A couple of weeks ago I had a shoot in Oman with the incredible singer Fatiniza for her new album "Confusion". The creative vision for the shoot was strongly influenced by her songs, her character as well as plenty of brainstorming sessions with Dubai based Fashion Photographer Michael Kruger.
Fati, an "out of control", full of fire, totally lovable Colombian, has built her music on her Latin roots and International sounds. Her genre Rock/Pop based with Latin percussion thrown in the mix alongside Fatiniza's individual vocals creates a truly unique and new sound. Just this year she was nominated by Time Out Magazine as the "Best Band in Dubai".
She's awesome and the shoot was one of my favorite ever! If you work in the industry and are in Dubai, do head down to the Musandam Peninsula for a photoshoot one day ... it has been an unforgettable experience for me - oh, and don't forget to take me along :)
After a successful first day of shooting in the clear blue waters and incredible mountains of Oman, we headed to an equally beautiful Wadi near Khassab. The river bed had just dried up from the recent thunderstorms and the scenery looked out of this world.
For this last shot, the photographer wanted Fati wrapped in a 20m black photo backdrop cloth, hence adding to the mystical feel of the scenery. The idea was to have the wind play with the fabric and thus create abstract shapes (... and abstract they were!)
Having finished makeup and hair, it had been "made" my mission to persuade the wind to do the right thing at the right time. Easier said than done without a doubt.
To give you an insight into what incredible task lay ahead of me, check out what a 20m long black cloth can look like without a Makeup Artist and Pazuzu, the demon of the South-West winds (in Babylonian mythology at least).
Off we went praying for wind and wind we got!
I love stuff like this, you do the same thing over and over and over - throwing a black cloth in the air - yet each time you get a totally different result and all of a sudden, completely unsuspected, your heart stops and you realize that you hit the jackpot while you adore your "money-shot" on the little screen on the back of your camera. Sooo rewarding!
And after some post-production by the talented and very imaginative photographer Mike Kruger, this is the final result.
Fatiniza will be launching her new album "Confusion" on 28 April 2010 @ Alpha, Le Meridien Village, Dubai. Go check it out!
