johnenriquez.com: blog.

This is Michelle Kop, a former building-mate from my freshman year at UC Riverside. She has been crafting her leis since early Summer ‘10 and was ready to expand, so she approached me for some product shots for her soon-to-be online shop. Today, we departed for her place in Cerritos where she had access to two mannequins. I packed light-less for this one (much like my shoot with Jean Marc) but made well with the blinds-contolled ambient light and cloud-diffused outdoors.

We shot all the indoor wides in the morning, followed by a lunch at the nearby quaint little Hawaiian restaurant called “The Loft” (where I suggested she advertise her leis). After coming back home to finish off the mannequin shots, Michelle asked if we could do some shots of herself modelling a couple of her favorite designs. We finished off the shoot at the Sculpture Garden where we shared space with three other photographers. We ended the day with a little tour of the neighboring world-famous Cerritos Library, where I was greeted with escalators, neon lights, and a gigantic aquarium. It was no ordinary library! (I want to be more descriptive about the day, but I didn’t have a behind-the-scenes photographer at hand.)

(On an aside, this shoot is the same vein as the headpiece shots I did for Chelsea Santos of lalafashionista.)

But all in all, I want to thank Michelle, Mark, and her family for their hospitality and the opportunity to shoot. I definitely enjoyed my quick visit to Cerritos!

Stay tuned; I’ll post the link when her website is up!