The Miami-Dade County Youth Fair has been around for decades, since 1972 in Coral Way, Miami. Located right next to FIU, it is a place many of us Miamians have enjoyed since our childhood. Every year we look forward to attending, [not] riding anything, munching on all the delicious fair food (what other reason is there right?) I personally enjoy the cheesy song popping up on local TV.
My favorite things to see during The Fair (besides getting into a food-coma) is all the neon lights from the rides, booths and structures. So this past week we jumped at the chance to tag along our friends at @NeverSleepBrand for an impromptu photoshoot they held with a few of their colleagues. I’ve been wanting to experiment with night-time shooting and light reflections and this was a great opportunity to practice and learn from our studio-mates, Yesi and Andy (of Never Sleep.)
I brought Kary’s Fuji X100t, snapped a few photos during the magic hour but the real magic happened after the sun went down. The lights came alive in the night and, after hammering down a few buttery roasted corn on the cobs, I started capturing a few snapshots of Yesi during her photoshoot. I didn’t want to get in the way and was, actually, kind of nervous since it’s been a while since I messed around with fashion photography.
The settings I used in the VSCO app to give it that cyberpunk style.
The girls worked hard. Seeing Yesi shoot was inspirational! I stood on the sidelines and took a few snapshots while they were shooting. Andy suggested I mess with a glass prism to give the night time neon photos a reflection. It turned out to be the best advice of the night.
After a few photos through-out the evening, we hung out in one of the food areas and I popped in a few of the photos to mess with in VSCO app. I’ve always wanted shoot a, sort of, Neo Tokyo, cyberpunk style of photography and color grading.
The results were fantastic for what I wanted to do. Take a look at the gallery below with a few behind-the-scenes photos. Had a great time hanging and shooting and couldn’t have done it without the help of the Yesi, Andy and Kary.
If you dig that style and want to try it yourself, download VSCO and give the tool settings above a try. You can also follow Brandon Woelfel’s Instagram, he has a rad feed with a similar style. Leave your comments and feedback below!
Cheers,
"Photoshoot at the Fair" Video by Andy Flores
Neo Miami Gallery
T E A M C R E D I T S:
creative direction: @simplylively @andyryanflores
local: @miamiyouthfair
model: @lisiwitt
style: @cristinahorta_
hair/make-up: @env_makeupartistry
gear: @fujifilm_northamerica
edits: @vsco
Solid Post.
One day, I’ll be half as good as Ayo.