studio

Fur In Love with model Alina Pak

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I've always wanted to do a shoot inspired by fur clothing, so while I was in Toronto, I met up with stylist Aziza Brown to help me produce this editorial. Alina, our model had reached out to me on the popular networking site, Model Mayhem and Aziza and I agreed that we both loved her look. So after a few hours of brainstorming, I left it all in Aziza's hands to come up with the looks while I sourced local talent Joan Huang for hair and makeup. 

The studio was booked, call time was set and my photo-shoot playlist was on repeat. Aziza laid out her pieces, finalizing the looks which we both went over, while Joan was at her station preparing for the model's arrival and once Alina showed up, everyone put their game faces on.

Alina was incredible to photograph. She moved effortlessly through each frame and her piercing eyes burned through the lens and they seemed not to be distracted by the surrounding fur which hugged her face. The looks were great, and combined with color gels, made for great compositions.

This series was recently featured in intl magazine Institue Magazine as well!

MUA/Hair: Joan Huang • Clothing: Print Vintage • Stylist: Aziza Brown • Model: Alina Pak

"Twinning" with models Shyloh + Abeba

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While I visited NYC this past fall for a photography workshop, I decided to shoot during my stay so I put out a few castings on social media to see if I'd get some attention. Bahamian born model Shyloh reached out to me and said that she'd love to shoot while I was there. I completely forgot that she lived in New York! She also mentioned that her roommate Abeba, modeled as well and when I saw photos, I immediately got excited.

I decided to shoot them both using a "twin-like" theme where the looks would be matching, mimicked styles and looking at them both together, I thought it would be great because they looked very similar but oddly they had no relation to each other.

The day of was great, I met up with fellow colleagues Herman (DC) and Tamara (NJ) and found a great studio down on 36th street which had an amazing space and I was able to book them at a reasonable price. These beautiful women put everything together, from head to toe and being seasoned models, they knew where to shop and how to prepare for a studio session. They even did their own hair and makeup! 

Shyloh and Abeba were nothing short of incredible to shoot, with little to no direction, they both ROCKED the set. If they weren't spinning, they were jumping, dancing and embracing one another stopping in between to hold fierce looks long enough for me to find my sweet spots and frames. A photographer's dream!