Several weeks ago Chris Chramosta contacted me for a model shoot to add to his portfolio. I told him my standard rates for print portfolio work but being a college student and brand new model he told me he’d have to do some saving in order to shoot with me! I no longer do time-for-prints (TFP) shoots but I let Chris know that if I came up with a concept shoot that I thought he’d be perfect I’d shoot him in that concept at no charge provided he be completely open to the concept.
Later that evening I came across an image that reminded me of James Dean. I absolutely loved the idea of shooting a James Dean concept. I’ve worked with so few male models and was looking forward to finding someone who fit. I checked Chris’s images online and decided he would do well for the shoot. I presented the idea to him and he accepted. After a few weeks of planning, getting clothing, and finding a hair dresser (Sarah Bolter) we finally had a date set for our shoot!
We met up downtown and Sarah did Chris’s hair while sitting outside a building near Nomad. Not only did Chris leave his facial hair scruffy (along with bringing a razor, just in case) he also let his hair grow out more to help achieve the look. He also laid off the body building supplements for a few days prior to have less of a pumped look and studied James Dean in order to take on the persona.
I explained to Chris that I didn’t want to try and copy any of James Dean’s iconic images, but rather wanted to portray a similar persona in a similar but more modern look. I believe that when you try to outright copy someone the best you can ever be is second best. Use others for inspiration, but never outright attempt to duplicate their work. With this shoot I didn’t want anyone to say “Nice Job trying to replicate James Dean” but rather “Hey, this reminds me of James Dean!”. Consequently, we did get a comment from a local stylist that the set is “so James Dean”. And, that was without me mentioning anything in the image or album that James Dean was part of the concept. Mission Accomplished.
