Not shown in this photo: 1 carabiner, 2 rope pulleys, 4 hours of Photoshop, 8 multi-shots, 10 nylon cords, 13 ropes, 20 tankers, 25 hooks, 100 psi pressurized air and 1.800 Watts of flash power.
Easier said than done
Someone once said that photographing children and animals is one of the hardest things out there. Well, taking pictures of eyewear can be almost impossible as well. We found out the hard way when we launched “EYEWEAR – The Visionary Magazine” about a year ago. Drawing on our humble background in product photography we thought, how hard can it be to portray eyewear in a crisp, high profile format? As it soon turned out, it is actually pretty hard most of the time! After all, these contemporary slim, unstructured frames are just as elusive to the camera’s eye as many of the transparent, glare-free lenses nowadays. And did you know that sunglasses need at least a little bit of backlight in order to truly shine in photos? With lots of emphasis on exclusive details in eyewear design, macro lenses seemed a logical choice to bring it all to life in full-page format. But who would have thought that these powerful lenses also catch lots of unwanted details, such as dust or flimsy hairs? So whenever we embark on photo shoots these days, we always make sure to bring an air compressor to keep things clean around the set. But even this roaring beast is powerless against scratches, bumps and other micro-damages dealt to our precious cargo – so caution is key. And a little bit of digital cosmetics in Photoshop…
Not only that, many single shots in this issue are actually patched together from multiple shots, taken under different lighting conditions for even exposure from all angles, without blinding reflections or glare on the lenses.
One year has passed since our first steps into eyewear photography. By now, our photo studio resembles a bona fide torture chamber. With hundreds of glasses waiting to be put through the agonies of an hour-long photo shoot, mounted on some sort of fiendish contraption or placed into whatever grueling circumstances our devious minds can come up with. Through it all, we can count on a loyal team of expert photographers, whose idea of style and exclusive presentation are exactly in line with our aesthetic mission, day after day and shoot after lengthy shoot.
This kind of creative drive also shows in the size of our magazine. Although we added 16 extra pages to this issue, it still wasn’t enough to accommodate all the stories and show all the glasses that we wanted. In further news, this is our first issue available to an international audience in English in response to all the requests we have received at tradeshows and industry outings over the past months. So here it is: We hope you enjoy the new issue of EYEWEAR magazine.
SD