I met Katie last year when I was fortunate enough to do a photoshoot with her and her boyfriend Jorge in San Pedro, CA. They are co-owners of Vision Clothing. She is a dancer as part of the group called the Killer B's and has also danced at Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Hollywood. She models often and is an absolute joy to work with. One of the truly nicest people you will ever meet. She is beautiful but incredibly humble. Full of positive energy and finds pure joy in life.
When I reached out to her earlier this year about doing another shoot, Katie asked me what I had in mind. Knowing she's a dancer, I wanted to incorporate that in our shoot but still wanted to have a normal portrait session as well. She said she had never done a dance shoot before and was all in on the idea. We decided to meet in Long Beach at the Shoreline Aquatic Park where we could utilize the harbor, the lighthouse and the Queen herself, the Queen Mary as a backdrop.
It was a lovely Friday evening in Long Beach. The weather was perfect. We started shooting before it got too busy so we didn't have to worry about being in other people's way. We decided to begin with the portrait session then move on to the dance portion later. Katie is an absolute natural when it comes to modeling. She's one of those models photographers love to work with because you can basically sit back and just shoot. Katie does not need direction at all, instead, she just waits for the click of the camera and then makes slight and subtle adjustments to her poses.
After spending about an hour shooting portraits it was time for the dance portion. We headed over towards the lighthouse thinking that would be a great spot to catch some dance shots. Unfortunately there were a lot of people hanging out waiting for the sunset and even though Katie is a dancer and a model, she was a little bit on the shy side about just dancing in front of a bunch of strangers. We were able to find a quieter spot on the other side of the lighthouse with the Queen Mary in the background. With no music, Katie threw down some freestyles while I snapped away. She's as amazing of a dancer as she is a model and person.
Throwing down move after move, Katie was killing it. We did have a little bit of an audience but once she found her groove, Katie didn't even notice. She wasn't even shy dancing in front of a Queen. Once we had gotten all the shots we wanted in front of royalty, we moved back to the harbor for a few more dance numbers.
As the sun began to set over the harbor and the Friday night crowds began to descend upon Long Beach, we decided to call it a day. It was another amazing shoot with this lovely lady. We are looking forward to working with her again in the very near future. Until then, hope you all enjoy some more shots from this shoot. Feel free to leave a comment, share the link and show Katie some love. You can find her on Instagram at katierose.franko.
