Years ago I stumbled upon and fell in love with some incredible images by John Michael Cooper, who originated the concept of "trashing" a wedding gown. He would have his brides put their gowns back on a day or two after their wedding day and would then photograph them in non traditional and editorial types of places: the ocean, a junk yard, rivers, lakes and streams, you name it. He even set brides dresses on fire with the women in them (no one was hurt... or that's what he says). Several photographers took his concepts and built entire business models out of the idea, and the images started pouring in; a new genre of wedding photography created. The photos were so insanely beautiful that I couldn't get them out of my head. I thought about those gorgeous images for weeks; flowing hair in water with a whitish gown flowing around her body, a woman propped up on a rocky beaches edge, with the bottom of her gown dripping into the ocean hitting her side... aahhhhh.. The images were so romantic, and they spoke to that very girly-romantic part of me. I knew that trashing a dress was a truly special photography experience, but the fashion-lover inside of me just couldn't stomach torching a Vera Wang. That's when I knew it wasn't for me, but I still loved the look and feel of the images. And the concept.
As a photographer specializing in high school senior portraits, I'm always looking for ways to have fun with my girls. I want to shoot more then just their Senior portraits and to provide a memorable and fun experience while simultaneously encouraging and empowering the young women I photograph. It makes what I do that much more meaningful and exciting; a relationship builder. Trashing our formals does all of that and more. So taking the trash the dress concept, I began to play around with the idea of trashing a formal (I felt better about a few hundred dollars versus a few thousand). Several years ago I tried it for the first time with some of my favorite students from the high school where I teach photography. This was in the early days when I was first experimenting in my business and figuring out what I wanted to shoot. Now, trash the formal has become a tradition; an event I do every year. It is so much fun, and the images are edgy and funky and often really really beautiful.
This last year 2013, was a true busy building year for FLY. All sorts of changes in the business, growth, big strides, and God's favor (YAY, so thankful!). And what felt like all of a sudden, spring was here, and it was trash the formal time. On a beautifully overcast Saturday at Corona Del Mar's Crystal Cove (my favorite photo beach) the last weekend in March, a small group of my lovely ladies all gathered together in their old formal dresses ready for whatever I asked of them. Brave girls. Love. It was so fun to see these girls all dressed up and ready to go. Even better, I'd basically trained them how to pose on former Senior sessions, so everyone was quite natural and so beautiful on camera. What fun and adventure it was to climb rocky cliff edges, rough the barnacle filled lower beach rocks, and make our way into the sand and water all afternoon. All of my girls were absolutely fantastic, and I'm so excited to share these images with them and their family and friends!!
Enjoy, my lovely class of 2013 ladies!!!!! I hope you all had as much fun as I did!!
XO,
Jess
For more (and some behind the scenes video) check this out:
By Jess Spinella