My Little Experiment with the “Young Calvin Klein” Vibe
So, I got this idea stuck in my head the other day about that old-school Calvin Klein look. You know, the stuff from way back when? Clean, kinda simple, black and white mostly. It just felt… cool in a quiet way. I figured, why not try and capture a bit of that feeling myself? Not chasing controversy or anything, just that stripped-down aesthetic.
First thing I did was basically just browse. Went online, looked up a bunch of those classic ads. The Bruce Weber shots, Herb Ritts, that whole era. Trying to figure out what made them tick. Seemed like a lot of it was natural light, simple backgrounds, nothing fancy. So, I grabbed my camera – it’s pretty basic, nothing special. Didn’t have a pro model lying around, obviously. I just asked a buddy of mine, told him he could pay me back for that pizza last week by standing around looking moody for an hour.
We found this spot downtown, kind of an old loading dock area. Lots of plain concrete walls, a bit gritty. Perfect, I thought. I had him wear just a plain white t-shirt and some beat-up jeans. Super simple. We tried a few things:
- Just standing against the wall.
- Sitting on some steps.
- Looking off into the distance, like deep thoughts were happening.
Honestly, it felt a bit awkward at first. Trying to direct someone to look ‘naturally cool’ is harder than it sounds. We spent maybe an hour messing around.
Where It Got Tricky
Okay, here’s the thing. Getting that ‘effortless’ vibe? Total myth. It takes work. The light kept changing, clouds rolling in and out. My friend started checking his phone after about 20 minutes. Patience wasn’t his strong suit that day. And when I got the photos back onto my computer… well, they were alright. Just alright. They didn’t have that magic, that specific CK thing I was picturing in my head. It felt like me, trying to copy something, rather than actually capturing a genuine moment.
It made me realize how much goes into those original campaigns. Top-tier photographers, amazing models who know exactly how to hold themselves, perfect lighting setups, stylists… the works. Me? Just a guy with a camera and a slightly bored friend. The gap was pretty obvious.
Took Me Back a Bit
This whole exercise kinda threw me back to when I was actually young. Trying so hard to look cool, you know? Saving up allowance for weeks to buy some branded thing – I definitely had a CK shirt I thought was the absolute peak of fashion back then. Wore it until the collar frayed. Thought I was nailing the look. Looking back now, it’s kind of funny. You’re just trying to find your place, trying on different identities like clothes. Chasing an image.
It felt similar trying to recreate those photos. You’re chasing this pre-packaged idea of ‘cool’ or ‘youth’. It’s all branding at the end of the day, isn’t it? Clever marketing selling an idea. Made me think about how much of that stuff we just absorb without questioning it.
So, yeah. The photos aren’t gonna win any awards or fool anyone into thinking they’re lost CK outtakes. But it wasn’t a total waste of time. Got me thinking about image and style and all that jazz. Plus, I messed around with my camera settings, learned a bit more about using natural light, which is always good. Sometimes the process is more valuable than the perfect end result. It was just an afternoon trying something out, and that’s okay.
