FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

I am an exclusive fashion&lifestyle photographer and makeup&hairstyle artist. We work as a team with my husband, a professional marketer and video maker. So together we offer our valuable clients all kinds of services and content they need. 

For small and medium-sized projects, we often do turnkey work for clients:

• In-depth analysis of the client’s needs and positioning
• Working with the client to create a visual concept for the shoot and mood board
• Location scouting
• Model scouting
• Procuring additional specialists – stylists, assistants, florists and others
• Manage props and accessories
• Pro makeup&hairstyle for models
• Photo and video shooting with professional equipment
• Retouching
• Marketing recommendations for brand development and promotion

In large projects, we are mainly photographers.

I photograph People. And I love my job. Yes, my specialty is fashion photography. Brands come to me for my vision and style. Models want an original portfolio. Fashion and lifestyle are one of my main specialties. 

Another big part of the job is shooting for private clients. I admit I’m lucky. Energetic, beautiful, and stylish clients come to me. In my portfolio, you can see photos of private clients who could easily become models. Other private clients sometimes don’t believe me when I show them previous shoots as references and say that these photos are of ordinary people, not professionals. I believe that any person can be photographed as if they were a professional model. And I prove it with my works.

Working with me is not just about photos. My projects change people’s lives. And I’m proud of that. The clients who come to me are ready to move to the next level, to start a new life or professional phase. Creativity with me means going beyond the ordinary. The desire to reveal something new about yourself and your brands through photography. If these words give you goosebumps or a warm feeling in your chest, it is a sign that working with me is your best choice!

For several years now, I have been focusing on being an exclusive fashion and lifestyle photographer. I started my career in the world of beauty more than 10 years ago as a makeup artist and hairstylist, and at first, I was only involved in this field. In 2019, I took a camera in my hands and fell in love with fashion photography. Now I play both roles – photographer and makeup artist – only in my photo projects. And this is one of the secrets of the beautiful shots in my portfolio. I like to control the entire process of creating a cohesive image for a beautiful photo or video frame. I often see the finished shot in my head long before I shoot it. All that remains is to put everything together like a puzzle – model, outfit, mood in the frame, location – to get the desired beautiful frame.

Let’s be clear about what kind of hours we’re talking about. An hour of discussing the idea of the shoot, creating a mood board, scouting locations, and other prep work before shooting? An hour of retouching after the shoot? Or the hour of shooting itself? Even if we are talking about an hour of photography, can you imagine a situation in which, during your photo session, my alarm clock rings and I say: “Your hour is up, will you extend it?” Sorry, I cannot imagine that…

That is why my work is never considered or paid by the hour or by the day. My offer is always a holistic work on the project, taking into account all my investments in it – time, knowledge, professionalism, and energy. If I need to work more than I expected and what the client paid for to complete the project, I will definitely do it. My image, the quality of my work, and the satisfaction of my clients are my top priorities!

I am an exclusive specialist. Each of my projects is unique. So are private clients and brands for whom I create professional content. That’s why I don’t have standard rates. When you come to me, I analyze your request and we discuss all the details together. From idea, location, and style to solutions and experiments. Only when I clearly understand the project’s scope and the resources I will invest in it I will make an individual offer for you and your project.

Because my vision, creativity, quality of work, service, amount of attention, and energy I put into each client is much above the market average. And (secretly) even above the price I charge. Probably, half of my clients tell me this after the project. And for the same reason, my clients keep coming back to me. They admit that they love the whole process of working with me, not just the result. From the discussion of the idea and the preparation to the shooting and joy of photos. On the next shootings, we work at a higher level because our energies are already in the same rhythm. Besides, my regular clients trust me one hundred percent. They are ready for all experiments and want to go beyond the standards. Our shoot is like a breath of fresh air and adrenaline for them. I love these feelings!

Working with me is not just about photos. My projects change people’s lives. And I’m proud of that. The clients who come to me are ready to move to the next level, to start a new life or professional phase. Creativity with me means going beyond the ordinary. The desire to reveal something new about yourself and your brands through photography. If these words give you goosebumps or a warm feeling in your chest, it is a sign that working with me is your best choice!

If a client asks for a discount, it means to me that I have not proven the value of my work. Some people do not see the difference between my work and the work of my colleagues in the market. I sincerely advise such people to find a cheaper photographer. This is my honest position.

When it comes to my work, I give my clients fair prices from the beginning. I don’t ask for more just to play with the client and then give a discount. I honestly exchange my creative energy for the financial energy of my clients. Of course, I have a special loyalty to my dear regular clients. I can usually give them more content than we agreed on. And that is much more valuable to them than just a few percent discount on the project cost.

My approach is 100% transparency in the project budget and the absence of hidden costs that could become an unpleasant “surprise” for the client. I provide each client with an individual offer based on her/his tasks. It always clearly states all the work included in the project. It is divided into two parts – obligatory and optional.

Obligatory work is in most cases makeup and photo work with a certain number of looks.

The main categories of optional work depend on the specific project:

• Additional looks (if, for example, the client wants more than two looks, like 3-5 or more)
• Video for advertising and social media. Normally, video is not included in the standard package, unless the client initially requests it.
• Additional photos above the number agreed with the client
• Payment for the services of other project participants – models, stylists, assistants, florists, etc.
• Location rental
• Payment for photo shoot permits (required for brands with a large number of products)
• Team transportation over long distances or travel to other countries
• If the project is a full day, paying for the team’s lunch is always welcome

I always include all work, both mandatory and optional, in my offer to the client.

I recommend booking your session at least one to two months in advance. In high season (March-November) the earlier the better. People from all over the world come to Portugal all year round to take beautiful pictures. If you are interested in a specific date and have no other options, you can book it six months or a year in advance.

I book specific dates for a client after paying 30% of the retainer. In my work I have a simple and honest rule – the first client to pay the retainer gets the date.

Discussing the location is one of the first stages of the project. Often the concept of the entire project begins with the choice of location. Having worked in Portugal for many years, I have my personal list of the most beautiful and stylish locations (for example, beaches around Lisbon). I will help you or your brand plan your shoot so that each location fully meets your requirements and the overall style of the shoot. If necessary, I will come to any new location before the shoot to study it live and send you real recommendations and photos.

A beautiful model that fits the style of the brand and the shoot is half the success.

Over the years of working in Portugal, I have a personal list of models I have worked with. And more importantly, who I can recommend for a shoot. I am also familiar with the work of the main modeling agencies in Portugal, so I can make a pre-selection of models for any client’s task. Portugal is rich in beautiful and diverse models.

It often happens that the person in the modeling agency’s profile photos is very different from the real person who comes to the shooting. Therefore, I always update the information about the model before the shooting – I study her profiles on social networks, ask her to send a photo and video of what she looks like now, or make a video call. All this to make sure that my choice and the client’s choice are correct.

I retouch 99% of the photos myself and I am proud of the quality of my retouching. I am a perfectionist, so I pay close attention to the quality of each photo. Because of this, retouching sometimes takes longer than I would like, but quality is always a priority for me.

In fashion photography, it is especially important to choose a trendy color tone for the entire series of photos that will convey the main idea in the best possible way. These can be either natural tones, or bright, stylized, with an emphasis on one or two colors, or black-and-white.

In lifestyle photography, and especially when working with brands, I try to keep the tones as close to the original as possible. This way the client’s product, be it a dress, bag or jewelry, will look the same in the photo as it does in real life.

You come to me for photos in my style, right? 🙂 Accordingly, you trust my professional opinion and choice. For most projects, it is my job to choose the best photos for the client.

In rare cases, if the client insists, I can pre-select 100-200 successful photos and give this selection to the client. The client chooses the 20-30 that she/he likes best, and I retouch and finalize them.

I’ll talk separately about working with brands. Some of them get the final photos from me. Some of them have their own teams of designers and retouchers who know the brand’s style well. In such projects, I deliver all the images from the shoot to the client’s team. They select and finalize the photos they like.

For small projects for private clients and brands, I am happy to work as your personal stylist, so I can put together complete looks for you – makeup, hair, clothes, shoes, jewelry, and accessories.

Most clients buy or bring their clothes for a photo shoot. I don’t shop for clients like traditional stylists do. I also have my closet of clothes and jewelry that I can provide for rent or, in certain situations, for free.

For projects where I shoot more than 8-10 looks for brands, I insist on a separate stylist. This stylist prepares everything before the shoot, ironing clothes, and choosing shoes and accessories. during the shoot itself, he or she will change the models’ clothes and supervise them on set to make sure the model looks perfect in the frame. This role can be played either by the brand’s team members or by a hired professional stylist. Over the years, I have worked with professionals whose quality I trust and can recommend to my clients.

My style is natural, radiant makeup with a focus on beautiful skin. Clients need to know that makeup for a photo shoot differs from makeup for real life or events. Different products, different application techniques. Few makeup artists know how to do photo makeup. Bad makeup becomes extra hours for the photographer to retouch in Photoshop. And Photoshop is not a magician, not everything can be fixed later.

Because I am responsible to the client for the entire process, I can easily control each stage – makeup, hair, the photo shoot itself, and the final retouching of the photos. Clients get it all from one source – me.

I do high-quality basic hairstyles: curly hairstyle, updo, natural waves, half updo, wet hairstyle and others. This is exactly what clients ask for now. Besides, I often change my styling during the shooting process to achieve a certain style. It’s easy because I have all the necessary products and tools in my case.

My case contains cosmetics from both luxury and professional brands. As a true makeup fanatic and a makeup artist with over 10 years of experience, I am constantly on the lookout for trends and products. New textures, original techniques, shades and formulas. In my work I only use products from professional and luxury brands: Armani, Pat McGrath, Tom Ford, Dior, Charlotte Tilbury, Hourglass, Huda beauty, Bobbi Brown, Laura Mercier, Fenty beauty and others.