Photoshoot: MIRZA MPERIAL Spring 2010 w/ Diandra Forrest
Posted under: Finally Catching up with blogs and everything (I seem to say this all the time nowadays). Well this time or rather this shoot was from a last minute overnight shoot with one of my favourite local designers Taimur and his MIRZA MPERIAL Spring/Summer 2010 line. I’ve worked with Taimur extensively since last year, we’ve worked on 3 shoots already and on various other events. With this shoot, it was almost like a reunion as warren came on board for the makeup and hair. Warren Taimur and I had first med and worked together on the very first shoot in the Kogod courtyard. Walter and Salim also styled this shoot as well.
Bo Zhang | Bo and Bro
For the shoot we were blessed with having Diandra Forrest of Ford Europe to model for us. Diandra has quite a story herself being the first albino model to be signed by a major modeling agency. Diandra was signed with Elite first and then Ford. she has also appeared on a 20/20 special and will be on a upcoming episode of the Tyra Banks show. This girl is going places!
Hit the link for many more pics and story
Bo Zhang | Bo and Bro
Taimur’s clothes concept this year revolves around ‘moth’, with his winged boleros and moth patterns. Working with this concept, I had decided to combine it with one of my own, projection. I had purchased an old school overhead projector a couple weeks back. So putting one and one together, we projected moth images onto the background and Diandra. Through the series of outfits, we changed the projection to reflect the transformation.
Bo Zhang | Bo and Bro
Bo Zhang | Bo and Bro
Also I think I have failed to mention the time constraint on this project. Taimur had contacted me on Tuesday night at 11pm about shooting on Wednesday at 9pm. Diandra came down by bus from NYC and we shot from 9pm to 5am. We then chose the photos from 5am to 8am only for me to process and deliver the final set by that night. All in all from concept to finished product in 48 hrs.
Bo Zhang | Bo and Bro
I have worked with warren quite extensively and as always he never disappoints. For this shoot he gave a magnificent performance with 7 different makeup AND hairstyles. THAT’S SEVEN. And they all looked stunning. My favourite is the one below with a backwards bob to create that massive front bulge.
Bo Zhang | Bo and Bro
Working with different styles we felt we needed something more. Taimur and I brainstormed away separately, I came back shouting ‘confetti’ while Taimur wanted to cut feathers up in tiny pieces. Our minds are nearly on the same track. Taimur had a projection video a week ago as well. We all cut up little black and white pieces of paper, well Patrick did most of the cutting. you can see the result as we tried to make it look like Diandra is picking moth out of the air.
Bo Zhang | Bo and Bro
Bo Zhang | Bo and Bro
Also to add that sense of mystery and motion, I used a bit of slow sync shutter between the strobe lighting and the projector lighting to create the dragging affect. Hence the dragging of the confetti pieces and the mix between sharp and blurry parts of the pictures.
Bo Zhang | Bo and Bro
Bo Zhang | Bo and Bro
This was a great shoot, we were all completely drained from shooting and working, but it was worth it as we got these fantastic results. These photos were then displayed in a video at Taimur’s Spring/Summer 2010 Launch event at L2. Here is the video of it all together.
Absolutely amazing work. You are truly a master, and has made a name for yourself. Bravo!
cheers don
Cool stuff…makes me feel like a novice.
[...] has been BIG…since we last shot, Diandra has appeared on Tyra, 20/20, Loads of fashion mags and recently she just signed with [...]
Indeed, these are fantastic and very unique backgrounds. Confetti is a fun touch.