Photographer Emilynn Rose knows that getting a pitch approved by a fashion magazine is just the beginning of a long process. This was the case when Numéro approved a “self-love” themed shoot with actress Liza Koshy (KPop Demon Hunters, The Naked Gun).

Rose says, “Once we get the approval, we build the shoot out. Get a date, start building the team. Now it's the logistics side. Can the idea actually be functional? Everything starts changing from there.”

First, like so many photo shoots today, the magazine asked for a video to be shot alongside Rose’s photoshoot. “I think, maybe the last four or five years, it’s been a more common question. Unless you have the team to support it, it's hard to do both.”

While she would have a cinematographer working for her to shoot video, she would need to consider where to capture video in the shoot, and how video would impact the lighting. Photography requires enormous amounts of high quality light, and photo lighting has historically been built around strobes (powerful flashes), something the cinematographer wouldn’t be able to use. “In the past, when I used strobes and there was a video team, there was this transition where we go from photo to video lighting,” Rose says, “But it takes a 15-minute switch.”

A third concern complicated the first two: it turned out the budget would prevent a planned studio shoot. Rose says, “If we were just doing the studio, that would take up the whole budget. And then I was like, okay, the only pivot we could do is, find a location that caters to the look I wanted.”

The team settled on a gorgeous home, but now they would need to manage daylight from huge windows over the course of a day to night transition.

As substantial as these challenges appear, this has become the norm in the commercial photography world.

Rose says, “We just decided the whole shoot was going to be constant lighting. And it was easy to switch, there was no setup time from video to photo. It was really just dialing the lighting down.”

The team built a kit of powerful but portable lights, including the Aputure Light Storm 1200d Pro, an HMI for a more intense look, and smaller lights for fill and handheld use.

“In the living room, we blacked out the windows, and then we had the [Light Storm] 1200d Pro aiming through a window to create a soft pattern that looked really cool.”

Once the lighting setup was complete, cinematographer Ty Rogers would shoot video first to capture Koshy moving. Rose would then capture specific looks digitally and on film. As soon as the photos were done, the team moved fast to their next scene.

“I've worked with my team now for four or five years. They know my flow. We’re shooting tethered to a laptop so we can see the photos. Someone is replacing the film while I’m shooting with a different camera. They'll know when to switch my camera. I'm like, ‘Okay, we're done with video.’ And then my camera will fly in.”

While the location initially offered some complications, the careful planning and teamwork paid off during sunset. Rose says, “That was one of the beautiful things that happened on set. The sunset and the lighting complemented each other. At one point, we hit that perfect timing of sunset, and we had the right lights hitting, and it all worked out.”

Rose captured what would become the cover shot then, in Kodak Portra 400 on her Mamiya RZ67.

The cover debuted in the February 2025 Netherlands edition of Numéro, just in time for Valentine’s Day. “It was such a perfect, intimate, self-love editorial that came together, just in time for Valentine’s Day. It felt really good,” Rose says. “And Liza loved it so much. She was really excited about how the shoot turned out. If you watch the video, she’s indulging herself, just enjoying herself, her time.”

As for Rose, constant lighting is now a key part of her toolkit. “When I used to think of video lighting, it's heavy and hard to move constantly. I didn’t use a lot of video lighting because I knew it wasn’t going to get me the quality I needed.” Rose adds, “That's why I love Aputure. Especially on a location. It's not a hot light, and we don’t really have to think about where we're plugging stuff in. This was an older house, so I was concerned during the location scout.”

She’s also proud of what her team accomplished with such a complex shoot. “I think that's what we chase for as photographers or cinematographers. You can't plan those moments. They just kind of happen, and then when you capture them, you're like, whoa. That worked out great. It's the perfect ingredients for a perfect meal.”

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