Editor’s Pick: 
Isabella Bejarano’s Graphic Portraits

Isabella Bejarano’s images first crossed my screen while I was judging the 2014 Emerging Photographer competition for PDN—she was one of 11 winners. 

Her series “Achok,” (named for model Achok Majak shown here), was shot for the Academy of Art’s 180 Magazine, where Bejarano was a student (she graduated in 2013). 

A full academic project, the set was the Academy of Art’s studio with clothing and styling by fellow students. “I tested my lighting ideas with the model a couple days prior and presented them to Flore [Morton, the fashion school’s styling coordinator],” Bejarano says. “I was thrilled she let me run with what I had come up with.” 

Shot with a Nikon D700 and 50mm lens, I love that Bejarano was able to achieve the simplicity and angles of this series so effectively. “I wanted to keep [the series] clean and about shape and form,” Bejarano says. “I was also inspired by the model; her bone structure, her figure and skin brought a beautiful contrast to the garments, so I focused on that by directing her to be still, yet strong.” 

See more of Bejarano’s Achok series here.