Vallie Plagirafe
in Paris
This happens to me a lot. You meet someone awesome, it’s a short shoot, but you want to chat, get to know them, but there’s a problem. The light is amazing and you know you have about 30 mins of it left… That was how my shoot with Vallie started.
I asked her what clothes she had brought and she smiled: “Not a lot” She wasn’t expecting a lot of wardrobe shots. But she had brought some very Sam black trousers and shirt to match, and given the white balcony that would be our scene. Moments late we were outside in this rare March light in Paris.
The Grey Wall
I came all this way to Paris, the objective to meet with people and maybe take some photos. My AirBnB was filled with daylight and importantly had this gorgeous wall that I knew would be perfect for a few photos. As it turned out, it would be a regular attribute for the two shoots I did here. But there does come a point where you have ‘done the wall’ and a prop is needed. I was keen that the chair wouldn’t be used as intended and asked Vallie to treat it as such. As you can see, Vallie took that concept and ran with it.
Some words from Vallie
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Behind the scenes
My shoot with Vallie was a happy accident. I was coming to Paris to see some friends, old and new. Taking photos wouldn’t be a priority, this was a social visit and I also wanted to see some of the sights (I’m rarely a tourist in Paris). But it was Aleksander Stojanov who recommended both this AirBnB and also Vallie who was staying with him in other part of Paris the same weekend. This wasn’t a complicated decision. After a few messages with Vallie we had agreed a lose plan, a few hours with no mood board, just some time to collaborate together. The rest of the weekend was catching up with a great bunch of people. What I hadn’t expected was for Vallie to be so naturally creative. She doesn’t ‘model’ in the traditional sense, her natural disposition is her canvas. That is what I saw when I first picked up my camera that morning.
The day before I shot with Laure in the same apartment. Little did I know that this was a very tight and creative little community.
