The Last Word – Damon Tucci: Juxtaposition in White

This image was created during one of Damon Tucci’s Tucciography workshops (www.damontucci.com) in downtown Orlando, FL. The exercise was to make something out of nothing or to use an object in your environment to your advantage. While some may see only a bride sitting on a rusty staircase in a city alley, Damon saw an interesting juxtaposition.

You probably don’t want to convince your client to trash her $10,000 Vera Wang gown for a photo shoot, but you can expand your portfolio fairly easily with an off-the-rack wedding dress. Damon bought this dress at David’s Bridal for $99 and used it on several shoots with different photographers. It’s a size 8, so it can fit a variety of models—a set of clamps in the back holds it snuggly on the model. When it gets dirty, Damon simply takes it to a laundromat and washes it in Woolite. One dress lasts about four shoots.

The bride in this image is a very photogenic model named Summer Posey. While some photographers take issue with shooting a model instead of a real bride, Damon does not. He always tells prospective clients which portraits are real and which are modeled shoots. It just so happens that Summer has since asked Damon to photograph her own wedding.

If you have something in your head that’s just dying to come out —make it happen! You may win a new client because she wants a portrait just like the one in your portfolio. Several of Damon’s clients purchased less expensive dresses especially for their “grunge” portrait shoots.

Damon captured this image with a Nikon D3 Digital SLR and AF Nikkor 85mm f/1.4D IF lens, using a 1/200 second exposure at f/8. Illumination was available light and the silver side of a Photoflex 52-inch White/Silver LiteDisc. He fine-tuned the image in Adobe Photoshop—burning in the edges, retouching and enhancing Summer’s eyes.

Kim Brady has been a writer and editor in the photo-imaging market for more than 28 years. She was editor of the first digital imaging magazine, Photo Electronic Imaging (PEI), and executive editor of The Professional Photographer. The Atlanta-based writer continues to write for imaging magazines and websites around the world.