Shoot Title: This Must Be The Place

Inspiration: We were walking between locations at Malina’s last portfolio session, talking about our favorite movies. When her Mom, Sonia, said she loved Flashdance, it inspired me to create this editorial session, an updated version of Flashdance fashion. The title came from the Talking Heads’ song, “The Must Be The Place (Naive Melody).”

Model: Malina Bhagwan

Agency: Zuri

How many shoots we’ve done together: 9

Time of year: Fall

Location: An Industrial Complex in SE Portland

Purpose of the shoot: For publication in LaBelle magazine.

Shoot music: The 80s, of course! Flashdance, Culture Club, Rick Springfield, Cyndi Lauper, Duran Duran, Talking Heads (and a few songs from today, too.)

Shoot munchies: Crudite (‘cuz we’re too fancy for baby carrots), cheese and crackers, Bubly.

Most unexpected turn: There was an open modeling call in the studio downstairs, so we crossed paths with a bunch of models who were pretty curious about what we were doing.

Malina’s favorite part of the day: “I loved exploring around the huge warehouse and finding all the cool things and places to shoot in. And I loved the outfits.”

My favorite part of the day: I liked it all. I got to work with my two favorite stylists (Karina Talaro and Claire Verity), one of my favorite models and her Mom and we got amazing pictures.

Camera: Sony A7rIII

Lens: Sigma 105mm f1.4

Favorite shoot hack: Sometimes the best hack is simplicity. Everything was shot with natural light at ISO 640 with a 52” white reflector (except for the last outfit, which happened at ISO 2000 since it was getting dark.)

Propers: We found the location through Peerspace (who kindly said we are among the best photographers in Portland). Our awesome host was Kyla Smith, who happens to own the Portland athletic clothing company, Evolve Fitwear. 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 Malina’s superstar Mom, Sonia.

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