I met Janelle about 9 years ago at Lucille’s BBQ in Tustin. She used to work with Jerry back in the day, and through random text messages through the years and using social media to our advantage, we have been able to keep in touch this whole time. The reason why I chose to write about her is her positive outlook on life. She’s from Orange county and is a hip hop junkie-with a stylish swag that made me intrigued to want to photograph her. I chose Santa Ana as our location because of the Artists Village in the downtown area with all of the graffiti and murals- all of which represent and express hip hop art and culture in a positive way. Before I picked her up, I scouted the downtown area beforehand, so when she arrived, all we had to do was execute. On our ride to Downtown, we both shared a few our life stories- with one of them being about losing someone close and dear to us…

Janelle lost her mom to cancer a few years ago- a pain that is difficult to talk about for most people, but not her. She had this certain energy that made it easy for us (especially me) to talk about how cancer has affected our lives and how it is important to live life to the fullest and to not take it for granted. Once I parked, we sat in the car and continued the conversation a little longer. After that, I set up all of my camera equipment while she put on her jewelry and clean sneakers to match her outfit.

We started the “warmup” shots at Portola Coffee Lab. I found a secluded couch for her to sit on as I adjusted my camera settings. I have never photographed Janelle, but by having deep conversations from the beginning and cracking jokes throughout the shoot, she was able to open up to me with expression as the shoot continued…

In front of Globe Clothing Store at Artists Village- Santa Ana, CA.

She was also very patient with me and if time and sunlight were more on our side, we could have definitely continued shooting. As a photographer, you can’t take every single shot successfully…but with some fast adjustments, creativity, and patience, the results of some shots turn out even better than expected. I got my best shots of her at the Artists Village, which was also the last 30 mins of our photo session. We ended at Globe Clothing Store, which was a nice touch of making art and hip hop as the backbone to this story.

I also tried out a few different styles of editing as well- Hope you like them! Thanks for hanging out with me, J!

Inside Globe Clothing Store- Santa Ana, CA.