Model: Mallorie Mendoza
Inspiration: This editorial session was inspired by Mallorie, who is one of the most dynamic people I’ve ever met, and a book about designers and creative directors by Nathan Williams called The Eye.
Creative Brief: The creative brief for this editorial was pretty simple: make 3 or 4 black and white images that capture the essence of her personality: powerful, persistent and supremely driven.
How many shoots we’ve done together: Mallorie has been a client for the better part of 10 years. I’ve lost count of how many pictures I’ve taken of her.
Time of year: Winter
Location: Our studio
Purpose of the shoot: For Mallorie’s Mom (and a book we plan to publish in 2021).
Shoot music: We didn’t have any music. We talked a little about what we wanted to shoot and chatted with Mallorie about her first semester at school in New York. Otherwise, it was pretty quiet, almost meditative. It was quite beautiful, actually.
Most unexpected turn: Candidly, we were planning to do 5 outfits but one of them, a big fuzzy jacket on top and a long jacket tied around her waist, didn’t work out so well. The black pants and gray Converse looked pretty cool, though.
Mallorie’s favorite part of the day: “Playing with different sources of light was so cool! Like the one where I was looking out the window. I also loved the vibe of this shoot because it was dancer in fashion wear, which was really fun to do! It felt like what I would want to wear around the streets of New York (if someone could style me all the time. Hah.)”
My favorite part of the day: We shot 5 outfits in 2 hours, including hair and makeup. It was so smooth and collaborative and relaxed and tuned-in, it seemed like it lasted about 5 minutes. It was a brilliant collaboration.
Camera: Sony A7rIII
Lens: Sigma 105mm f1.4
Favorite shoot hack: My approach was purposely very basic. I didn’t want the shoot to be about lights; I wanted it to be about Mallorie. So I used a medium sized Octobox camera right for a few looks, a beauty dish overheard with some fill for another and light from a window for the last one. She stood on a stool for the last one, if you want to call that a hack.
Propers: The clothes were styled by my bestie, Claire Verity. Hair and makeup was done by the incomparable Karina Talaro. And, of course, none of it happens without Mallorie’s superstar Mom, Janett.
