Rika Huang Photography

Thanks to my beloved boyfriend/photographer DONI for snapping pictures. I finally get pictures with the lovely Sovan Yun of Cocoon Silk! He’s originally from Cambodia. He’s helpful + amazing + adorable and he is so excited for me to use one of his brilliant dresses for my fashion editorial photo shoot! I love Mr. Yun so much for helping me this out!

I have collaborated with a few of downtown boutique shops this month and I was so happy that a lot of people/store owners/wardrobe owners are helping me out to make this happen! I will definitely list a few that I have worked with as I am done with my photos later in the two weeks.

This amazing young gentleman, Mr. Yun, COCOON SILK is going to provide one of his beautiful dresses for my fashion-editorial photography shoot with my lovely Bulgarian model! I was really pleased with the amazing, unique-coloured, silky dresses that he + Cocoon Silk offer. They do customization/fitting/redesign of these dresses as well –which is a plus to know! They do amazing wedding and bridal dresses that I would highly recommend for anyone who is looking to get married or engaged anytime soon!

Two weekends ago, I shot a male model: Antonio. I believe he is Spanish according to his surname, but he is an awesome model to work with. He was observant, laid back and at the same time, he was very professional using his expressive faces in different angles. He did a wonderful job with me and my boyfriend. I was really impressed with his portraits/poses so far. I’m utterly pleased with him.

Another random street snaps of weird runners from couple of days ago. It was sort of like a scavenger hunt marathon going on all over the Pearl District area. Seriously, it was roaming with runners!

I have never done men’s fashion nor worked with men for any fashion-editorial related shoots, and wished I would have done better with fashion-wear such as selecting the best looks for men.

However, Arslan was the first guy I shot. We met somewhere in the industrial areas of NW Portland. He was a very outgoing, spirited, and open-minded lad. His ethnicity is very interesting and mixed: Pakistani, Indian and Persian. This photo shoot is mostly based on portrait + lifestyle.

Every photo I snapped was hand-held (without a professional tripod). I love how these people are so determined in the mornings, but hard-working + respected people. I think they deserve some damn paparazzi. I love shooting at 4am and so. I love how the cities are powerfully dead. I’m glad I didn’t get beat up by homeless people, but they were very patient with me shooting them haha.

In about 2 weeks, I’m working with an amazing, freshly retired Bulgarian Ballet Dancer. She was born in Bulgaria :) Amazing. We are going to have two photo shoots together. I won’t share the details just yet! But I have collaborated with an amazing vintage shop as well. I will include more details once the photo shoot is completed! Makeup artist and hair stylist are finalized as well! I can’t wait to meet these two amazing artists/stylists!

This is really rad. In one week, I’m going to work with a really awesome, well known, and respected Portland model, Jillian before she leaves for Beijing in a week or so. She’s known for many of her works in fashion runaways in Beijing + Portland + elsewhere. So I’m hoping I will make this memorable for her in Portland! I have so far collaborated with an amazing makeup artist (based in Tokyo + Germany + London + NYC) plus a hair stylist (the one that likes smooth + fluffy textures), and I’m hoping to get this wardrobe settled with the other vintage shops! I can’t wait to spice up this shoot!

It was a lovely day without expected rain as indicated on the weather forecast. I have come to a full realization that women are more comfortable with me taking candid shots of them on the streets, which I find it amusing. I’m not sure about men, they might be very talkative or trying to talk me out of it after taking candid shots of them, but I’m sure there are plenty of interesting, unique, and stylish men who want their pictures taken by me.

Girl on a Street

Randoms

I love pets, and street pets (wish I have taken them in Istanbul, Turkey; they were among the saddest creatures on Earth: cold, skinny, un-wanted) Sad to see them leashed to the rails while their owners are gluttons. These dogs are very expressive and joyous when I snapped a photo of them! The yellow Labrador had a limping leg. How sad! But these dogs were buddies as I could tell already!

Dog Buddies

I especially enjoyed this chubby Chihuahua. His name was “Nachos” and he has wobbling walking thing going on. But he was very cute.

Nachos

Today was a beautiful, sunny day. I went for a drive/walk around the rough areas in SE Portland plus the NW Portland hills.

random street snaps