Yoga for Life by Stency Apparel Collection
It was a wonderful surprise to hear from my friend and former model Stency Wegman. Stency was one of the two leading models when we were both in the early stages of our careers and working in Upstate NY. (Incidentally, I married the other one, my wife and partner Sherryl Kamper.)
Stency and Wegmans Markets had launched her yoga line a couple of years ago and she was looking to us to create a fresh look to the photography for this year’s collection.
The last time I saw Stency, we were on a trip with several Wegmans Chefs to Thailand and Japan to sample and learn about the various regions food and culinary offerings.
Our mission was to infuse a new look to the photography for this year’s collection and continue the Wegmans approach of keeping the wardrobe, classes and DVD’s approachable for Wegman's employees and the average yoga consumer.
We shot around Jamaica and overlooking the water.
We had to be creative about how we could show off the poses and wardrobe while keeping the backgrounds simple and inspiring.
Stency is a wonderful yoga instructor, model and client. It’s been a while since we actually shot together with her in front of my camera. We snapped into rhythm almost immediately, as if no time had passed since the days when she modeled full time and was one of the premier models in Upstate NY.
We hired Alan Smith, a local Jamaican photographer who assisted us and we also relied on additional locals to help pull chairs and plywood to create a platform overlooking the water. We alternated between strobes and available lighting with sunbounces to create the look depending upon the position of the sun and time of day.
Stency is the model in all the photos and does an amazing job not only keeping her look fresh and intense, but she hits the correct yoga pose almost immediately!
I have to admit, I know very little about the variety of yoga poses and if they are being hit correctly. We relied on my wife Sherryl to keep an eye on getting them right and watching out for the wardrobe. We also worked with a hair & makeup artist who did a fantastic job keeping the make up and hair fresh and beautiful.
All our BTS shots are from Sherryl Kamper.
