90s Vibes: Edgy Fashion Photoshoot in a Skatepark

My Model

The model who I worked with on this day was the beautiful Mira Shape. We’ve worked together a few times, and I was really looking forward to spending time with her again and seeing the amazing ways that she would bring this exciting concept to life.

She has good cutouts, and we experimented with how she held the board, with the ways that she posed, where she placed her arms and hands, her arching of her back, the lifting of her chin at times and the angles in which I took my shots, including sometimes focusing on doing gorgeous back shots.

In fact, at one point, when I was trying to get this really low angle and was on the ground, crawling and shooting up, some gum got on the back of my jeans, which remained there the rest of the shoot!

And, at times, bicyclists and skaters were using the park around us, which was a little distracting for both of us, but, of course, that’s what the park’s designed for!

Throughout this day, I was just obsessed with so many of the photos that I took of her and of this skate park. I really thought that we nailed the edgy, 90s-style photo shoot that was the vision that I had in mind coming in.

Some of the photos that I was really happy with were of her lying down on the deck, including with her head leaning backwards all the way over the edge. Those were so cool and really caught the vibe. And I liked how Mira just looked like she was chilling even though those were really hard shots for her as well.

In the end, it was such a pleasure working with her again.

2 Gallons of Water

For our last shots on this day, we moved to the skate park’s parking lot as I wanted to do some fun shots there while using a reflective surface. Since it was a hot, dry day, we created that reflective surface ourselves, bringing 2 gallons of water and spreading it along the ground.

If you decide to do this yourself, make sure to spread that water evenly; doing that is so important for the quality of these photos.

Mira’s Thoughts

After we finished shooting for the day, I asked Mira what her favorite part of the shoot was, and she said that it was when we shot between the overpasses that were above the skate park and its parking lot. She added that the light that came down from that opening was so beautiful and that those photos ended up being really fashionable.

Mira said that the overall setting was a challenge, but she was very pleased with how it all worked out and with the stunning quality of the images.

My Camera

The camera that I used for this 90s photo shoot was my Canon EOS R5 Mark II, and I went with the 16-35mm lens. Why? Because I wanted to get wider and lower angles; I thought that those would best capture my vision for this type of photo shoot.

Ultimately, many of my photos on this day had moderately high ISO at 1000 with some at fairly high ISO: 1250. As for my shutter speed, most of these images were shot at 1/250s while some were 1/400s instead. They were also taken at f/2.8. As for focal length, I used a variety, including 16mm, 17mm, 23mm, 26mm, 27mm, 28mm, 29mm, 33mm, 34mm and 35mm.

American-Vibe Photo Shoot

The last time that Mira and I worked together was for a photo shoot that had a vintage American vibe and that featured a legendary 1965 Ford Mustang.

Interestingly, some combined the photos that I took that day with AI, replacing Mira with someone else, with completely different faces as well as different outfits.

Mira didn’t really like that. When we were talking during our skate park photo shoot about what had happened, she said that she views me as a creative person – I do too – and that it’s not right for others to copy the vision that was created for that shoot and use AI with it for their own purposes. But what do you think?

Final Thoughts

Do you want to do a 90s-style photo shoot at a skate park yourself? If yes, make sure that you and your camera are both ready for the uneven lighting, including yellow lighting from above, and for the concrete. That’s because this kind of shoot can be tricky, but, at the same time, the images that result from it are often so cinematic.

Also, don’t be afraid to go high with your ISO. Yes, go with the feel that you have for your camera and its settings, but, generally, a higher ISO will work well with this type of shoot.

You may also want to work with your model on different types of poses, especially if they’re wearing oversized 90s-type clothes. Going with the movement, doing things like having them show their elbows, could work really well. So can having them lean towards you or backwards.

When you go for those full-body shots, focus on shooting from low angles.

Lastly, if you do decide to use a reflective surface, whether naturally reflective or because of the water that you brought and added to it, try to have the lighting to the side or more like back lighting.

In the end, this photo shoot reminded me why I love shooting in raw spaces like that. Yes, it’s challenging, but that’s what makes it so interesting, and the photos that can come out of that are stunning.

You don’t need to have perfect conditions. Instead, adjust to the conditions.

Who I Am

I’m Miami photographer Daria Koso, and I hope that you enjoyed this insight into what doing an edgy fashion photoshoot in a skatepark is like and the challenges and rewards of it.

I do fashion photography, commercial photography, lifestyle photography, beauty photography, jewelry photography, boudoir photography, maternity photography and family photography, and I’m also proud to offer a range of services for photographers.