At the start of the year, I made a promise to myself: embrace new challenges and push beyond my comfort zone. One of my most recent projects put that commitment to the test, expanding my skills in CGI and redefining how I approach storytelling through photography.

Mob Wife: A CGI-Infused Mock Campaign

The concept for this project started with Katherine, a Los Angeles-based talent who reached out to collaborate while visiting Portland. She wanted more character-driven content, while I was looking to create something with a branded feel—humorous yet visually striking. After brainstorming, we settled on an 80s-inspired theme centered around a household staple: bleach. The narrative? A mob wife using bleach to clean up after her victims—both literally and figuratively.

While the concept was straightforward, executing it was anything but. Katherine had just one day to shoot, and finding the right locations in Portland for a mob wife aesthetic proved difficult. Faced with time and logistical constraints, we made a bold decision: shoot the talent first and build the environments later using CGI.

This approach flipped my usual workflow on its head. Typically, I match my subject’s lighting to the environment, not the other way around. But since I’ve committed to my “do-things-that-are-new-and-scary” era, I embraced the challenge.

We kicked off the shoot in my home “studio” (aka my garage), capturing three key scenes: Bury, Laundry, and Office. A huge shoutout to Brian for his brilliant portrayal of a generic mob scumbag. We then moved to my makeup artist Amy’s house, where the aesthetic elements could be tweaked to fit our vision, saving us time in post-production.

With the shoot wrapped, the real work began: crafting the backdrops. While I had previsualized the overall mood—such as the Bury scene featuring Katherine dramatically lit by car headlights—the specifics weren’t fully fleshed out. I started with the Office scene, drawing inspiration from a local hotel room’s architecture to create a unique yet believable setting.

I’ve dabbled in CGI for a while, mainly for previsualization or small elements, but this was my first deep dive into building a fully realized digital space. My structural engineering background (hello, AutoCAD and SketchUp) helped with the modeling, and my photography experience translated well into digital lighting. The biggest challenge for me in CG at this point is the materials rendering and trying to create photorealistic textures. It’s something I certainly haven’t mastered yet but every day I learn more and more and gain new techniques and strategies to improve.

Once the CGI backplates were ready, it was simply a matter of compositing Katherine into the scenes, adjusting the color grading, and ensuring everything felt cohesive—and voila! Katherine shows scum who’s boss.

Casting and Styling

The remainder of the images ran the gamut in terms of the approach and the quantity of CG and composite elements. For the bathroom scene, the image was shot practically in a bathroom space, but everything behind the marble wall was swapped with a CG built environment (because you can’t have an 80s mob wife scene without glass block). The laundry scene backdrop was a simple photo plate composite, while the drinks by the fireplace scene was entirely practical.

The ”bury” scene was another fun exercise in problem solving. For this image I opted to take a more traditional photo composite approach, simply because I knew I had a few images I’d previously shot that would work nicely for this one. It was definitely a more complex build, and did incorporate some CG elements in the form of the car and the body bag, which, again were composited in.

Ultimately, this project pushed me to use every tool in my creative arsenal. It was a fantastic exercise in expanding my skillset, and I’m grateful to Katherine, Brian, Amy (makeup), and Christina (hair) for bringing this vision to life.

From Carefully Crafted to Completely Spontaneous

While the Mob Wife shoot was meticulously planned, sometimes I find the most joy in heading out with little more than an inkling of an idea and seeing where creativity takes me. That’s exactly what happened with this next shoot.

It all started during a location scout for another project. En route to a local train station, I found myself on a bridge at sunrise, mesmerized by the colors and architectural lines. Inspiration struck. I put out a call on Instagram, and Miah—who has an incredible fashion-forward look—responded. With Paige on hair and makeup and Mia (not to be confused with Miah) on styling, we set a date.

At first, I had no solid concept beyond dressing Miah in a frumpy vintage suit with glasses (subsequently I received a lot of comments on how Miah was giving Clark Kent in these images, which in retrospect I can definitely see). A few days prior to the shoot, I happened to be eating Chinese takeout, and mid-lo mein slurp, an idea formed: Miah, in his corporate getup, eating noodles on his walk home from work. The next day, I grabbed some noodles, washed out my takeout containers, and packed them for the shoot.

Armed with noodles, a vintage Coke bottle, and a suitcase, we hit the bridge and let the light and architecture guide us. As is typical with me, things naturally got weirder—noodles started filling pockets and briefcases—until we reached peak absurdity: Miah lying on the ground, covered in noodles.

Then came the idea for the birds.

I wish I could say I wrangled real birds into the scene, but my bird-luring skills are nonexistent. Instead, Photoshop saved the day. I added stock imagery of birds, and suddenly, the series transformed and the narrative emerged: An unsuspecting man walks home with dinner as birds take notice—subtly at first, then in swarms, until his ultimate demise.

Balancing Vision and Spontaneity

The contrast between these two projects—one highly premeditated, the other driven by spontaneity—reminded me why I love photography. Crafting a vision and executing it with precision is essential, especially in client work. But allowing creativity to unfold in the moment is just as vital. It’s in these unplanned moments that some of the most unexpected, yet compelling, stories emerge.

Here’s to continuing the balance—planning with intention, but always leaving room for a little chaos and discovery along the way.