Behind The Shot: Episode 6 Recap

Were you stoked for yesterday’s episode of The Shot? In the last installment, the contestants were asked to capture alternative beauty among breakdancers, and then to show the purity and pulchritudinous aspects of skin–with the help of Dave Navarro. Weird. And therein lies the core of the show, which pits 10 up-and-coming fashion photographers against each other for the chance to win $100,000, a spread in Marie Claire, and a Victoria’s Secret campaign–all the while being judged by a he-Tyra with an Australian accent, Russell James. Catch up on what you missed. Check the recap below.

This week’s episode began where last week’s left off–with Airic going home and John’s photos being named the best of the batch–which accounted for the ever so slight hint of bitterness in the air.

“You know you got lucky,” Dean told John. Jason reiterated that if it hadn’t been for his lighting scheme, John wouldn’t have been able to pull off his winning shots. “Your head is up your ass,” retorted Robin, to whom John retorted back, “You should be acting your age–I’m 24, how old are you? 37? 38?”

“I’m 36.”

She then went on to tell him, “I’m trying not to vomit as I walk by you.” (Why? Did he smell like mustard?)

As the photographers embarked on their first challenge, which turned out to be a b-boy jam, Robin asked, “What the f*ck is a b-boy jam?” Good question. A b-boy jam is a cool way of saying breakdancing competition. Williamsburg Maria obviously knew this–and was psyched: “If I couldn’t be a photographer I would be here as a dancer.” The photographers were told that the name of the game was finding beauty in alternative places. Each was instructed to find three subjects in five minutes and report to the photo studio.

Upstairs, Maria, who chose the most interesting-looking trio, had an amazing shoot. As did John and Jason. Dean’s went alright–not great–and Robin’s not so alright. None of Robin’s three subjects ended up being actual breakdancers, they were just regular people, which seriously limited her. Hoping to compensate and give her photos some kind of urban edge, she had some of her subjects cross their arms, which just ended up making them look really un-urban-edgy.

The kids were sent home, and via the house TV, Russell told them to look their best because they were going to a special event that night. Meanwhile, Dean broke a lot of dishes in the kitchen, which felt somehow very ominous. After showering and gussying themselves up, the crew was told that they were going to an art show featuring works of up and coming photographers, i.e., them! In a little twist, the general public, not Russell and company, would be judging the photos.

At the gallery space, the photogs were sent to a room in the back where they were able to watch the public’s reactions to their photos on a TV screen. Gallery-goers gushed over Maria’s photos, said nice things about John’s and Jason’s, and generally hated on Dean’s and Robin’s.

Robin kept going on about the fact that her subjects weren’t breakdancers and Jason got real: “Robin had the magical ability to find three non dancers out of 3,000 dancers. It’s like finding three virgins in a brothel.”

Maria and John’s photos were deemed the best and they were named team leaders for the episode’s central challenge. Maria could choose to have either two or three people in her group and she went for two, and chose Dean. As a result, John was stuck with John-haters Robin and Jason . . . .
Russell explained that the challenge was to create an ad campaign for Vaseline using “real” people. He brought out Nicholas Soukas, the senior brand manager for Vaseline, and laid out the ground rules: Each photographer was to create two black and white portraits that capture the beauty and wonder of skin.

The next day the photographers were greeted by a familiar face: Dave Navarro! A spokesperson for Vaseline, he introduced the subjects, which consisted of a pregnant lady and a bunch of tatted-up normal-ish looking people.

Team Maria was up first. Their initial idea was to have their models making peace signs, which could also be interpreted as a Vaseline symbol, but Soukas was not so into it, explaining that it was a little too brand-y. We thought it was a little too vagina-y. They ended up just keeping it simple, and focusing in on the skin. Maria had the pregnant model make a heart with her fingers around her bulging belly button, which was quite cute. Dean seemed a little off his game, according to Russell, and all we could think about was the crashing plate incident!

Then John’s team was up. Jason, the night before, insisted that they focus the campaign around the three types of Vaseline products–those that protect, heal and hydrate. Jason would take on “protect,” Robin “heal” and John “hydrate.” John was not into this concept, but found Jason to be unyielding. When Jason ran it by Soukas, he didn’t much care for it, but Jason persisted. Robin had her subject do kind of clichéd yoga poses and Jason had a group of models stand near the pregnant woman, “protecting” her.

“This freaked me out,” said Navarro, “and to freak me out is really saying something.” John had his teammates spray his model with water, hence “hydrating.”

The tension between John and Jason was heating up and it was only a matter of time before they were going to have it out. Back at the house, it finally happened. Sitting at the picnic table, John questioned why they went with this dumb campaign concept in the first place and Jason thought John was just trying to cover his butt after the fact. John said he was upset with himself for caving in for the sake of the team: “I put my shot on the line so we could have a cohesive campaign.” Strong words were being fired back and forth, and at one point, John told Jason: “F*ck you.”

“The conversation’s over bro,” said Jason, who got up, walked inside and told Robin, “This little shit out there said ‘f*ck you’ to me.”

The proverbial plates been proverbially broken.

In the judging room the next day, it was no surprise to anyone that Maria’s team won the challenge. According to Russell, Maria’s strength is the way she’s able to connect to her subjects. The consensus was, though, that Dean’s photos were a bit lacking.

This meant that John’s was the losing team. The judges thought Robin’s photos were boring and that the water in John’s photo obliterated the point of the Vaseline. Italo Gregoro, as usual, delivered the zinger of the evening, claiming that Jason’s photo looked like “the cover of a copy of Anne Frank.”

John admitted that he caved under the pressure of being a team leader and went along with Jason’s bad concept instead of standing up for what he believed. For some reason Russell was “delighted” by John’s “maturity” and told him he was still in the game.

It was then down to Robin and Jason. Time and time again, Robin plays it too safe and her photos are not compelling enough. Time and time again, Jason over-conceptualizes things. Ultimately, the judges decided that it was Robin’s last shot, and she was sent home. We had a feeling such a blatant mustard-hater wouldn’t last much longer.

–Alexis Swerdloff

This entry was posted on Monday, December 10th, 2007 at 2:50 pm