One of the great things about being a photographer is that you get to meet a lot of different people and, at least for the length of the shoot, really get to know them. I think one of the things that makes a photographer good is the ability to connect with their subjects. On some shoots, you may have 15 minutes to find a connection while on others you may have a couple days, but either way connecting is important.

I shot this 12 page spread over a 4 month period from October 2007 thru January 2008 for Supermodels Unlimited Magazine. It was published in the most recent issue, the March/April 2008 issue.

The magazine was looking for a photo story that showed Pageant Winners and their mothers. What better way to show that mother-daughter bond than having a pajama party; Being a guy, I never had a pajama party with my mother, but in talking to friends and family it seems that it’s actually quite common with young girls to have pajama parties with their friends and the mom is always there. The girls came from all over the country for these shoots.

I chose to shoot the project on white seamless so I wouldn’t distract from the models; It’s about the relationship, nothing else was needed. For the opener and the closer, we had a real slumber party complete with a pillow fight. Needless to say, we were finding feathers in the studio for weeks.

All of the subjects seemed to have fun, though they have grown up past their “pajama party” days that feeling kind of came back and it showed. Even in a couple of the quotes the girls said that this shoot was the most fun they’ve had in their mothers in a long time. The biggest comment I heard from the mothers on set was, “Please make sure you photoshop out my wrinkles” or “Can you take care of the extra junk in my trunk”. We did a little bit of photoshop but I find it amazing how beautiful most of the mothers were.

I look forward to working on this project again next year.

The Crew
Makeup Artists: Binky Brown, Erin Parsons (for Makeup For Ever), Joel Green, and Michelle Larner.
Hair Stylist: Lacy Redway, Joy Smith, Christine Consiglio, Sharon Rosa, and Joel Green.
Fashion Stylist: Annie Pemberton (NY)
Garments: Once Upon A Dream.

About the author

Kevin Michael Reed
Kevin Michael Reed (Google+, Facebook) is a fashion & beauty photographer and producer/director based in New York City and Los Angeles, CA. He is the President/CEO of RedFOG Visual Media, a production company in New York City, and a partner in Passion of Photography, Inc, a company dedicated to teaching photographers and sharing our passion through charitable causes. Kevin has lectured and hosted workshops throughout the United States and the world teaching photographers the business and creative sides of photography. (Kevin's Fashion & Beauty Photography Portfolio can be seen here).