Rebellious Style of Product Photography?
As a fly shop employee and overall gear geek, I’m often rummaging through product catalogs. I really enjoy it as I’ve got a strong interest in product styling and photography. When I’m looking through any publication, whether it’s a catalog or magazine, I always study the photography — it’s a great way to learn and broaden creativity. As I scan these products, I always find myself wondering one thing, what it would be like if the company went out on a limb, and decided to photograph their products after they had been used and abused. Why not? After all, these products are made for rugged sports. They are made to be put to the ultimate test, so why not show what they can handle from the get go? I don’t know about you, but when I purchase a new shoe, backpack, hat, and in this case my climbing shoes, the first thing I want to do is go out, dirty it up and break the sucker in. Can you picture your favorite companies products showcased in a rugged, “bad ass” kind of way? Check out the two photos below:
Courtesy of fiveten.com
My day old climbing shoes.
As you study the photos above, what is your first impression. Please share in the comments section below. I chose to photograph my day old Five Ten Anasazi VCS, the new ones I pulled from the Five Ten website. After one night of climbing, they already look more comfortable, don’t they?
In the end, I probably will never see a company do this, but I do think it would be cool to see. Just different, that’s all. There are certain products (climbing shoes is one of them) that I can see doing well in a catalog looking beat up and broken in. Maybe I’m crazy, but it’s still fun to talk about. One of these days, I’ll have to put together a catalog of beat up equipment to see how people react.
