Sacramento Fashion Week 2025 – A Photographer’s Perspective
Fashion Week always brings a mix of creativity, spontaneity, and technical challenges. This year at Sacramento Fashion Week, held at the Crocker Art Museum, I set out with a clear vision of how I wanted to capture the event. Over two nights, I experimented with lens choices, lighting techniques, and visual storytelling,
Fashion Week always brings a mix of creativity, spontaneity, and technical challenges. This year at Sacramento Fashion Week, held at the Crocker Art Museum, I set out with a clear vision of how I wanted to capture the event. Over two nights, I experimented with lens choices, lighting techniques, and visual storytelling, narrowing down my final selections to 46 images that best represented my approach.
Night 1 – Up Close & Personal with a 20mm Lens
For the first night, I committed to using a 20mm fixed lens, which forced me to get close and fully engage with my subjects. A wide-angle lens like this is powerful when used up close—it creates intimacy and pulls the viewer right into the scene. When shot from a distance, it tends to lose impact unless you’re capturing an entire environment.
I also experimented with a strobe positioned outside the main window to illuminate the runway. The idea was to create dramatic backlighting for the models as they walked. While I liked some of the results, I hadn’t anticipated the subtle patterned texture on the museum’s windows. This caused the light to diffuse more than expected, softening its impact. That’s part of the creative process—trying new things, adapting, and learning from the results.
Night 2 – Flexibility with a 24-70mm Lens & On-Camera Flash
For the second night, I switched things up and shot with my 24-70mm lens, staying mostly at the 24mm end. This gave me more flexibility to react to the fast-paced environment while still keeping the immersive feel I wanted.
I also mounted my flash onto a strobe frame, keeping it as close to the lens center as possible when shooting vertically. This technique helps reduce shadows, creating a distinct, high-energy look. The bright, direct light adds an editorial feel that works well in a fast-moving setting like a fashion event.
Finding the Right Moments
While covering events like this, I always seek out candid, organic moments rather than posed shots. If someone naturally strikes a look when I raise my camera, I’ll take the shot, but the most interesting images often come from unexpected interactions.
For example, I captured a few moments when models were eating sour candy backstage—it was a break from the polished, high-fashion aesthetic, showing their personalities in a fun way. Encouraging these unscripted moments adds layers to the story of the event.
Post-Processing & Creating a Cohesive Style
Once the event was over, I spent a few days refining my edit, looking for a consistent visual style that tied both nights together. My final adjustments included:
• Opening up the exposure for a brighter, more open feel.
• Dramatically lowering contrast to create a soft, balanced look.
• Dropping highlights & whites while lifting shadows & blacks to retain detail.
• Shifting the white balance cooler for a sleek, editorial feel.
• Fine-tuning colors in Lightroom’s color mixer to match the aesthetic I envisioned.
Applying this look across all images helped ensure the series felt cohesive and intentional.
Final Thoughts
Shooting Sacramento Fashion Week was a fantastic creative challenge. With so much visual energy—bold designs, vibrant colors, and stunning models—it was the perfect playground for experimenting with different techniques.
I’ve learned over time to shoot for myself first—to create images that I find visually compelling rather than worrying about outside opinions. In this case, there wasn’t a single “client,” just a shared goal of representing the event well. That gave me the freedom to pursue the angles, subjects, and style that felt right.
It also reinforced something I’ve long believed: warming up visually before shooting makes a huge difference. Before each evening, I looked at images in a style I wanted to emulate, sometimes building a reference board on Pinterest to set the tone. Just like an athlete warms up before a game, priming your visual brain before a shoot helps you get into a creative rhythm faster.
I’ll be posting my final images in a series of Instagram posts, so keep an eye out! If you see yourself or know the designers, models, or hair & makeup artists, feel free to tag them.
📸 Follow along on Instagram: @englephoto_in
What’s your approach to shooting events like this? Drop a comment, and let’s talk about photography!
Location Scouting
Scouting your own locations for photography can be a powerful tool for serving your clients. By taking the time to personally explore and evaluate different locations, you can gain a deeper understanding of the unique characteristics and potential of each location. This can help you to better visualize and plan for the types of shots you want to capture, and to identify any challenges or limitations that may arise during the shoot.
Scouting your own locations for photography can be a powerful tool for serving your clients. By taking the time to personally explore and evaluate different locations, you can gain a deeper understanding of the unique characteristics and potential of each location. This can help you to better visualize and plan for the types of shots you want to capture and to identify any challenges or limitations that may arise during the shoot.
Additionally, scouting your own locations can allow you to tailor your recommendations to your clients based on their specific needs and preferences. Whether they are looking for a scenic outdoor setting, a modern urban backdrop, or something more intimate and personal, you can use your knowledge of local locations to suggest options that will best meet their needs.
Overall, scouting your own locations for photography can help you to be more proactive, creative, and confident in your work, which can ultimately lead to happier clients and better results.
The G.O.A.T
Recently I was asked to photograph Jerry Rice, a retired San Francisco 49er wide receiver, NFL Hall of Famer, and one of the athletes that I watched growing up. I have a great friend Stephanie Suddarth who is now the general manager of his energy drink company called G.O.A.T. fuel (Greatest of All Time).
As a photographer, we meet many different people from business owners and tradesmen to athletes and actors.
Jerry Rice, Retired San Francisco 49er wide receiver and NFL Hall of Famer.
Recently I was asked to photograph Jerry Rice, a retired San Francisco 49er wide receiver, NFL Hall of Famer, and one of the athletes that I watched growing up. I have a great friend Stephanie Suddarth who is now the general manager of his energy drink company called G.O.A.T. fuel (Greatest of All Time). His daughter is the president. I was asked to travel to the Bay Area to make some marketing and PR images of Jerry for social media usage. So I spent Thursday evening and Saturday morning photographing him during various activities.
During the Saturday morning session, I was able to shoot individual images of him.
Saturday's location was a brand new hotel in Silicon Valley. When I arrived I scouted out a gray area in the parking garage that I could use to make my portraits. As the morning progressed and I was photographing the various events, Jerry turned and said, “Hey, let's do those images now. I have 20 minutes before I have to leave.” Thank goodness I had scouted out my spot and planned out what I wanted to do. My assistant Skip and I hurried over and set up five portrait scenarios in about eight minutes. Jerry came over, and we were able to make about 200 images in 12 minutes. All the scenarios except for one worked out.
This is the area I scouted when we arrived. Having Skip as my assistant sets my mind at ease. He is so good at what he does.
After we finished, I shared the story with Jerry about how my father had a personalized license plate that said RICEDAY. I kept them after my father's passing and have had them in the garage for years. I brought them to show Jerry and he was happy to sign them. They will make for some good conversation pieces.
My dad and I watched the 49ers for decades, his license plates are a testament to it.
One of the takeaways from the assignment is to know your gear and have a plan going into a shoot. Be ready to go. If I had tried things I hadn't done or wasn't comfortable with my equipment, it could've been a disaster.
Your Next Visit
I was grateful to start having some assignments again beginning late June. It's been a long layoff. It's crazy how you lose a little bit of that muscle memory so fast. The camera is an extension of my arm and not having used it regularly. I needed a little warm-up time to get going.
I was grateful to start having some assignments again beginning late June. It's been a long layoff. It's crazy how you lose a little bit of that muscle memory so fast. The camera is an extension of my arm and not having used it regularly. I needed a little warm-up time to get going.
From The August health issue of Sacramento Magazeen
At the beginning of this month, I had the assignment to cover two dental offices. The goal was to photograph how they're adapting with the new COVID compliance, as well as what clients can expect when going to the dentist.
The first office I visited was Wallace J Bellamy DMD in Elk Grove, then Dr. Stephanie Sandretti, DDS, in Roseville.
I was very impressed with both offices and the lengths they are going through to keep their clients and staff safe. I was amazed to learn that they were already doing things pre-pandemic that were in compliance now.
Clients are in for a very safe experience, and in my observation, are going to have less chance of infection at the dentist than at Costco.
Dr. Bellamy, DDS
Dr. Stephanie Sandretti, DDS
Run Cover
A few months back, we went on location for a cover shoot, for a special Sacramento magazine supplement.
A few months back, we went on location for a cover shoot, for a special Sacramento magazine supplement. The day we chose ended up being the only day that week that was overcast and dreary, which worked in our favor. There was a bit of moisture which gave higher saturation to the surrounding plants and also made it easier for our model to function. The lighting for the shoot was Phottix Indra 500's. These lights are so ideal for location work. They offer very durable batteries as well as high-speed sync, which was crucial for a running shoot my other the lights would not have performed so well. It's so important to have a solid crew to help on these types of shoots. I've worked with all of these individuals before, and they're genuinely talented and good at what they do.
Thanks to a great crew!
Model: Arionna Morales
Makeup: Ernesto Robledo
Art Direction: John Facundo
Production: Christine Alward
Assistant: Skip Jones
