RUNAWAY, a Durham-based streetwear company, needed images for their Winter ‘17 lookbook. The brand wanted images that reflected the authentic vibe of the brand. To help spice up this year’s book, Well$, a famous local rapper, wore many hats as he acted as the creative director, stylist, and model. Rebecca Ward, the Media Content Developer, reached out to Raleigh-based photographer Jillian Clark to shoot the images.
The pre-production phase of the project took place over dinner. Jillian and Rebecca dined and discussed the shoot’s involvement, in detail. They came up with a treatment and mood board that included the use of the brand’s name, RUNAWAY. Taken a bit literally, the duo wanted the look of the images to depict a carefree, streetwise, youthful, “runaway” vision. Agreeing the photos would look best taken in the dark, Jillian and Rebecca decided the use of a hard, pop-up style flash to give an “off the cuff, candid” vibe would work best, based on the aesthetic they were going for. After a few emails, back and forth with Well$, everyone was onboard and good to go!
Jillian had a great time shooting these photos. Doing a lot of the legwork to plan everything out during the preproduction part of the project helped keep things moving and fluid during the shoot.
The shoot was a blast! We bounced around downtown Durham, using different locations to tell a story of movement and youth. We went to each location that we had previously scouted and knocked out the looks very quickly. Well$ and Zuri were great models and really gave all their personality to the camera.
Photographing outdoors in the winter months can be quite challenging. Though much of this trendy collection is intended to be worn in the winter, there were a few t-shirts to be shot. Keeping everyone upbeat and motivated while they were freezing was a definite obstacle, but luckily, everyone on set had a positive attitude and did their jobs efficiently. Working with a great group of people can make a big difference during a project. Overall, it was a fantastic experience for everyone involved.
My favorite part was the candid vibe of the photos. I enjoyed working a bit more loosely & off the cuff than a standard curated, perfectly planned studio shoot. It was fun to let the location dictate some of the imagery.
RUNAWAY was more than pleased with the outcome. As soon as Jillian sent over the final edits of the photos, the brand immediately uploaded them to its website and started sharing the images on social media. The RUNAWAY team plans to continue sharing the images throughout the winter.
See more of Jillian’s photography on her website.
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