SoCal photographer Stephanie Girard is usually behind the camera photographing celebrities, actors and models. As one of LA’s top headshot and portrait photographers she found herself without any subjects to shoot when the industry shut down. Then one day while listening to music in her kitchen, her 5-year-old daughter Lola saw an album cover and had a lot of questions about the artist.
“We are a huge music house. We listen to music all the time,” Girard says. “Lola saw an album cover on Alexa and started asking questions about it.”
That artist was Lady Gaga and the album cover was Joanne. The image features Lady Gaga, looking off to the side, in a pink Philip Treacy hat. Girard says Lola was curious to see if she could replicate the look and asked her mom to take her picture.
And even though she wasn’t in her studio, she knew she had enough equipment at home to give it a shot. The end result was stunning and set off a desire to take more pictures, and teach her daughter more about music and artistry.
“Just the pure joy of seeing the end result was super fun. Then it was oh, what other ones can we do!”
Each week they find a new artist to listen to, learn about, and re-create an album cover or iconic music moment from that artist. Girard says the best part has been watching her daughter get excited to know more about music, and then produce her own photo shoot, with mom's help of course.
She uses their time together to teach her daughter about lighting and explaining the process of taking photos. And since they can’t go to the store for wardrobe options, they have been using whatever costumes and props they have at home to get just the right look.
“We used her ballet leotard and tucked in the sleeve to recreate Beyonce's famous Single Ladies look," Girard explains. She’s a 5 year old creative director! It’s exciting for me to see her creativity and ideas."
So far they have re-created looks from Beyonce, David Bowie, Adele, and Queen just to name a few. She says they are planning on re-creating a Billie Eilish cover and then Prince. But they’re not putting any pressure on their little creative director. Instead, they’re letting the music speak to them, and inspire creativity.
Girard knows once things get back up and running in the industry, she’ll be back to photographing clients headshots and portraits. But for now she’s enjoying documenting this time at home with her love of music, and family. You can follow her on Instagram at @StephanieGirardPhoto to see what iconic music moment they capture next.
