Behind The Work: Branding Photography for DJ Molly Parti

Ricardo Tejeda
Jun 13
4 min read

Behind The Work is an in-depth exploration of the thought process and reasoning—good and bad—that goes into some of our favorite projects.

The Creative Direction

In February 2025, DJ Molly Parti contacted me to update her brand photography. In speaking with her, she liked her previous photos, but there were a couple of issues with them, namely that isolating her from the background was difficult unless one was proficient with the pen tool and that the top of her head was cut off in a couple of photos. Combine that with the fact that it had been several years since her last photo shoot and a refresher was in order.

DJ Molly Parti works weddings and events, clubs, and the festival circuit, and as such, these photos needed to be diverse and represent all aspects of her business. Through conversations during the ideation phase, representing her personality became important in helping her clients understand the type of DJ they'd be hiring. Molly is a very interactive and energetic DJ, reading the room and engaging with her audience to ensure the spirit remains lively. A key element was translating that kind of zeal and fire into photographs that portrayed a high degree of professionalism and expertise. Often, these kinds of industries can lead to a person being pigeonholed, regardless of how accomplished or varied their skill levels are, and artists, no matter the industry, are viewed as freelance laborers instead of the business owners that they are. Molly's clients needed to know in a matter of seconds that they would receive top-shelf service from a highly experienced DJ with an abundance of personality to give the crowd a night to remember.

To achieve our desired outcome, creative studio lighting, clothing, and location played a vital role. Choosing to photograph in my studio with standard backdrops and lighting would have produced a look that, quite frankly, would have been boring and like any number of photos found on stock photography sites. Creating depth and mood through dynamic lighting involved layering RGB panels, White Lightning 800 and 1600 lights as constants, my Godox AD200 strobe, and bounce panels and negative fills. In a pinch, I also projected a spotlight onto my backdrop for an additional look.

The Studio Photography

The first photographs shown were achieved by placing my White Lightning 1600 constant light above Molly's right side, shining down to highlight that area. I then placed my White Lightning 800 slightly off-center, towards Molly's right, at a fraction of its power. The RGB panels are placed on both sides, with red emanating from the right and green from the left at half their brightness. I also have a bounce panel placed at about a 45º angle at Molly's left side to add fill.

For the next set of photographs, I removed the White Lightning 1600 and placed the White Lightning 800 directly centered behind me, dimly illuminating Molly, and emphasized the red and green light cast from my RGB panels. I also put a negative fill panel behind the green RGB light on Molly's left side. This was done to draw attention to the red being cast from her right side, which highlights Molly's red hair.

Continuing to work in my studio, I removed the RGB light panels and moved my White Lightning 1600 to Molly's right side, lighting the composition from above. I then placed the White Lightning 800 at a 30º angle on Molly's right side at a lower power level so that the 1600 would be the dominant light source and illuminate both the backdrop and Molly. This lighting setup created rich and dynamic highlights and shadows, allowing for depth to come to the forefront.

Our next set of portraits was a more straightforward approach, wanting to create photographs that were more aligned with Molly's wedding and corporate work. Using my sand-colored backdrop, my fill panel, and setting my White Lightning 1600 at maximum power, I moved it to best suit the pose, creating professional portraits that showcase DJ Molly Parti's experience and high level of expertise without sacrificing her personality or the spirit of the photo shoot.

For the last photos taken in my studio, we achieved a look fit for Molly's club and festival work through her dress, the use of my white backdrop, and setting both White Lightning lights to max power to blow out the background and accentuate the reflective, disco ball nature of Molly's outfit. I posed her on the floor for some of the photos, shooting from a low angle and an elevated position on a step stool. This created our most provocative look, with photographs that can be easily used for promotional design materials.

For our last set of portraits of the day, we traveled to the nearby Radical Hotel to achieve the desired look. With its funky and eclectic setting, this was the perfect place to reflect all of our stated goals in a single location. We were given access to a secret room in the hotel, and it was perfect, offering an environment with different scenes to use as backgrounds in our photographs. We could also interact with the decor, which added an interesting dynamic to our photos. At the Radical Hotel, we successfully captured the essence of DJ Molly's professionalism while preserving the personality that makes her such a pleasure to work with.

Final Thoughts

As a photographer who thoroughly enjoys the creative direction and collaborative exploration of the photography process, Molly was a dream to work with. We were able to plan multiple looks, all of which she was open to trying, never once saying no to any ideas. I was able to incorporate different lighting techniques I had never yet employed, and even used my projector for some of our shoot. It's in these special moments where the photographer understands the client, the client knows the photographer's work, and both know what needs to be accomplished that magic happens and you're able to create lasting images.

I honestly cannot wait to see Molly's photographs in action in the future. And she's excited, as you can see from her 5-star Google Review.