Tuesday, May 5, 2015

Shooting with Gina Kim

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!
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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