Excellent commercial for Panasonic Lumix GX7 features Japanese geisha shoot (VIDEO)

 

 

In our recent, hands-on preview of the 16-megapixel Panasonic Lumix GX7, we praised this mirrorless, compact system camera for its portable, rangefinder-like design and its bevy of features that rival many digital SLRs. In an excellent online commercial for this Micro Four Thirds-based street shooter, photographer Bernie DeChant puts the GX7 to the test while capturing a very elusive subject: a Japanese geisha.

The one time I was in Kyoto, where this Panasonic commercial was shot, I was told that if I got up really early in the morning, I might get a chance to see and photograph a fully made up geisha on her way to work. Either I didn't get up early enough or was just unlucky, but I never saw my off-duty geisha in Kyoto.

In the below commercial, DeChant has (surprise, surprise) no such problem, photographing a geisha over the course of a day: first without make-up, then during preparation, and finally when she's in full regalia. The shoot is supposed to emulate a girl as she moves from being an apprentice (what is called a "maiko") to a full geisha.

The one complaint about the commercial -- other than DeChant's effusive praise of the GX7 (but there's no getting around that in an advertisement, right?) -- is that it doesn't show any of his final images of the geisha shoot. If you want to see some of his work, including other images he shot in Japan, visit his website.

UPDATE: You can see a gallery of DeChant's geisha shots here.

(Via Reddit)