On a very short notice and to my surprise, I was selected for the spring/summer 2022 campaign photoshoot of a big and well-known brand Helly Hansen. Helly Hansen is a 140-year-old Norwegian brand renowned among the sailing, skiing and workwear crowd. It all started in 1877 when Norwegian sea captain Helly Juell Hansen founded Helly Hansen brand together with his wife Maren Margrethe. Working out of their basement, the innovative and industrious pair worked relentlessly on creating workwear for long and harsh days at sea. The Norwegian manufacturer quickly become a major player in the clothing industry.
The modeling job took place in E3 Studio, just 5 minutes away by bike from my home on Dingxi Road in Shanghai. The photoshoot lasted only 3 hours with only 6 outfits. The photographer and the clients demanded free movement posing with a lot of arm movements and asked me not to do the typical ‘suit’ posing with strong poses.
I started out a bit cramped as I hadn’t had studio photo shooting in a while. I was a bit clumsy with posing as well as with the position in the studio and the all the corners of the lights. This is completely normal, as all the eyes of the people you see for the first time are on you, you don’t know the working space of the studio and photographer’s style of work (yet).
In the first minutes, the main boss of the brand was also present, who at first glance acted very strictly, which contributed even more to the my nervousness. I got used to all the circumstances and got my rhythm quickly (see some poses in a video clip below). Photoshoot then proceeded quickly.
I did my best, as usual, and I hope that the end result of the campaign, which will be released next year in January, will satisfy both the clients and me.