Sunday we headed into
the city to meet with Gina Kim, a marvelous children’s fashion photographer. She asked months ago to shoot my daughter for
her blog, Enfant Street Style (be
sure to click the link to check it out – Gina was recently in Europe and she just posted some stunning
work) and we have been trying to find a time when we were both available AND
HAD GOOD WEATHER to shoot. Gina loves
kids’ fashion, as evidenced by her work on her blog and other projects. She does private shoots as well as fashion
and look-books (catalogs of clothing for store/boutique clothing buyers,
usually, rather than consumers). We
actually met her when she was shooting the FW15 look-book for IMOGA (click here for a preview), a line
developed and designed by a woman in New Jersey who used her background in
fashion to design girls’ clothes that are beautiful and classically styled yet
contemporary in fit and fabric. Gina’s
clean, unpretentious style focuses on both the girls and the fashion which, in
my opinion, makes her the perfect photographer for the IMOGA line.
Ever since my daughter
started modeling and I started paying a lot of attention to the photographers
out there in the New York area, my eyes have been drawn to Gina. Her photos draw your eyes to both the child
and the clothing, and the sample clothes she gets from the designers are
ahhh-mazing. I have always been drawn to
photographers who capitalize on the natural beauty of children, and use their expertise
to capture the light and highlight the kids’ features. I know NOTHING about photography, so I cannot
really say much about technique – I’m just drawn to stuff I like. And I really like Gina! Needless to say, I was excited that she asked
my daughter to shoot with her.
The day was
PERFECT. I mean, PERFECT New York City
weather. Did I mention the weather was
perfect? Warm enough for just a t-shirt,
not too much humidity (although maybe a little high in the pollen count), warm
sunshine, and stuff in bloom.
Everywhere, stuff in bloom. You
may picture New York as a “concrete jungle” but really, you can find pockets of
gorgeous flowering trees and plantings all throughout. We met on Park Avenue and East 69th
Street, which is a neighborhood of…well, you know that Bravo show Million Dollar Listing? Let’s just say Fredrik Eklund would jump up
and down and squeal to list one of these brownstone row houses. It’s like, if my PowerBall won PowerBall I
could buy in this neighborhood. Park
Avenue itself is wide with the each directions divided by a grassy mall, dotted with
blooming trees and tulip beds adjacent to all of the crosswalks. As I mentioned, Gina and I had been trying to
get together since…maybe February? and
the quality of the day yesterday made me glad we had been forced to postpone so
long.
Gina is so personable,
and many moms who have worked with her remark how young she is. She’s only been out of college a few years,
but her youth shouldn’t fool you – she’s very talented and knows her
stuff. Gina brought a sample outfit from
Florence Fancy, and as she took it from her bag I knew it was going to be
perfect. It was a little above-the-knee
boucle slightly A-line skirt and collarless jacket. The boucle was mostly a natural color, with
some pinks and other touches of pastels woven in. A delicate tone-on-tone trim finished the
piece. We paired it with a simple
ballet-style white tank (though it was mostly hidden by jacket, which featured
a clasp at the collar) and bone-colored Mary Jane shoes. The only grooming was a quick brush of her
hair, which I had washed and quickly blow-dried before we left, so it was shiny
and soft.
Gina had scouted the
location and planned out the angles for the shoot. She shot on a street corner, in front of some
brownstones, and in the middle “mall” on Park Avenue, with the red tulips in
full bloom behind her. All told, we were
finished in about half an hour. My
daughter has been rolling with this
wistful, far-away look and not giving a lot of big “CHEESE!” smiles to the
camera, so I’m anticipating a more “editorial” look (serious faces and poses;
think magazines not catalogs).
Now the fun part – we wait
for Gina to post the pictures. She will
also share the images with me, so I can print them out for my daughter’s book
(portfolio). I'll be sure to share one here, too!
Who are your favorite
photographers? I’d love to hear your stories! Add a comment here, on my facebook page The
Bizzy Mama, or send me an email at thebizzymama@gmail.com
…I’m also on Instagram at TheBizzyMama.
Don’t forget to share the love by clicking on the brown icon below…I
want to become a top-ten Mommy Blogger!
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| A shot by Gina Kim for the Imoga FW15 collection at Hamilton's Soda Restaurant in Greenwich Village back in December |
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