Trust the Process
- 4 hours ago
- 3 min read
Clinton Street Studios · Binghamton, New York · August 11, 2026
Sometimes a shoot begins with a concept, a mood board, weeks of planning and a very specific idea of what you're going to make.
This one began with a text from my longtime friend and fellow photographer, James:
“I’m shooting with a couple models on Tuesday, if you want to bring some headpieces, you’re welcome to come.”
So I brought what I had.
James and I have been collaborating for more than a decade. In my earlier years of studio photography, he helped me tremendously with lighting, and over the years he's photographed my headpieces for his own editorials, invited me into countless creative projects, and once even managed to get me published in a magazine as a model.
This time, he had rallied the models, secured Clinton Street Studios, and opened the door for another afternoon of creativity together.
When I arrived, Jade was already cooking up something entirely her own.
She had come with a vision for the makeup and created both her own and Carri's hair and makeup for the shoot. I arrived just in time for hairspray-assistant duty and watched the rest unfold.
For her own look, Jade wanted the skin to appear extremely pale without becoming flat white, which she knew could be difficult to photograph. She mixed the palest shade of One/Size Full Beat foundation with white from her Makeup by Mitchell color case, then built the vivid color and graphic shapes over it by hand.
As Jade later described the whole experiment to me: "It was very trust the process."
“It was very trust the process.”
— Jade
Which, as it turns out, was a pretty good description of the entire day.
There was no elaborate plan for how my headpieces would fit into any of it. I'd sent photographs of what I was bringing beforehand, but Jade already had her makeup vision board and I simply arrived with an assortment of pieces to see what happened when everything came together.
And then there was Jade herself, running around the studio like a tiny creative gazelle, boombox in hand, Bon Jovi cranked up.
At some point I looked at her and asked, “Are you an Aries?”
She was.
James immediately announced that Mosh was psychic.
Naturally.
It was also the first time I'd met Jade and Carri in person, despite the three of us following one another online for years. There was none of the awkwardness that sometimes comes with finally meeting someone you've only known through a screen. We clicked.
I'm already looking forward to getting them back in front of my camera again.
And that may be what I remember most about these photographs.
It had been a long time since I've done a portrait shoot. I'd spent so much time making other things and photographing other subjects that I wasn't entirely sure what returning to this kind of shoot would feel like.
Apparently, I didn't need to think about it.
Before long I was back on the floor with my camera, directing a pose, watching hands and light and expression, moving around the models to find the photograph.
It all just fell back into place.
Like no time had passed.
PIECES FEATURED
CREDITS
Photographed by Mosh
Models — Jade Marie Davis · @jade_marie_davis_
Carri Fairy · @fair_c421
Makeup + Hair — Jade Marie Davis
Photographer / Collaborator — James · @jmp859
Location — Clinton Street Studios · Binghamton, New York
Date — August 11, 2026
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