Victoria Wall Harris: Weight Watchers Freestyle

When Los Angeles, California-based photographer Victoria Wall Harris recently finished a project for Dimassimo Goldstein, a marketing agency based in New York City that found Victoria through Wonderful Machine, they soon reached out to her again about an assignment for Weight Watchers.

The shoot concept was to capture real Weight Watchers customers in their homes and with their families in Colorado for an ad promoting the new Weight Watchers Freestyle program. The agency needed both still images and short motion clips for the campaign. Victoria began the bidding process with the agency and shortly thereafter was assigned the project.

I always love shooting people and food together so for me it was right in my sweet spot.

The shoot focused on real individuals that had weight loss stories from the test program, and Victoria worked with the agency to craft a shot list that was based on the actual lives of the subjects. Shots of each woman on their own and enjoying food were also required. Her goal was to make sure the shoot was an enjoyable experience for them.

We wanted to make sure the women weren’t over produced and still felt real and like themselves.

The project started out relatively small, with additional crew gradually brought on as the team got further into production. Victoria sourced a hair and makeup stylist with whom she frequently collaborates and the production found a local food stylist and wardrobe stylist in Colorado.

Our crew was great – it was a mix of people I had worked with and people I’d never met which can be tricky but we all gelled and loved working together.

There were two weeks between the initial bid conversation and the first shoot day. Once the team had determined dates that the talent was available, they filled in the rest of the production details around those days.

The shoot took place across two days, both within the subjects’ homes and at local restaurants. Victoria kept production as simple as possible and focused on catching real expressions and moments from the talent as they went through their day eating, walking, and enjoying their families.

Victoria turned the images in within a week of wrapping, bringing the total time to about three weeks.

Victoria was thrilled to use real people for the shoot and enjoyed the authenticity and enthusiasm they brought to the experience.

I love shooting real people, especially for this shoot where we wanted to tell their weight loss story and highlight what their life is like now.

Victoria has experienced a great reaction to the images. Several magazines ran double-page ads featuring images from the campaign, the images were used online and at all weight watchers locations.

Her favorite feedback was the emails she received from both of the women featured in the ads, sharing how great they felt and how happy they were with the project.

See more of Victoria’s work on her website.

Credits:

Agency: Dimassimo Goldstein

Executive Producer: Gary Bass

Hair/Makeup Stylist: Bethany Johnson

Food Stylist: Victoria Escalle

Wardrobe Stylist: Delphine Gennisson

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