Fashion on Monroe

I had made plans to go out of town this past weekend, but circumstances made that impossible. So I was glad when I found an acquaintance posting on Facebook that he was going out photographing Saturday evening and he wanted to know if anyone wanted to tag along. And, oh be the way, what do we photograph?

We settled on a fashion event in downtown Grand Rapids, called "Fashion on Monroe". Not something I would probably make plans to photograph normally, but I'm willing to try anything once.

We met at a local coffee shop near the event, and once the small crew was all there, headed down the street. The first irritant was that the event didn't open until a half hour after we thought it did. Ok, we can wander around and talk, photograph things and generally see what trouble we can get into. Once it did open, we got in and selected good spots. After another half hour had gone by, the announced the show wouldn't start for 45 more minutes. We abandoned our locations and hit a local bar for a quick beer and conversation.

We got back to the show, and generally got back to our spots. Then a couple interesting things happened. A security guard mentioned that the media area was down at the end of what would be the runway. We all had dSLR's with external flashes attached, so I guess he thought we were all professionals. We told him we liked the spot we were in and he moved on. A few minutes later, a guy in a suit came by and asked us if we needed anything. He thought we were media also. We collectively gave in and wandered down to the media area to photograph.

I saw another person I knew in the media area, who was actually working with the media pass and everything. He gave us a funny look but ignored us after that. We ended up with clear shots of the models and designers, much better than if we had to fight with the crowd. Yet another example of assumptions people make if you wander around with a big camera.

After the show was over, one of the guys dragged his strobe light set out and we spent a little bit over an hour photographing strangers on the street. We were lucky enough to have one willing model who put up with us for over an hour. She had gone to the fashion show, and it got our earlier than she expected. She was just waiting around for her boyfriend to get out of work and was glad for the diversion. She also got some great photos out of it. While a few people just totally ignored us when we asked if we could photograph, a lot agreed to have their photos taken.

All in all, an enjoyable night, and more interesting than I thought.