Who is she?
Back in March of 2023, Gabrielle had a brilliant idea for a noir styled shoot. She asked me to model for this shoot. So I suited up in formal attire and we hit the streets of downtown Los Angeles. She shot on her DSLR as well as a 35mm film camera. The shoot was fun as we explored the old jewelry district looking for shots. Overall, the noir-styled shoot was a success! Gabi captured what she wanted to very well. So she planned for a part II, where we hit the streets of downtown Claremont at night for another great noir shoot. Some important aspects of noir is dramatic lighting, hard shadows, and an element of mystery. I think Gabrielle captured it very well. Growing up as a child, she watched a lot of old, classic, black and white films such as Murder, My Sweet, and The Thin Man with her family. I think that the influence from those films has had a great impact in her style of editing and is evident in her work. I didn’t grow up watching as much old, black and white films as much as Gabrielle did. Cinema did not have as much of an influence in my own photography.
A shot from My Love in Noir
A lot of my early work in street photography focused utilizing framing and composition to capture shots that made the downtown Los Angeles buildings and skyline look more grand. So without much familiarity in themed/styled photography, this project presented me a real creative challenge. I wanted to create a noir-styled set of photos that tell a story of a mysterious woman starring Gabrielle. With my limited watch time of noir films, I began to come up with concepts. I created a mood board to help me reference and inspire ideas. Even the two shoots I worked on for Gabrielle helped influence my creativity and fed my mind with concepts for shots. So we once again hit the streets of downtown Los Angeles for another shoot. I loaded my super 8mm film camera with my favorite stock, Kodak Vision3 50D. As for the 35mm photos, I used a unique stock of film I picked up from Glazer’s Camera last year, Agent Shadow 400.
Gabrielle Johnson
Initially, I did not have a name for this project. I figured to call it “Mi Amor in Noir”, basically like Gabrielle’s title for her noir shoot, but in Spanish. However after looking at the catalog of photos, I thought “Who is she?” was more fitting for her mysterious appearance. Maybe an old 50’s investigator would ask that question? Probably! I posted a sneak peek photo on Instagram with the song Who is She? by I Monster. It complimented the mood of the photo perfectly and confirmed in my mind that “Who is she?” was the right title. Anyways, I’m really happy with the outcome of this project. Many of who I’ve showed this to have loved it, including Gabi herself! I intend to do a part two and perhaps even create a underlying storyline that can be followed with subtle clues. Who knows! Here’s Who is She?
Who is she? (2024)
Well, she’s a real enigma, that one. There’s a whisper of danger and mystery around her, like a faint perfume in the air. She walks into a room and heads turn, but nobody really knows who she is. She’s one of those dames who knows more than she lets on. Who is she?