Some photographs are so full of joy that they’re infectious. Take the portraits of the studio Glamour Shots, in Seoul: you can’t look at the grinning, costumed people without cracking a smile yourself. Groups of students, families, couples—everyone is smiling ear to ear as they surf on old VHS tapes, battle a feline Thanos, or pose as Bob Ross. And there are pets. Pets everywhere.
首尔摄影工作室 Glamour Shots 的人物写真总是充满趣味性，并有一定 “精神污染” 的功效。盯着照片上那些夸张的人物造型和咧嘴的面庞，你很难不去放声大笑。成群结伴的学生党、家庭成员、情侣……他们在录像带上冲浪、与 “灭霸猫” 作战、或是像美国画家鲍勃·鲁斯一样作画，有人嘴角上扬，有人强忍笑颜。对了，还有很多家庭宠物，比如猫猫狗狗，这些别致的小家伙在他们的作品中随处可见。
“At first, we just wanted to take these kinds of pictures for fun, especially with a dog or cat,” says Bora Lee and Daewoong Han, the couple behind Glamour Shots. “We didn’t have our own pet because it’s a pretty big responsibility. But one day we found a dying kitty in the alleyway that we adopted and nursed back to health. We named her Horang-e, and she became the inspiration for this whole project.”
Bora Lee 和 Daewoong Han 是 Glamour Shots 的两位主理人，他们说：“最初，我们只是想拍一些好玩的照片，尤其是小狗小猫的照片。我们自己没有养宠物，毕竟你需要对它们抱有很大的责任感。后来有一天，我们在巷子里看见一只奄奄一息的小猫，我们把它带回家，帮它调养生息，并取名叫 Horang-e。正是她让我们有了拍摄这个项目的念头。”
Lee and Han’s clients often bring along their own pets, too, who frequently pose as villains, hovering menacingly over their humans. Glamour Shots relies heavily on Photoshop, but the clients bring many of their own props with them. “They come up with their own themes. We’ll get some keywords or references and go from there. When they come in for picture day, we explain the full concept.” Then they offer direction to help clients pose for the shots. “Think about your mom, or your cat, or the food you didn’t finish when you had to evacuate your imaginary home. Follow those feelings.”
Bora 和 Daewoong 的客户经常带上自己的宠物来拍照。照片中宠物们往往扮演邪恶的角色，它们虎视眈眈地盯着人类。作品的后期通常需要进行大量的 Photoshop 处理，但客户也会带上很多自己的道具。“他们都会自己先想一个主题，然后我们根据主题延伸一些关键词。拍摄日当天，我们会为客户讲解整个拍摄的概念，帮助他们在镜头前摆出正确的姿势：想想你的母亲、或者是你的猫、或是你临出门前还没吃完的食物，跟着这些感觉走。”
Images similar to these, replete with cheesy backgrounds full of lasers or floating castles, were common in US department stores in the 1980s. Glamour Shots brings a knowing, campy eye to their portraits, and they always go over the top. Still in their twenties, Lee and Han are a little too young to have portraits like these taken of themselves. “This was more like our parents’ type of thing,” they explain. “At first we were just exploring the understated humor of vintage family photos and American movie posters. But our clients wanted more fancy and colorful images and pushed us to where we are now.”
这类照片往往拥有拙劣的舞台背景，充满了激光和城堡等贴图元素，带有一种八十年代复古的感觉。Glamour Shots 的人物照片有一种刻意的做作和浮夸，复古风格的照片看上去并不像是才 20 多岁的 Bora 和 Daewoong 会拍的照片。他们解释说：“这些照片看上去更像是我们父母那个年代的人会拍的照片。起初，我们只想通过老式家庭照片和美国电影海报的风格来传达一种幽默的态度。但是，因为客户想要更多花哨和彩色的元素，就慢慢变成了我们现在的风格。”
A little more than half of their clients are artists and musicians, and they all find their way through Instagram. For now they rent a studio whenever they have clients, but with the income they’ve earned from the project, the pair have begun construction on a permanent location in the hipster neighborhood Euljiro. “It won’t just be a photo studio, though,” they say. “We also want to host things like magic shows, small concerts, and art exhibits.”
Glamour Shots 一半以上的客户都是艺术家或音乐人，他们都是通过 Instagram 等社交平台找到这个摄影工作室的。目前，有客户的时候，Glamour Shots 就会租用一间工作室，而随着拍摄收入的增加，两人已着手开始在艺术文化街区乙支路上筹建自己的工作室。“工作室不只是用来拍摄，我们未来还希望举办魔术表演、小型音乐会和艺术展览之类的活动。”
Like our stories? Follow us on Facebook and Instagram.
Instagram: @glamour___shots
Contributor: Mike Steyels
Chinese Translation: Olivia Li
