. EVErs Pablo and Soraya who worked on last year’s shoot were once again involved this year. Pablo, who works in our production and hospitality offices, is also our photography expert and a photographer himself (he’s gaining recognition for his photo projects and you can have a look at his website), whereas Soraya, before being “enlisted in the EVE army” – Schools and Contestants area – used to be a professional hair stylist in London and New Zealand with knowledge in make-up. The perfect people for this project, don’t you think?

The day of the shoot we woke up and stared outside the window: a huge storm with frightening black clouds. And rain. Lots of rain. And freezing cold too! It seemed as if we had slept for months and woke up in November! Unlike last year, the weather wasn’t smiling at us this time… Pablo had to load the van while being up to his ankles in water since not only was it raining cats and dogs but all public drains were blocked turning streets into rivers!

The main location was the Hotel Riviera beach. Hotel Riviera is where all finalists and their teachers stay during the event. It has one of the most amazing views of the sea (which is the main background that Erika wanted for the pictures) in the whole city of Trieste and a private beach for its guests. Susy Benvenuti, the hotel director, is a friend of ours and she was extremely kind in helping us out in all ways. With such bad weather, it was really appreciated! As you can see in one of the pictures, the hotel personnel kept us warm with hot chocolate and coffee (see the poor freezing model covering herself with a towel?). A strong wind would blow and we had to use the beach deck-chairs as wind-stoppers sometimes. Other times we had to stop shooting because the clouds would cover all of the sunlight.

Ami Sioux, the photographer, was not discouraged by the weather though. Nor was her Uzi-style way of taking pictures. Maybe we need to explain this better (we did hint to this in last year’s article but you’re not all “aficionados”!). Firstly, you might ask yourself what an Uzi is. It’s a sub machine gun. Your second question might be “what do you mean when you say that Ami takes pictures like an Uzi machine gun”? Well, picture a photographer that knows exactly what she wants and shoots at the speed of light, to the point that one camera isn’t enough so she keeps two (she shoots on film) at hand to pass from one to the other. She clicks so fast and her style is so personal that last year we didn’t even take a picture of her because we just stood watching her amazed, but this year we decided we had to get a good photo of her at work. In the end, she was even kind enough to pose for us in a picture. See how she aggressively leans towards our lens, with two cameras in her hands?

The bad weather did not ruin the crew’s mood at all. During the afternoon the sky even cleared up a bit offering rays of light through the clouds that added beauty to the seaside location. Even though other locations in the city were cancelled due to the rain, the outcome was successful and i-D was really pleased with the pictures Ami took.

Several finalists’ projects were chosen by Erika for the shoot. Keep an eye on the next issues of i-D and you will spot outfits by Adrian Sommerauer, Andrea Cammarosano, Siri Johansen, Nicolas di Felice, Mark Fast, Yang Du, Heikki Salonen, Elise Gettliffe and accessories by Valentim M. Quaresma (who’s collar, that you can see in one the photos lying on a deck chair while Erika and Soraya decide how to pick it up, was quite a pain for the poor model’s neck with all of those pins… but women know that you need to suffer to be beautiful, right?), Tomasz Donocik and Irene Bussemaker.

After a day’s work we booked a table at a cosy restaurant with a view of the whole gulf of Trieste. The sky had finally cleared up, and we had some time to chill and chat all together. As usual, Italian food is perfectly normal for us (even though we too recognise when it is prepared in a special way) but not for the rest of the world, so there was a true standing ovation of appreciation by the i-D people when they tasted a huge plate of potato “gnocchi” with shrimps and clams…