Presence in motion: an editorial sitting.

Hair and makeup in the studio, then four looks in one afternoon: pearls and roses, green silk chiffon in the fans, the same drape in black and white, and a vintage fur under hard light. Every one of them started as an idea in a conversation, which is how I like to work.

The first look was pearls, white roses, and a sheer blouse, and neither frame is quite still. Isabel moved a little, I moved the camera a little, and every exposure came out different from the one before it. That was the most fun part of the day: try something, see what it does to the picture, try again. The pearls hold while everything around them drifts, and that’s the feeling I was after. Dreamy, a little elusive, more like the memory of a moment than a record of it.

The fabric look was my favorite of the day. We wanted something rich and earthy, so: a pesto green silk chiffon draped from a big octabox, a brown fitted dress, and two large fans blowing the fabric in from either side. Nothing in it was still, and the movement is what makes the frames. Same setup for the black and white. Some frames lean on the color story and needed it. Others, by the way the fabric fell or the shape of the composition, were stronger with the green taken out.

This is what it took: chiffon off the octabox, two fans, and a lot of takes.

The last look was a vintage fur draped around her and a pair of drop earrings. The first frame is soft light. For the second I put an optical snoot and a gobo on the light to break it up like hard morning sun through a window. Same fur, two pictures.

Every look here is one I’d build for a client. Bring an idea if you have one. If you don’t, that’s what I’m for.