Story Time - Leena and Stem4Real

This is the story of why this is my absolute favorite photo from my session with Leena Bakshi.

Technically this is one of those moments we couldn't have planned if I’d tried.

Not the look. Phylicia Bernard Alexander was our stylist so you already know that was taken care of with great detail but Marques Edwards my partner and studio manager had justttt ordered new backdrops.

I was starting to play with more color, I was really enjoying the red backdrop I had taken a chance on and I enlisted his help to break me out of my usual go-to’s.

Marq is a brilliant artist that you should absolutely be following by the way. The second you see his rich and beautiful work you’ll understand why I love to get his ideas on complimentary colors for a lewk.

I had been sticking closely to matching the background to tones that complimented it well, meaning if there’s warmth in the look you match that in the backdrop, which is beautiful and WORKS so well and this is where it got sticky.

Saying you want to leave your comfort zone and actually doing so in front of your brilliant clients is another thing.

I mentioned that backdrop choice on set can get testy in the best collaborative way this was absolutely one of those moments.

I was thrown for a loop when I asked for a suggestion and he says…I think you should do it with the yellow we just got.

Now I was already leaning towards the dark grey or black but ummm yellow.

Instant stress.

While I prep hard and know my way around my set, I’m also very hypervigilant of things that “could” get in the way of getting the shot as I see it.

To me, the yellow backdrop was giving more school bus than professional photo. I had never used it before and therefore couldn’t fully trust that it would work.

We go back and forth on this because I wasn't sure.

I look around the room for someone to agree with me that this backdrop would NOT work and the entire room says, nah I see what Marq is saying. We should try.

Thanks for nothing yall…

I’m outnumbered and we had the day so I trusted the room and said ok. Let's try.

I nervously fiddled with my lights again trying to understand how I was going to shoot this because the light here really could’ve made or broken this image and finally hit a balance where I didn’t hate it, and eventually got to ok we can work with this.

And then we take THIS shot.

I can only speak from my perspective but this out of all of our looks felt like the Leena I had grown to know and love online.

And it just wouldn’t have been the same if I had gone with my original idea of grey or black. It would’ve been good but this feels so showstoppingly HER.

She is genuinely a sunset. She is warm, comforting, and inspiring to be around.

This is one of those photos where I can see and feel it from the playfulness in her pose to the contrast of the blue in her dress and the yellow in the background.

And that’s my likely dramatized version of why this photo, out of a session with all seriously gorgeous images, comes out on top as a favorite.

It's my favorite because it's fun, it's my favorite because it's the most unique thing we captured and it's my favorite because everyone in the room decided that it was ok to simply take a chance and see what happened.

We captured the brand, the authority, and the warmth in other photos that I’m proud to say represent the amazing brand and mission of the STEM4Real team.

But I feel like this one was just for her.

And I'll be real, I was kind of afraid that it was "too" different back then to fit into the rest of my work or my peers around me. It has been so fun to go through my work and notice where I've shifted. I'm seeing a lot of things I missed and that makes me happy for that growth. Because who wants to fit in anyway?

Did you make it to the end? Ha, I know this one was a long one so thank you.

I’d love to invite you to join my email list if you enjoyed this story which you can do on the homepage of my website because I’ll be sharing more special moments like these as well as all of the details on how to make sure you know about all of the fun sessions I’m dreaming up for this and next year.