I first met Roarie Yum three or four years ago at a shoot I was doing with a different model. The two of them had been on the road together, taking modeling gigs one city at a time, and while I was shooting with the other model Roarie hung out on my studio couch and caught up on her email. I wasn’t aware of her work at the time and when I later saw her incredible portfolio I kicked myself for not working with her when I had the chance.

Fast forward to current times and I’m shooting virtually with people all over the world courtesy of conferencing apps. Roarie reached out to me to ask if I’d like to do a shoot via Zoom and I quickly agreed, excited to finally work with her. Aside from being a great model Roarie is also has her hands in styling, art direction, portfolio curation, and photo assisting. All that to say she made is easy to create amazing images. She handled wardrobe and makeup, channeling David Byrne and PJ Harvey, and even moved lights throughout the session, knowing which body position and expressions worked best. This opened up more space for me to explore technique on my end as I worked with new materials such as glycerin and coconut oil.

Though I can’t wait to shoot with people IRL, there is still much more to explore and learn in these remote sessions.