By Brian Morgan
Cover shoot photographed on a rooftop in Long Island City, New York

Transmission in the New York City Skyline.

You know the light that hits Long Island City in the late afternoon? It’s not always bright, but it has this glimmering, almost magical essence that feels like the whole city is wrapped in a soft, beautiful cloud. We were up on a rooftop in the middle of spring, the Manhattan skyline lingering in the background like a shadow etched in detail. You could feel a quiet yet powerful frequency, something that grounded you while pulling you into its allure.

Then Angel Pai steps into the frame wearing pieces from her Illumin Designs collection, each crystal intentionally hand picked, coming from all across the world and emitting their own one of a kind frequencies. I’ve known her for many years and have journeyed through the playa dust of Burning Man to the water falls in the jungles of costa rica. She’s equal parts graceful, grounded, and purpose driven. She’s a free spirit that I’ve shared a thousand candid moments with and within a snap of a photo we’ve naturally get capture elegance.

As a cinematographer and photographer, I’ve always been obsessed with the idea that energy is the unseen language of a photo. Before the shutter ever clicks, there’s a serious transfer happening in between the lens and the subject. I too intentionally take pictures with meaning and purpose. I focus less on the quantity of the pictures and more on the composition and story that is being told. Shooting Angel for this magazine cover was an energetic alignment born of years of friendship and trust.

“Energy is the part of an image that you can’t see, yet will always feel.”

Showing Up to Collaborate, Seven Years In

Every person in front of a camera brings a frequency, but with Angel, there’s no warm-up. We’ve been friends for seven years, sharing everything from sunrises in Costa Rica to the chaos of Burning Man; I’ve seen her energy in many different settings. She doesn’t just arrive with it, the energy lives deeply ingrained with her practice. This deep discipline and history is what makes our shoots always turn out so pure.

Angel doesn’t just arrive to simply be photographed she always arrives ready to be part of the creative process.

Angel’s intentionality and attention to the fine details makes her jewelry brand, Illumin Designs one of the most desired amongst humanitarian leaders of our world. Her pieces are all hand crafted and extensions of her internal desire to deliver purpose, love and healing. When the designer is the model and whom genuinely believes that each piece stands for clarity, alignment, healing. This is when the photo stops being just fashion and becomes a transmission.

It’s an Agreement, Not a Performance

So much of Angel’s life is driven by purpose: her humanitarian efforts with the UN, her advocacy for Asian representation, her acting, and her collaborations. That entire history walks onto set with her. You can feel it in how she carries herself, how she respects the whole team, and how present she is.

Here’s what people forget: a great portrait isn’t a performance; it’s an agreement. Angel gets that. She’s done the work on herself and constantly giving back to the world. When someone has done the work and becomes aligned, the camera doesn’t have to fight to find them. And when you know a subject as well as I know Angel, you can dive right into the natural heart of the image.

On set, sure, we talked about light and angles. But we also talked about intention. We talked about Asian women in fashion spaces. We talked about how to show softness without losing strength. We discussed how one image can hold femininity, spirituality, and ambition all at once. That’s where the real photograph lives.

The Simple Lesson for Photographers

When you work with a model or talent who understands energy, shooting stops being a frantic “pose, pose, pose” session and becomes more about, “Let’s find that synchronized frequency.”

Energy-aware subjects are the best collaborators because they aren’t just asking, “How do I look?” They’re asking, “What are we expressing in this moment?” That’s a whole different level of intentional shooting.

For us behind the lens, the lesson is simple: lighting is only half the story. The person in front of you brings their whole world including their beliefs, culture, ancestry, activism, and self-expression. All of that matters. If you don’t create the space to truly respect and honor that, your image will end up flat. It certainly wont retain the message.

Ultimately, the best portraits aren’t performances; they’re transmissions. Angel didn’t just show up to be photographed; she arrived bringing everything we’ve shared over the last seven years with clear intentions, the purpose, the mission, and her spirit. When that kind of unique energy meets a New York rooftop, with the natural beauty of crystals glimmering towards the lens, you don’t just create a cover image. You craft a natural visual frequency born of deep friendship. p