Can you rank the top 10 best and worst photoshoots in ANTM?
I did do a top 10 list of the best photoshoots from Cycles 1 to 10 on my old blog, so that goes into more details about why I love some of these. But off the top of my head, my current top10ish would be:
10 - Cycle 11′s Simplistic vs. Dramatic Shoot - Having two separate shoots that showed the different styles of modelling was brilliant, really showed who could adapt to either situation, versus who was a bit more niche and relying on the same things. Gorgeous shots from both sides too, all time greats.
9 - Cycle 2′s Nude Shoot - This is probably the most artistic shoot ANTM has ever done in my opinion, and definitely the strongest nude shoot, though Cycle 14′s Custo Barcelona shoot gave it a run for its money. I get chills when looking at both the shots, and really just wish we had more to come out of this shoot. Cycle 2 really upped the game with the shoots, the sunglasses shoot just missed out on the list, and a few others would rank fairly highly if I did a full ranking of all shoots.
8 - Cycle 9′s Great Wall Shoot - One of the best international destination shoots in terms of incorporation the country, loved the scenery, and all the shots felt like pieces of art that I’d hang on my walls. Also, again really liked having two separate parts. The more shoots the better, which will be a recurring theme on this list.also, Cycle 9 really managed to recover a bit after Cycle 8′s general messiness, and both the rock climbing and gargoyle shoots deserve an honourable mention, and I really think it is up there with Cycle 16 for the most consistently brilliant concepts.
7 - Cycle 13′s Fabric Beauty Shoot - Cycle 13 had a lot of great shoots, as did Tyra during her time on the show, but I think this was one of her best. Love the variety of the set-ups, all besides maybe one felt poised to get flawless photos. One of the best beauty shots of the show, and I tried to avoid putting too many beauty shots on this list, as I do find myself tending to prefer them.
6 - Cycle 8′s Swimwear Shoot - Love the dual aspect just like with the Cycle 11 shoot, some all time great photos. Felt like it was actually teaching the models something about modelling, and felt realistic. Cycle 8 was a pretty mediocre season in terms of the shoots, but this was a real high point.
5 - Cycle 1′s Snakes Shoot - 23 cycles later and this still holds up, simple idea executed flawlessly. Half of the shots remain absolutely knock-outs, and even those that weren’t as good were still solid shoots. Only shoot from that cycle that really holds up now.
4 - Cycle 15′s Rodeo Drive Spread - Love that this shoot had different components and was really early, felt like it gave them a full idea of a photoshoot, rather than just one aspect. One of the few shoots this cycle that didn’t have a cheesy edge to it as well, which for the high fashion cycle was annoying. Produced some incredible shots.
3 - Cycle 16's Camel Shoot - The Marrakech lovers shoot could be another contender for this list to be honest. Morocco was one of the best international destinations in terms of the aesthetics of the shoots, and the Camels was the peak of that.
2 - Cycle 21's MGM Bags Shoot/Cycle 19's Nine West Shoot- Another tie, I feel both feel like perfect campaigns. So many incredible shots from each shoot, the styling was gorgeous, the settings were incredible. Both feel like just different aesthetics, but with all the same successes. Two of the best late-ANTM shoots, which stand out especially as ANTM really delved into caricature territory at this point in a lot of their shoots. They were breaths of fresh air.
1 - Cycle 3's Nivea Campaign/Cycle 23's Comp Cards - I've put these joint top as I feel like despite being 20 Cycles apart, I love these for the same reason. They are entirely simple and basic, and put all the potential for the shot on the model. I think every cycle should have a similarly minimalistic shoot early on to allow the model to just show them what they've got. Even better if they take inspiration from AsNTM and allow the contestants the choose their own shots, to prevent any riggory from occurring.
As for the worst shoots, I will say I noticed that the worst ones came from the oldest cycles (1-8) and then the later ones too (17-24), with none of the middle group making the list. My bottom 10 right now (ignoring the blackface ones because screw those ones) are:
10 - Cycle 1′s Stuff Magazine Shoot - I can forgive a lot of Cycle 1′s shoots since it was the first, but this was so cheap. And the fact the shots they used on the show weren’t the ones they used for the magazine was just ridiculous. Shameful shoot even now.
9 - Cycle 24′s Paper Magazine Mock Covers - Just really hated the styling choices here, and I was generally never a fan of Cycle 24′s photography style. The shots received like no editing, and just seemed bare. The only shoot that came close to feeling complete was the parachute one, and that only had one good shot.
8 - Cycle 3′s T-Mobile Campaign - Such a cheap use of Japan, gorgeous culture that felt done in such a basic way. Same goes for the other two shoots over there, but this was the worst for me.
7 - Cycle 20′s Alternative Wedding shoot - Too much variety, some set-ups felt like it was impossible to do well, others were set-up to succeed. Also, the whole moving photo part of that cycle’s shoots was ridiculous. And a dishonourable mention to their commercial, I chose not to include commercials as ANTM has a horrible track record for them, but Cycle 20′s was the worst.
6 - Cycle 18′s Toddler Shoot - The styling was almost okay, but then the whole toddler thing was weird, and the Jenners and Kris being featured...like no, it was a mess.
5 - Cycle 17′s All-Star Personality Shoot and Hot Dog Shoot - Both were bad and the worst Cycle 17 had to offer. One felt cheap and was imbalanced in the briefs, the other threw gorgeous dressed with hot dogs and made them pose according to terms like “free” and “unexpected”.
4 - Cycle 7′s Indoor Skydiving Shoot - Just a horrible idea for a shoot in general, and then add on terrible editing to the shots, and a robbery of a model who I was rather fond of. Not a good combination.
3 - Cycle 23′s Celebrity Impersonation - This just represents all celebrity impersonation shots generally, all suck, the only one I would maybe say was good was Elvis/Marilyn, as everyone was given one brief and it felt like it could be a realistic spread. Every other time it has just been cheap.
2 - Cycle 8′s ANTM Moments Shoot - The photo booth style shoot is probably the more expected choice for worst shoot from Cycle 8, but I do think there is something to the simplistic nature of interpreting emotions, but it was done horrible and sucked. The ANTM Moments shoot though I think goes underrated as an awful shoot, it was cheap and cheesy, self-aggrandizing and also somehow really forgettable. Has no redeeming features.
1 - Cycle 5′s Treadmill Shoot - Cycle 5 really sucked for photoshoots. The superhero shoot and the Wild Boyz shoot made my shortlist too, but the treadmill one has to be the easy winner. The styling was horrendous, the concept was stupid, Miss Jay was camp but ridiculous, and it managed to produce a contender for the worst shot ever in ANTM history.
