(gentle music)
- (Cindy) Well, I don't usually do commissions,
but I think when I haven't been working,
when I feel like I need some sort of,
project to challenge me, to force me to start working.
I sometimes will just accept it
because I have a real deadline to,
to force me to get going.
It was through a friend of mine who represents Balenciaga
asked me if I wanted to do some shots for French Vogue,
and I said, my sort of stipulation is,
as long as you can lend me the clothes for weeks at a time,
and I don't have that kind of pressure
that like, normally I think
commercial photographers shoot everything in one day.
And I said, 'No, I need the clothes for longer'.
And, so, they were totally cool with that.
I wanted it to look like these are people
who happen to be wearing Balenciaga
at like, some kind of groovy parties.
Maybe they work in the fashion business, or maybe they would like to be working
in the fashion business.
I was trying to make it look
as if they're shot with flash.
The backgrounds are all digitally added
with just shots of people in restaurants and bars.
And, yeah that was kind of what
this series started out as.
And, then I subsequently blew up
one of these large to see
how it would hold up as a work of art.
And it didn't look good with the backgrounds.
So, I wound up going back
and completely changing the backgrounds,
and they sort of now have a new life
as different sort of pictures.
Still somewhat as if they're from parties,
but in some cases even more so,
because I added these flash effects.
And it was actually the first time I tried shooting with the digital camera.
I borrowed a friend's camera
and I was kind of nervous about that too,
now I'm suddenly experimenting with a digital camera
and I don't really know how to use it, and does it work the same with the lights?
And then I have to set it up to look at my computer while I'm shooting.
It was all kind of like touch and go
in the beginning, and a little scary.
But, once I was into it,
it was just like I'm a total convert,
I threw out all my film
and I'm ready to get rid of my cameras
and, it's like
I'll just never go back to film.