Between Light and Skin: Returning to Team Work

Model : www.instagram.com/stellavangioni/
MUA : www.instagram.com/callinmakeup/
HAIR : www.instagram.com/germainevrardlebret/

Stepping back into the studio with a complete team felt both familiar and completely new. For the first time in a while, I wasn’t alone with just my camera and the model, but surrounded by a makeup artist and a hair stylist, each adding their own vision and expertise to the image. The dynamic changes instantly: there is more energy on set, more voices, more ideas, and at the same time it becomes a bit harder to create that intimate one‑to‑one connection with the person in front of the lens.

What you gain, however, is the freedom to push the images in a more technical and crafted direction. We can refine every detail of the look, build the light to sculpt the skin and the neck, and really highlight the beauty work and the subtle textures that a team like this makes possible. In a portrait like this one, with its dark background, clean lines and minimal styling, the hair, makeup and lighting all work together to create something simple, graphic and very controlled rather than purely spontaneous.

This session reminded me how powerful true collaboration can be. Each person is like a piece of a puzzle, and when everything aligns—the skills, the attitude, the shared goal—you feel that quiet flow on set where everyone is focused on the same image, even before it exists. Coming back to this way of working after some time away was challenging, but deeply rewarding, and it opened up new directions I want to explore in my future shoots.