H IGH FASHION RICHARD DUBOIS Richard Dubois’s all-time favourite image! Wardrobe Styling: Luis Rajiv, with designs by Brandon Dwyer Make-up: Kristie Stoodley Hair: Brian Maristela Model: Andi Muise (Premiere London, Marilyn NY) 1. What propelled you towards photography? I fell into photography a bit by chance while studying theatre at university, when my mother gave me her old Canon camera. It started with shooting publicity stills for plays and headshots for actors, and after discovering beauty and fashion I would solicit the help of any willing friend to be my model for the day. It’s been all beauty and fashion ever since. 2. What did you want to be as a young lad? I don’t think I ever aspired to be any one thing when I was young, I just tried out a bit of everything to find out what I actually did like " the only certainty was that I would do something visual and creative. I’ll probably never go through a mid-career crisis because I love what I do, and I can easily compare to careers I would not enjoy at all. 3. What camera would you recommend for beginners? There are so many great DSLR choices for young photographers, so I would simply suggest finding a new or used camera that fits your budget. More importantly, learn the fundamentals: lenses, exposure, depth-of-field, reading a histogram, white balance, RAW conversion. You don’t need an expensive professional camera to take great pictures, but you need to know how to use it properly. 4. What advise would you give to make-up artists just starting out in regards to what a photographer is looking for ? Almost every great artist I’ve ever worked with spent some time in their early years assisting more established artists. It’s a great way to learn not only makeup and hair techniques, but also how the workflow at a shoot works. There is simply no substitute for real-world, hands-on experience. 5. As a young photographer where on earth do you start? This is actually a question I’m asked all the time, and the simple answer it to just go out and shoot, no matter what it is. Take pictures of your friends, your pets, sunsets, it doesn’t matter " just get over that creative inertia, and figure out how much you like photography. You’ll either not like it that much, like it as a hobby, or like it enough to make a career of it. Only time and lots of shooting will answer that question. 6. Is there any subject/person you have not shot that you really want? I’m currently working on a gallery project with some fashion industry colleagues that I’m really enjoying, and it’s giving me countless new ideas for things I’d like to shoot. The project is loosely based on fashion and beauty, with a great deal of storytelling, much like shooting a fashion editorial except that we are free to do whatever we want; no one runs the show exclusively, so we all take our turns trying out new ideas. I’d like to keep shooting this for years to come; it’s very liberating. 7. From all your work why have you chosen this image as your all time favourite? I should qualify my selection of this image: It is my current, all-time favourite. I’ll probably have a new all-time favourite in the next few weeks or months, but for now this image embodies much of what I love about photography, clean aesthetics and simple beauty, with a hint of narrative about the subject. This image feels just how I and the rest of the team meant for it to feel as we were shooting it. That kind of synergy is one of the things I love most about photography. 8. When looking for models what are you looking for? I’m not always involved with model casting, but when I am the most important thing is that the model match the concept perfectly. There are some incredibly beautiful models out there who are perfect for edgy fashion, but who would be disastrous for clean, pretty beauty. No matter the shooting project, all of the elements need to work together as well as possible, starting with the right model.
H IGH FASHION Wardrobe Styling: Joelle Litt (Judy Inc.) Make-up and Hair: Sabrina Rinaldi (Judy Inc.) Model: Ada (Sutherland - Toronto, IMG - New York)