Rob Van Petten and the Nikon D800 Video

Nikon D800 In the Studio with Rob Van Petten from Rob Van Petten on Vimeo.
The Job of a fashion photographer is usually to sell apparel or personal care or jewellery or accessories BUT you're selling an item.
So, to sell an item, you have to engage an audience.
You usually flip a page in a magazine and you come upon a fashion photograph and that has to last a long time. You have to capture the audience's attention so to do that you create a scenario.
You have the suggestion of something going on. some action outside of the frame or some play of pressure on the model or the actor or the actress and you could create the sensation of other activities, and you just happen to catch one slice of it.
So there is motion involved and there is action and there is mood.
When a fashion photograph totally works it's because of the mood created by the lighting merges with the moment of the action and that creates a believable moment. The motion releases emotion that the audience can relate to. That makes a successful photograph.
The D800 really applies in beauty shooting and that is where there has been a challenge from medium format cameras. In a studio where people expect to have cosmetic details or close-ups on hair or faces in personal care shots. That's where sometimes there's a question of whether or not a dSLR is going to be a high enough quality camera. This camera (the Nikon D800) will definitely satisfy those expectations.
What's different about being a fashion photographer is that it's more about your own fantasies.
You shoot tests and you shoot your own concepts and you work up ideas on your own and then people begin to buy that style from you.
Your inspirations become part of their planning and vision for the future.
You are sort of a trend forecaster for a company.
You really lead your clients to a new vision of what their company can offer for the next season.

I think most photographers want to be identified as a brand.
You develop a look that's really from your own fantasy and your own heart.
It's your own personal style.
Mine just happened to be this light driven, high-tech, very saturated colour, near future style.
That became my identity.
I shoot that on my own and much of that gets bought as concepts for advertising work and fashion work