STILLS ● ECOMMERCE
wolves call
WHEN TRUST BECOMES PARTNERSHIP.
Luxury handbag product photography for a founder who started as a colleague and became family.
THE BEGINNING: FROM FIRST CLIENT TO FULL CIRCLE
In 2020, Matr Boomie became my first commercial photography client. A year later, Ana joined their team as Senior Marketing and Design Consultant, and we spent the next four years building a working rhythm—shooting artisan home goods, refining lighting techniques for handmade textiles, learning how to translate craft into commerce through imagery.
But our connection ran deeper than vendor-client dynamics. Ana's husband, Andres, had worked at Matr Boomie before she joined, and we'd become acquaintances through that overlap. When he decided to propose, he reached out with a request I'll never forget: would I photograph the moment he asked Ana to marry him in Zilker Park? I said yes. The images captured one of those rare instances where professional work disappears and you're just present for something beautiful.
They got married. Had two kids. Moved to Miami. And in early 2024, Ana sent an email that started with, "Hi my friend!! It's been way too long... I started my own leather handbag brand."
She was launching Wolves Call—a luxury line of Spanish-stitched leather bags designed for women who valued craftsmanship over trends. Her first product, "The Maria," came in tan and red. She needed e-commerce imagery that could hold its own against established European brands like Polene: clean, precise, luxurious. And she wanted me to shoot it.
PRE-PRODUCTION: THE STAKES OF STARTING OVER
Ana's creative brief was specific. She provided a mood board referencing Polene's minimalist product pages—off-white backgrounds, consistent compositions, no distractions from the bag itself. She needed six angles per colorway to showcase construction details: front without strap, front with strap tucked, back view, full strap extension to show length, a 45-degree close-up highlighting stitching and hardware, and an overhead interior shot revealing the signature red satin lining both bags shared.
Twelve images total. Sounds straightforward until you factor in what they represented: Ana's savings, her reputation, the first impression potential customers would have of a brand she'd built from nothing while raising two small children.
The ask wasn't just technical. It was existential. These images had to work.
PRODUCTION: PERFECTION AS A SHARED STANDARD
I've shot hundreds of products over the years, but leather at this caliber demands a different approach. The Maria's construction—supple Italian leather, hand-stitched in Spain, brass hardware with a brushed finish—required lighting that revealed texture without creating glare, that showed dimension without losing color accuracy.
I used a combination of soft overhead diffusion for even illumination and gridded snoots as accent lights to sculpt the leather's grain and emphasize seam work. But the real challenge wasn't the setup—it was the consistency. Every shot of the tan bag had to match its red counterpart exactly. Same angle, same shadow falloff, same sense of weight and luxury.
We went through seven rounds of production. Initial shoot, then six reshoots. Not because the images were bad, but because "good enough" doesn't cut it when you're betting everything on a single product launch. Ana was meticulous—rightfully so—and I understood that pressure in a way most photographers couldn't. I'd lived through the terror of starting my own business. The sleepless nights wondering if people would see what you see.
So we kept going. Adjusted the camera height by two inches. Shifted the accent light three degrees. Re-calibrated the color profile using a ColorChecker Passport to ensure the tan read warm but not orange, the red read rich but not garish. Each round brought us closer to images that didn't just document the bag—they made you want to hold it.
POST-PRODUCTION: PRECISION AS RESPECT
Color accuracy in leather photography isn't optional—it's the entire game. I shot tethered with a custom color profile built specifically for The Maria's leather tones, then refined in post using the ColorChecker data to ensure what customers saw online matched what would arrive at their door.
Every stitch was sharpened. Every highlight on the brass hardware was controlled. The red satin interior—visible in the overhead shots—had to glow without blowing out, inviting but not overpowering.
When I delivered the final gallery, Ana's response was immediate: gratitude, relief, and a confession that she'd been nervous about being "too particular." I told her the truth—she wasn't being particular. She was being a founder. And I was honored she trusted me with something that mattered this much.
THE OUTCOME: LAUNCHED AND THRIVING
Wolves Call went live in May 2024. The website Ana built is stunning—minimalist, elegant, built around the imagery we created together. The Maria sold out in its first production run.
But the real success wasn't the images. It was what they represented: a friendship that evolved from coworker acquaintances to being present for a proposal, to now being part of the foundation of her company. Ana called me one of her "favorite people to work with on something I am building," and I don't take that lightly.
She's deep into raising her second child now, but the plan is already in motion for a new design by Q1 2026, prototype by Q2. When it's ready, I'll be there—not because I'm her photographer, but because some clients become family.
And when family builds something, you show up.
Services Provided: Commercial product photography, e-commerce photography, color grading, post-production retouching
Industry: Luxury fashion, leather goods, e-commerce
Location: Austin, TX (client based in Miami, FL)
Website: https://wolves-call.com/
