I didn’t move to Los Angeles to take pretty pictures. I came here to collaborate with other artists—to turn fleeting moments into relics. In some ways, LA makes that easy. Walk outside and you’ll bump into ten artists before your morning coffee. The city hums with possibility.
But the truth is, possibility doesn’t always turn into presence. People flake. Schedules misalign. Projects dissolve into air.
That’s why I was grateful to find a makeup artist, Zaza XO Beauty, through one of those crowded Facebook groups. Finally—someone who wanted to create something layered, something conceptual. Together, with model Claire Jang, we built a visual language around emotion: joy and sorrow, laughter and grief, light and shadow.
Turning Grief Into a Makeup Editorial
At the time, I didn’t realize what I was channeling. I just wanted to play with the duality of emotions. But as I worked through the images, I began to recognize my own grief woven through the colors, the brushstrokes, the expressions.
I was moving between happiness and sadness multiple times a day, like a pendulum. As a photographer, I know those states never stay invisible—they leak into the work whether I intend it or not. This shoot became a mirror. A place to honor what I was feeling without apology.
The Alchemy of Makeup and Emotion
Makeup here wasn’t about beauty—it was about transformation. About turning something internal into something seen. Grief isn’t easy to talk about, but through this collaboration, it became an editorial series. The paint became ritual. The portraits, relics.
That’s the kind of photography I want to make in Los Angeles. Not just images, but artifacts. Not just collaborations, but testaments.
Credits
Makeup Artist: @zazaxobeauty
Model: Claire Jang
Ready to Collaborate?
If you’re looking for a Los Angeles portrait photographer who turns concepts into lasting relics, let’s connect.