Chris Korsak

Portland Branding, headshot, and product photographer

Portrait of the model Serenity in Portland, OR

Serenity in Black and White

May 7, 2023

I recently created some new portraits with a Portland, OR model named Serenity. For these images, I wanted to create melancholic, pensive, independent, and romantic images that might look suitable for an imaginary perfume ad. We incorporated the black and white film aesthetic and based our inspiration on a mood board I had create a while ago. These images have some of those moody perfume ad vibes I was going for, and they might even look a little bit like a Hitchcock movie at times too.

I Never Use Brick Walls as Backgrounds

Normally, I shy away from brick walls for photo backgrounds, but I found an interesting-looking staircase on the side of a brick building while scouting locations for this shoot. There's something really cool about this building to me. Maybe it's all the variation in the brick patterns that I'm drawn to. The sun was also helping out big time in these photos by creating some really cool hard shadows that I incorporated into the compositions. These are the unplanned gifts that an on-location photo shoot gives you.

I kind of like how my shadow is visible at the bottom of the frame (below). The viewer is now a part of the story:

Black and white film portrait of the Portland, OR model Serenity

I love how the shadow of her arm extends into the shadow of the hand rail in this photo (below):

Black and white film portrait of the Portland, OR model Serenity

These next few photos look like they could be stills from a Hitchcock movie. I love how they have a voyeristic quality to them:

Black and white film portrait of the Portland, OR model Serenity Black and white film portrait of the Portland, OR model Serenity Black and white film portrait of the Portland, OR model Serenity

Waiting and Wandering

We made our way to a different location a short distance away because I also wanted to create some environmental photos in open spaces and not just have everything by a wall. I found a cool spot on the Portland Community College campus in North Portland that worked out pretty well for this.

I was a little concerned that shooting on the campus around 6p.m. would still be really busy with a lot of foot traffic, but there was no one to be seen. Everyone must have been doing their homework.

Black and white film portrait of the Portland, OR model Serenity

This next photo is one of my favorites because it looks like a moment where Serenity is lost in thought and not aware of the camera. It might even look a bit like a candid street photo even. I imagine she could be about to give up on waiting for someone who is incredibly late, or a variety of other narratives. I love to people watch and make up narratives.

Black and white film portrait of the Portland, OR model Serenity

For this next photo, I asked her to mimic the lines of the hand rails in her posing:

Black and white film portrait of the Portland, OR model Serenity

And for these last two photos (below), I wanted to create a romantic garden-like atmosphere:

Black and white film portrait of the Portland, OR model Serenity Black and white film portrait of the Portland, OR model Serenity

Conclusion

I'm really pleased with these photos because of how closely they hit the mark compared to the original mood board. I think Serenity did a great job on posing and attire for the shoot, which really helped create a timeless classic vibe to these images.

-Chris