Welcome to my Unsung creatives – Eppie Goytia post!

I’ve spent so many hours looking at the photos of other photographers for inspiration, to learn and to get ideas. I was initially worried about copying an image too closely and being forever branded a Copycat from Ballarat… but after a time I came to realise that everyone has their own style.

No matter how hard I tried, I could never exactly copy an image… because you can’t. There are an absolute ton of variables that go into any single image… and on top of that, everyone has their own style. Every image has a thousand decisions behind it, and the more experienced you become, the easier those decisions are, and your own style is developed. You can’t really help it… you just prefer things a certain way. It becomes your voice as good mate Seth Stanley puts it.

It only took me a second to see the style that Eppie Goytia brings in his images. Whereas most photographers will mold a model into their vision, Eppie wants to tell a story about the model using the city as their stage.

The model Jertho seems proud, strong but strangely suburban. You just want to know more… the what, the why, the how. Where are they? Who is Jertho? What is his story?
Most photographers play with the light and create a visually fascinating image, but they tend not to leave you with these sorts of questions…

This shot of Camila is similar, despite everything about it being different. Why does Camila have those stars on, what is she thinking about, where is she?

This photo of Meg is totally different as well… the perspective is completely different… but it also tells a story. Who is Meg helping? What happened? Are they at a fairground? Meg doesn’t seem overly concerned, but what is the story here?

These kinds of narratives are so unusual in portraiture and glamour photography. My own clients would want interesting and eye-popping photos that showed off their range and their bodies. Their range so they could book a variety of jobs, and their bodies because that’s what agencies need to book jobs for them.
Modeling agencies, fashion houses and advertising companies care about a model’s measurements and their look, but in reality, it’s a model’s ability to sell a story that’s the most important thing… after all, that’s what advertising is all about.

I have no idea how many photos I took in my photography career, maybe over 100,000… but I don’t think I ever took a photo that gives such an insight into a person like the above photo of the model Karla. Karla might be loud and brash and a party girl, it doesn’t matter, in this image Karla is sweet and considerate and a girl you could share anything with… and it’s amazing to have that story told to us in a single image.

This image of Daniela tells a story too, but like a lot of the ones above, leaves you with so many questions. Why is she there? Why is she over it? What is the story here? The whole purpose of this shot might have purely been because Eppie the photographer liked the reflection… but his style is to create that story that leaves us wondering…

I love this photoand I imagine it was pretty easy to take… but it’s just so interesting in itself. The rainbow obviously draws your attention in, and it really is unlike so many of the photos that I’ve seen in my life. It’s so simple except for that one amazing play of the light.

This is probably one of Eppie’s more model-ly shots… one that a modeling agency would be more used to… and yet Eppie can’t help but tell us a story. I have no idea how he got the light so perfectly on her out in public, but it looks great. Who is Alejandra, where is she? Why does she love Hogwarts so much? I don’t think this shot would necessarily stand out so much by itself… but coupled with all of Eppie’s other images, you can clearly see his voice, his photographic style, and his quest to tell a story with each image. It’s an incredible skill… and super hard. I can’t even imagine the logistics and hard work it would have taken to get useable shots out in public.

So this image is, ah, confusing at best… I can’t imagine anyone not having at least a couple of questions after seeing this image.

I think most photographers would concentrate on the shapes of these two and would play with the lighting across their bodies… but Eppie has focused on the story. What is she feeling at this exact moment? Her facial expression is almost emotionless, which is fascinating in a situation with so much intimacy that she’s in control of. It’s just fascinating.

I had a range of photographic clients myself; actors, stylists, makeup artist, models, musicians, corporate professionals, families, etc and of course all of those groups have very different photos taken for very different reasons. Models, however, almost always need swimwear and lingerie shots for their portfolio, so I’ve seen thousands of lingerie shots, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen one like the above.

She’s not posing for the camera, again it’s a story where we have so few of the clues. You’d never normally have such disruptive shadows or such a homely background in a lingerie shot, and so because they’re there, they tell this strange story of loneliness and sadness… except she is totally posing because her makeup is perfect. Ahh, it’s so good.

This was the photo that drew me to Eppie in the first place. Well done dude! I’ve learnt so much from this little journey.

If you’d like to check out some other Unsung Creative posts of mine, here are some good ones:

Unsung creatives – Sergey Vostrikov

Unsung creatives – Pier Sparello

Unsung creatives – Peter Nguyen

Thanks very much for reading my Unsung creatives – Eppie Goytia post, please hit me up on Twitter if you have any questions or want to say the things…