A masquerade reception: Chelsea & Deji’s celebration

Mina from Vazirian Events hired me to photograph Chelsea and Deji's masquerade wedding reception at the Immersive Art Collective in Los Angeles. Mina was also friends with the couple, so she was producing the night while knowing exactly what they wanted it to feel like.

The main room had dim, speakeasy-style lighting. I alternated between available-light frames at high ISO and flash without killing the ambience. The DJ room was white and easier to navigate, but it was still dark and smoky. They were basically two different lighting problems inside the same reception.

The masks were trippy, and I had to wear one myself to help with the immersion. That was a first. Guests were let in in stages for a mystery-clue experience, then had to look around the space, so I covered different groups working through it without giving away what they were supposed to find.

Afterward everyone convened in the DJ room for the speeches. The coverage moved with the night: the staged arrivals and clue hunt, the masks and room, then the speeches and dancing once everybody came together.

There wasn't a pressing deadline, so I delivered the finished gallery in about three days. I don't know exactly where every frame went afterward; it was intended for the couple's personal and social use and for Vazirian Events.