WHAT INSPIRED THIS SHOOT?

I am not from California or the West Coast. I am actually from the complete opposite side of the country. Nonetheless, I admire their love for the beach and have come to appreciate their ‘laxed’ culture. I also can not deny their contribution to current fashion trends and the promotion of those trends through social media platforms such as Instagram and Tumblr. In the image to the left you can see how both in fashion and imagery, I have been inspired by the Golden Coast. The choice of tones, colors and angles are all inspired by the many creatives that have found themselves most productive in Hollywood‘s backyard. I can only hope that my model Pauriany, coordinator Cynthia and I have done a great job at exemplifying this culture.

Most people may not know this but, the name “Golden Coast” is not exclusive to California. The name also belongs to Australia so, it’s important that I clarify that I am solely pulling from California’s style. I have nothing against Australia, I am just not as familiar with their culture. Nonetheless, when looking at these photos you can see that I am heading towards an Instagram/FashionNOVA direction. These brands are great at taking images that are highly contrasted. Therefore, in post production I chose to keep things simple. We had an extremely sunny day and I decided to keep the light blue skies and to capture images that showed the harsh shadows created by those harsh rays. I also wanted to make the model’s skin warmer due to the huge tanning culture in California and lets not forget about the high waisted jeans. They are a staple in California’s “Santa Monica” culture. This fashion trend still remains from California’s 80s swimsuit fashion first promoted in Hollywood films. The idea of women skating on boardwalks in California on a sunny day with high waisted swimwear was and still is highly promoting in both films and magazines today. The people decided to adopt this culture and today it’s even making its way on to social media. It’s because of that, that I don’t think this trend will be going anywhere anytime soon.

I wanted to also give a shoutout to Greentree Country Club for allowing us to use their private beach. This country club is undeniably dreamy and is perfect for hosting weddings and other large events. They usually host traditional American, Indian and Kosher weddings but, as you can see from these photos the organization is open minded to diverse clientele. Their architecture and floral pathways allow for beautiful photos. Although I decided to only shoot at the beach; there is a plethora of scenery to choose from. If you are ever to visit Greentree, you’ll quickly be consumed by an array of locations carefully kept together. Even smaller details like the private homes close by can add to the theme you may have. For example, you’ll notice that I used the homes behind their stone wall to replicate Santa Monica’s beach house and boardwalk layout. Those small details helped to pull my theme together. I thank Greentree for helping to make my vision come true.

Dancing in the wind there was a little seed who had nothing to give, or to want or to need. But she knew she would never be a weed so she just danced in the wind in rain or shine and landed in my garden and became a flower of mine.

- Alyssa M. Argenzio

The Golden Coast

Going into this shoot, I wanted to prove a point. This was the first shoot of my project. Before getting too creative, I wanted to show this next wave of photographers how a swimsuit photoshoot can be done. I believe that this generation of photographers have been more focused on quantity rather than quality. Hence why we are seeing an influx of swimsuit images but, a lack of high quality ones.

The Golden Coast

One thing I tried to do during this shoot was change the narrative of typical swimsuit photoshoots (hyper-sexualized poses and soft skin). So, instead of using Lightroom’s Softening Tool or a technique like Frequency Separation; I decided to go with the Dodge and Burn technique. If overdone, it can make your images look too perfect but, when placed on larger platforms, you still manage to retain all the details in your images.

“Santa Monica”, does a good job at replicating California’s mood through contrast without oversaturating the image. Although there is grain utilized in the preset, the idea is to keep everything “glossy” and to allow for an overall vibrant image. My only tip would be to watch the skin tones when using this preset. If adjustments are needed, I would recommend changing the hue, luminosity or saturation of the skin in Lightroom or Photoshop. This preset can be found in my new Preset Travel Pack. To purchase this preset, don’t hesitate to click the link below.