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Google “how do you pronounce…” and the first suggestion that comes up is “how do you pronounce gif” or some variation of that sentence. Regardless of the actual pronunciation (it’s said with a hard “G,” by the way), the fact that “gif” is the first thing Google thinks of when you start typing that question speaks to how prevalent that word is in today’s lexicon. And making them is yet another skill contemporary photographers need to have in their arsenal. Fortunately, as Boston-based photographer Linda Campos found out, this isn’t the most difficult skill to master — even for beginners.
This was my first time delivering images intended for use as GIFs, and it was so much fun! I learned a lot about how to tell a packing story and how simple it can be to create movement with stills to capture attention on social media.
Packing is about as qualified a candidate for GIF construction as you’ll find, so it’s no wonder that luxury fashion brand DVF — named after its founder, Diane von Furstenberg — continued its collaboration with luggage company Away by using the visual medium.
DVF has a partnership with Away, and their pieces of luggage were perfect for the weekend travel stories we were trying to create.
The luggage is simple, sophisticated, and modern. It has a very clean look that works seamlessly with the DVF apparel. Seems like the perfect partnership!
There were pros and cons to the location of the shoot, which was Linda’s house. While the commute was pretty simple, it took quality communication between the Bostonian and DVF’s creative director in New York to get the shots just right.
This was a full day shoot that took place in my bedroom in my home in Boston. I’d say the most challenging thing was shooting this remotely away from the creative team at DVF in NYC.
That being said, Lauren Festine, the creative director, gave me amazing direction and was available throughout the day to approve the images as we worked through them.
So, how did Linda go about this new adventure of making a gif? By operating in reverse! The team shot a few versions of the final image and then removed pieces of luggage to make the gifs.
We had a few goals in mind when shooting each set of gifs. We knew that the final styled shot needed to work in a couple of different crops for email marketing and that once we had the final shot where we wanted it, we would work backwards to create the gif.
As we deconstructed the final styled image by removing an item or two, we took stills to create the movement for the gif.
Knowing it would be a gif totally influenced the way we approached the stills. We also had key pieces of apparel to feature in each month’s travel story that influenced the styling and how we worked through each shot.
Linda’s work showed up in a few places online, including DVF’s Instagram page and in some of the fashion brand’s emailers. By the time the photographer was done working with Away’s luggage, she was impressed enough with it to want some of her own.
The gifs were featured on the DVF Instagram and other social channels and the stills were used as a header on email marketing.
I love the look of Away’s luggage. I especially loved the weekender bag and honestly wanted one for myself after shooting this project.
See more of Linda’s work on her website.
Credits:
Creative Director, DVF: Lauren Festine
Soft Stylist: Michelle Coate
Assistant: Flavio DeBarros