Graffinis Swimwear PhotoShoot - Strobist Style

Graffinis Spec PhotoShoot, originally uploaded by Csabastyle - Csaba Fikker Photography.

Interesting day I had today. Started the day early - at 4;30 am - met up with the crew in Hollywood at 6am to shoot a swimwear designed by Graffinis. I was supposed to shoot this at dawn on Hollywood Blvd. We originally intended to have the Hollywood Stars and a couple of Palm trees in the Background. The cops were circling around us like sharks, so not having a permit made me nervous enough that I could only snap a couple of photos of the model half naked freezing while drivers were yelling comments. Not wanting to risk my equipment ( In LA they take your Equipment if you have no photo permit and they catch you shooting - and the City being bankrupt and all its probably not helping) we desided to go down to the Santa Monica Beach under the Boardwalk.
It was a great Idea, I like how the images turned out, it was one of those rare days when there was no haze - Amazing!

I ended up using a Canon 580EXII as my main light - attached to the Canon 5DMKII with a cord and I used a Canon 550EX as a secondary flash. I always shoot in full manual mode the flashes I have left on ETTL. I came home with some 500 images from which I think there are a couple dozen that I'm proud of. I processed the images in Lightroom 3.0 - lately i have a tendency to develop a color scheme for each shoot and sometimes I use some of the old saved ones, at this point I have a long list of my own presets but from my experience you rarely have a chance to use the best setting on the new photos - probably because each shoot has its own look and feel.
- more photos from this photo shoot can be found at
http://www.igotsnapped.com/People-Photos-by-Csaba-Fikker/Graffinis-PhotoShoot-Oct-28th

Heart Attack Fashion Show, Oct 66th 2010 - Vanguard Hollywood, Ca - Photography by Csaba Fikker

Heart Attack Fashion Show, Oct 16th 2010 - Vanguard Hollywood, Ca - Photography by Csaba Fikker, originally uploaded by Csabastyle - Csaba Fikker Photography.

Well, this was a disaster. I was invited to shoot a True Religion Fashion show on he 16th. I show up and there is no True Religion instead its Heart Attack. The models are sent upstairs in the Hollywood club named Vanguard, its 120 degrees up there, not a pretty sight. I ended up walking away from the show before it started since it was about 2 hour late, the club is really not set up for any decent shows anyways.And never mind the dance floor was packed with drunk kids so as soon as someone spilled some drink on my 27-70 L lens I was out of there. Never the less I managed to grab a couple of shots of my friend Johnny G in Heart Attack outfit with a couple of models behind the scenes. This way I feel like I got something out of my parking ticket :)

RAW Fashion Show - Parris Harris Production Oct 14th 2010

RAW Fashion Show - Parris Harris Production Oct 14th 2010, originally uploaded by Csabastyle - Csaba Fikker Photography.

While, waiting for My Final Cut to render my current project that is overdue (Its like 5 Am ) I had some time to kill and I have just finished retouching and organizing the RAW Fashion Show from October 14th photos. There are some real nice pieces in here that I like.
The firs fashion designer whos show I have finished is Enriquito Ferra.
I love his work, nice variety, some of the stuff is just absolutely stunning
and I loved 90%of the model choices as well.

Click the picture to see some of the photos from the Show.

RAW Fashion Show - Parris Harris Production Oct 14th 2010

RAW Fashion Show - Parris Harris Production Oct 14th 2010, originally uploaded by Csabastyle - Csaba Fikker Photography.

Yesterday on October 14th - My friend Jhonny Giosa called me to let me know he was doing hair on one of Parris Haris fashion show productions and asked me if I would be interested to shoot the show.

I could not be happier that I said yes to it, even with sitting in traffic, valet parking fee and a decent size bar tab it was still worth it to me every bit.

This was one of those rare opportunities where I could actually go behind the curtain and ask a couple of the girls already dressed and done with make up to pose for me for a couple of quick snaps before the the Fashion show started. The Fashion Show RAW took place at the Elevate Lounge Downtown Los Angeles, I have to tell you it is an awesome place to shoot at - and as we all know you rarely get the chance to shoot at any club because they get a bit protective of the location and ask you to stop taking pictures right?

Well nobody bothered me here, so I quickly found a couple of corners and walls and snapped several photos that I absolutely love. I used an on camera flash a Canon 580EXII, manual mode both camera and flash, and I also had the flash bouncing from the back or trough the ceiling. I Used Lightroom 3.0 to color my photos inn a style that I find appealing to me and Voila!

I knew it before the Runway show started that I already took the pictures that I wanted that day and if it was not for the great crew and gorgeous girls I could of gone home happy. This was a better experience than expected and I love the results. The Show itself was awesome, end of course Parris Harris did his thing that is something you have to see for yourself, and the girls and garments were substantially better than I expected. To see more of the pictures taken at the RAW Fashion show please visit

http://www.igotsnapped.com/Event-Photos-by-Csaba-Fikker/EventsFashion/RAW-Fashion-Show-at-Elevate

Beach Bunny Swimwear Fashion Show, Hosted by The Hills Jayde Nicole - Photography By Csaba Fikker

Beach Bunny Swimwear Fashion Show, Hosted by The Hills Jayde Nicole - Photography By Csaba Fikker, originally uploaded by Csabastyle - Csaba Fikker Photography.

La Fashion Week is here and there is a ton of excitement. A lot of great runway shows to choose from. Well, tonight I ended up going to the Beach Bunny Swimwear Fashions show held at "The Colony" in Hollywood. Media Check in at 9:45 - well that never happened - we were let in around 10:30, and just in case if any photographers would be pissed about it , never mind the poor girl who was late to her make up - she was one of the girls from the fashion show and the security kept her out there with us photographers for a good 30 minutes. It was hilarious to watch security guards not being able to decide who's decision is to let the poor girl in so she can be ready for the show.

The whole event was hosted by the famous Jade Nicole so there were plenty of photographers .Once inside - we found out there is no red carpet, just a white backdrop - the floor is dark hard wood so is the ceiling, no lights whatsoever, so no photographer can focus because looking trough your camera all you see is darkness, - so here comes manual focusing or better catch someone else flash and focus - awful.

One photographer pushes another one - close to break into a fight - the one pushing tells the guy - "Dude you are going to get kicked out - You have no Idea who I'm?... - more awful experience...

Chuck Laydel, and a couple more celebs show up, overall more photographers than celebrity.

And here comes my major screw up - Brand new Energizer Lithium batteries in my Canon 580ExII - the fashion show starts and only my first couple of flashes go off the rest is black - I mean black, I cranck up the ISO to 1600, I'm shooting at F5.6 and the pictures are so dark that I will never show them to anyone. %99 of my images are absolutely dark, My flash would recycle about ever 2 minutes and I'm wondering if this has anything to do with the fact that is Wednesday the 13th - :)

I will be posting more pictures from the "Red Carpet" of Jayde Nicole, Chuck Laydel and others in a day or two.

It is a shame that this event did not go better for me, I really enjoyed the expensive, but fabulous Beach Bunny Swimwear, and the girls on the runway were hot too. You can see a couple more Photos from the event at - http://www.flickr.com/photos/csaba-fikker or
high res ones at http://www.igotsnapped.com/Event-Photos-by-Csaba-Fikker/EventsFashion


Stay Tuned more LA Fashion Week Fashion Show coverage here at Freelance-Lifestyle.Blogspot.com

$100 Nordstrom Gift Certificate Giveaway From Csaba Fikker Photography

WIN A $100 NORDSTROM GIFT CERTIFICATE 

On November 1st I will be giving away $100 Nordstrom Gift Card to one Lucky Winner.
The winner will be randomly selected and announced on November 1st at 5PM.

Here is how you get Qualified for the $100 Gift Certificate : - 3 Things!

 - You must become a follower on twitter  - http://www.twitter.com/csaba_fikker
   and  of my blog  - http://freelance-lifestyle.blogspot.com/

 -  You have to retweet my Gift Certificate Giveaway –  if you Don't, You will be disqualified

 - The Last Entry to be qualified will be at Midnight PST on Saturday October 30th - ( I will need the two days to go trough the qualifications and setup the random selection of the lucky winner)

- This is only available to people living in USA - I will not ship or honor the prize to anyone outside of USA

 - The Giftcard will be mailed out to the Lucky Winner in 3 Business Days

- Assuming a large amount of responses, I will not answer any questions about this Gift Certificate Giveaway whatsoever. You are either IN or OUT - rules are simple enough -  follow me on  twitter, retweet my Gift Certificate Giveaway and follow my Blog

If you don't like the idea of all of this  please don’t participate and it is as simple as that.


One more thing - YOU HAVE TO BE 18 Years or Older!!!

PS: For those who ask what does this have to do with freelance lifestyle - well, you need to build a network of people right - Not sure how effective this will be but I will tell you about it in the coming months. Wish me Luck!!!

David Harrison Levi Breast Cancer Awareness Fashion Walk In Beverly Hills

David Harrison Levi Breast Cancer Awareness Fashion Walk In Beverly Hills, originally uploaded by Csabastyle - Csaba Fikker Photography.

Yesterday, on October 10th, David Harrison Levi has organized a Fashion Walk in Beverly Hills, Ca on and about Rodeo Drive. It was a head turner for sure. The girls were wearing Shekhar Rahate Heute Couture, the gowns were absolutely gorgeous as well as some of the models.
The fashion walk was organized for Breast Cancer Awareness Month, David Harrison Levi does this on regular basis, the man knows how to create publicity.. Rodeo Drive never looked so colorful, Cars were stopping left and right, plenty of photographers made look the scene even bigger that it was .

What was I doing there as a freelancer? - I was not there as a freelancer, I was there as someone who loves fashion and hoped to catch some great images for myself. You never know tough, I might have generated sales in the future since I gave out at least 20 business cards and on top of it I post my images on www.IGotSnapped.com under Events, and sometimes the girls/models do order download or prints from the shoot.

I'm very much against working for free, we all need to pay bills and we are killing our own market with giving freebies away all the time but I did go out shooting the Beverly Hills Fashion Walk because I love it second because it can generate leads. What I'm not doing is, I'm not giving those photos away for free. My Images are watermarked with Csaba Fikker Photography, and they are right Click proofed - sure you could do a screen capture but let hope not everyone knows how to do it. I charge even for web size downloads, its not much ($0.50 )but if it ends up paying my gas money and maybe lunch for that day, in this case it was worth it.

To view the Pictures taken at the Fashion Walk please visit -
http://www.igotsnapped.com/Event-Photos-by-Csaba-Fikker/EventsFashion/Beverly-Hills-Fashion-Walk

David Harrison Levi Breast Cancer Awareness Fashion Walk In Beverly Hills

David Harrison Levi Breast Cancer Awareness Fashion Walk In Beverly Hills, originally uploaded by Csabastyle - Csaba Fikker Photography.

This Was unusual - Photographers were invited to pose with the models, David Harrison Levi and Shekhar Rahate Fashion Designer. Yeap,... that is me he sweaty bald man in the middle.

Cover Page Apparel News

Finally I just got my first cover Photo - this weeks Apparel News has my photo on the cover page - Yehawwwww.....
http://www.apparelnews.net/news/retailing/100110-Eva-Varro-Fashion-Show-for-Flagship-Debut