Fashion and Artistic Portrait Photography in Miami: Portfolio by Diego Sanchez Cadavid
Over the past two decades, I have photographed everything from Fortune 500 advertising campaigns to album covers for the biggest names in Latin music. But if you asked me what I return to most naturally, the answer would be portraits. Not headshots — not the standard three-light setup against a gray backdrop that looks like everyone else's work. I am talking about portraits that actually say something about the person in front of the lens.
My name is Diego Sanchez Cadavid, and I am a fashion and portrait photographer based in Miami with deep roots in New York City, Latin America, and the global advertising world. My credentials include selection for Lurzer's Archive 200 Best Ad Photographers Worldwide, APA Pro membership, a Hasselblad Masters finalist selection, and a #1 ranking in Photography & Illustration on AdForum. This page is a comprehensive look at the portrait and fashion work that defines the other half of my practice — the side that is not about celebrity sessions or national brand campaigns, but about the quieter, more personal assignments that often produce the images I am most proud of. You can explore the full visual archive on my portrait photography portfolio.
Whether I am working with a model agency in Manhattan, directing a private family commission in Miami, or photographing an emerging artist in Guayaquil, the goal is always the same: use light, environment, and genuine human connection to create an image that transcends the moment it was made.
Beyond the Headshot — A Portrait Philosophy
There is a reason most headshots look interchangeable. They are built from templates. Same softbox placement, same chin-down-eyes-up direction, same neutral background. The result is technically competent and emotionally vacant. When I approach a portrait — whether it is a fashion editorial, a private commission, or a model test shoot — I start from the opposite direction. I start with the question: what is this person's visual story, and how does light help me tell it?
I wrote an entire book about this idea. The Lighting Playbook grew out of my conviction that light is not just a technical variable to manage — it is a visual voice. The way you sculpt shadow across a jawline, the way you let a window source wrap around a shoulder, the way you use negative fill to carve depth into a flat composition — these are creative decisions, not mechanical ones. They separate a portrait with a point of view from a portrait that simply documents a face.
What makes an advertising photographer's portraits different from a standard studio headshot? Decades of problem-solving under pressure. When you have spent years lighting for brands like Coca-Cola, Pepsi, American Express, and Toyota, you develop an instinct for precision that carries directly into portrait work. You learn to read a face the way a DP reads a set. You learn that the difference between a good portrait and a great one is often a quarter-inch shift in a key light, or the decision to let a subject look away from the camera at exactly the right moment.
Diego Cadavid brings that advertising-grade lighting discipline into every portrait session, regardless of whether the client is a global modeling agency or a family sitting for their first professional photographs.
Agency and Model Portfolio Work
Working with modeling agencies requires a specific skill set. Agencies need images that function simultaneously as art and as marketing tools — photographs that show a model's range, versatility, and castability while also standing on their own as compelling images. I have been fortunate to collaborate with some of the top agencies in the industry, building test books and editorial portfolios that help models land the work they deserve.
Ford Models — Professional Model Portfolios and Test Shoots
My collaboration with Ford Models represents some of the most disciplined portfolio work in my career. Ford is one of the most iconic modeling agencies in the world, and the standards are exacting. Every test shoot has to demonstrate not just the model's potential but also the photographer's ability to deliver variety — different lighting setups, different moods, different energy — within a single session. You can see the full series on my Ford Models portfolio page. These sessions taught me the economy of a good test shoot: how to create maximum visual range with minimal wasted time.
Muse Models NYC — Multiple Collaborations
My relationship with Muse Models NYC has produced some of my favorite portrait work over multiple sessions and multiple models. Each collaboration brought a different creative challenge.
Rose for Muse Models — "Cowgirl" Series, NYC: This was a concept-driven shoot built around a Western aesthetic in the middle of Manhattan. We leaned into the tension between the urban environment and the styling, letting the contrast carry the narrative. Hard light, warm tones, and Rose's natural ease in front of the camera made this one of those sessions where everything just clicks.
Emmy Kruger for Muse Models — NYC Street Portraits: Emmy's session was about raw, unpolished energy. We worked the streets of New York — natural light, fast setups, real foot traffic in the background. The goal was to capture spontaneity rather than manufacture it. Street portraits require a photographer who can think on the move, and Emmy matched that pace perfectly.
Xaragiulia for Muse Models: A studio session focused on versatility. We worked through several looks and lighting setups to build a portfolio that agencies could use across multiple submission categories. Clean beauty, editorial edge, and commercial approachability — all in one session.
Nariahnicolle for Muse Models NYC — Multiple Sessions: My work with Nariahnicolle has been ongoing, spanning several sessions that reflect her evolution as a model. From early test shoots to more stylized editorial work, each session has built on the one before. This kind of sustained creative relationship is rare and valuable — you develop a shorthand, a mutual understanding of what works, and the results deepen over time.
Muse Models NYC Group Work: I have also shot group compositions for Muse Models, which presents its own set of challenges. Lighting multiple subjects so that each person reads distinctly while the group functions as a cohesive composition is one of the harder technical problems in portrait photography. It draws on everything I have learned from both advertising production and editorial work.
Kia — Conceptual Studio Portrait
Kia's session was a departure from traditional model portfolio work. This was a conceptual studio portrait — more art piece than casting tool. We used dramatic lighting and minimal styling to create something that lived at the intersection of fine art and fashion photography. The result was a study in form, shadow, and presence.
Fashion Editorial and Styled Sessions
Fashion editorial work gives a photographer permission to push boundaries in ways that commercial and corporate work simply cannot. These sessions are where I experiment most freely with light, composition, and mood. They are also some of the most rewarding collaborations, because the best editorial shoots feel less like assignments and more like conversations between photographer, subject, and stylist. For more context on my approach to fashion work, see my post on fashion photography in Miami: trends and techniques.
Carla Romanini — NYC Fashion Editorial
My sessions with Carla Romanini span multiple shoots in New York City and represent some of my most polished fashion editorial work. Carla has that quality that the best editorial models possess — she understands that fashion photography is about movement, tension, and narrative, not just looking good in clothes. Across our collaborations, we explored everything from high-contrast studio lighting to soft, natural-light setups in Manhattan locations. These images operate at the level of magazine editorial because the intention was always to create work that belonged in one.
Piru Lasta — Artistic Portrait Session
Piru Lasta's session was built around the idea of the portrait as fine art object. We stripped away the commercial considerations and focused entirely on light, form, and expression. The resulting images owe more to classical painting than to contemporary fashion — and that was the point. Not every portrait session needs a brief or a client deliverable. Sometimes the best work happens when you create purely for the sake of the image.
Ivavintaine — Styled Portraits in Miami
Shooting with Ivavintaine in Miami allowed me to explore what styled portraiture looks like in a subtropical environment. The city's natural light, its pastel architecture, and its ever-present warmth informed the entire aesthetic. We blended fashion editorial sensibility with the casual energy that is uniquely Miami — a combination that is harder to achieve than it sounds, because it requires balancing polish with authenticity.
Grace Palmer — Studio Portraits, Williamsburg
Grace Palmer's session was shot in a Williamsburg studio with a minimal setup: one light, a reflector, and Grace's ability to command a frame. Sometimes the strongest fashion portraits come from the simplest technical foundations. When the subject brings genuine presence to a session, the photographer's job is to stay out of the way — and light beautifully.
Paris Osuna and Adrian Jimenez — Film Photography, Miami
This session with Paris Osuna and Adrian Jimenez was shot entirely on film in Miami. Analog photography forces a different discipline. You cannot overshoot. Every frame costs something — not just money, but intention. The grain, the color rendition, and the slight unpredictability of film gave these portraits a texture that digital simply cannot replicate. It was a deliberate choice that reflected the organic, grounded aesthetic we were pursuing.
Jazmin Joy — Miami Beach
Jazmin Joy's session was shot on location in Miami Beach during golden hour. The challenge with beach sessions is always the same: the light is beautiful but fleeting, the wind is constant, and the environment can overwhelm the subject if you are not careful with framing. Jazmin's energy matched the setting perfectly — warm, open, and effortlessly photogenic.
Private Commissions and Family Portraits
Private portrait commissions are the most personal work I do. There is no agency, no brand strategy, no creative brief from a third party. It is just a client, a photographer, and the desire to create something meaningful. Diego Cadavid approaches each private commission with the same level of preparation and lighting expertise that goes into a national advertising campaign — because the stakes, for the client, are just as real.
The Montaner Family — Private Commission Portraits
Photographing the Montaner family — the grandchildren of Ricardo Montaner — was a private commission that required sensitivity, patience, and an ability to work with young children in a way that felt natural rather than posed. Children do not respond to traditional direction. You cannot ask a three-year-old to "give me intensity." You create an environment where genuine moments happen, and you are technically prepared to capture them when they do. The resulting portraits are intimate, documentary in spirit, and deeply personal to the family.
Stephanie Froidmann
Stephanie Froidmann's portrait session was a private commission focused on capturing personality and presence in a studio environment. The work prioritized natural expression over stylized posing — a direct reflection of my philosophy that the best portraits happen when people forget the camera is there.
Faustina Fernandez
Faustina Fernandez's session combined editorial styling with the personal warmth of a private commission. The result was a set of images that served both as professional portraits and as personal keepsakes — a balance that is uniquely rewarding when achieved.
Cole Knight
My session with Cole Knight explored character-driven portraiture. We used dramatic lighting and compositional framing to create images that felt cinematic — closer to a film still than a traditional portrait. This approach works especially well with subjects who bring a strong sense of self to the session.
On-Location Portraits: Miami, NYC, and Beyond
Some of my most compelling portrait work happens outside the studio. On-location sessions introduce variables — weather, crowds, ambient light, architecture — that force both photographer and subject to adapt in real time. The results often have an energy and authenticity that studio work, for all its control, cannot replicate. Diego Sanchez Cadavid has shot on-location portraits across three countries and dozens of environments, from the neon-lit streets of Manhattan to the colonial architecture of Guayaquil.
Miami Sessions
Miami is my home base, and its diversity of locations makes it one of the best cities in the world for portrait photography. I have written extensively about this in my portrait photographer Miami guide.
DJ Claudia | Artist Portraits: A session focused on capturing DJ Claudia's artistic persona — her energy, her confidence, her relationship with her craft. Artist portraits require understanding the subject's public identity and finding a way to photograph it honestly.
Grace | Downtown Miami: Shot in the streets and alleys of Downtown Miami, using the urban landscape as both backdrop and co-character. Hard shadows from midday sun, reflections in glass facades, and the visual rhythm of the city's architecture all became part of the portrait.
Jessica | Miami Location Portraits: A location portrait session that moved through multiple Miami neighborhoods, exploring how different environments shift the tone and mood of a portrait even when the subject remains the same.
@trumppedupwithhatnia | Homestead: Shot on location in Homestead, south of Miami. This session leveraged the area's agricultural landscapes and open skies to create portraits with a very different feel from typical urban Miami work — quieter, more spacious, with a pastoral quality.
NYC Sessions
New York City remains a second home for my portrait work. The energy of the city, the quality of its light in fall and winter, and the endless variety of locations make it an irreplaceable part of my practice.
A Day with Carla | Manhattan: An all-day session with Carla Romanini moving through Manhattan neighborhoods, letting the city's rhythms dictate the pace and style of the shoot. Cafe light, subway platforms, rooftop golden hour — all in one session.
Sydney | NYC: A portrait session that used the visual density of New York as a tool for compression and intimacy. When the environment is this visually loud, a quiet portrait stands out even more.
Chadaria | NYC: Studio and street hybrid session in New York. We started with controlled studio lighting, then took the energy outside to see how the same subject transformed in an uncontrolled environment.
Guayaquil, Ecuador
My roots in Latin America have led to extensive portrait work in Ecuador, particularly in Guayaquil. These sessions carry a different energy — slower, warmer, informed by a visual culture that is distinct from the North American aesthetic.
Eduardo Maruri | B&W Studio Portrait: A black-and-white studio portrait session built around character and gravitas. We used a single hard light source to create dramatic, high-contrast images in the classical studio tradition.
Daniela | Guayaquil: A location portrait session that used Guayaquil's riverfront and colonial architecture as a visual context for contemporary portraiture.
Carmen Mina | Studio Portraits: A studio session focused on beauty and form. Carmen's session was about precision — every detail of lighting, hair, and composition was calibrated to create images of real technical refinement.
Adri | Guayaquil: Casual, natural-light portraits that prioritized connection and spontaneity over production polish.
Amanda Illingworth: A portrait session combining studio lighting with the relaxed energy of the Ecuadorian coast.
Luti Torres: A character-driven portrait session focused on personality and expression — the kind of images that tell you something about a person before you have ever met them.
Unscripted and On-Set Portraits
Some of my most honest portrait work comes from moments that were not planned. The "Unscripted" series captures candid, behind-the-scenes moments during music video productions and commercial shoots. When a subject does not know the camera is focused on them — or knows but has stopped performing for it — you get something raw and unguarded. These images are reminders that the best portraits are not always the ones you plan.
The "Portrait - Miami Florida" series is a collection of environmental portraits shot across the city. These are not assignment-driven — they are personal work, shot when a face or a moment catches my eye. Personal projects like these keep the creative instinct sharp between commercial jobs.
Mivi Baran's portraits fall somewhere between the editorial and the unscripted. We worked in a space where direction and spontaneity coexisted, producing images that feel simultaneously composed and accidental — a tension I find incredibly compelling in portraiture.
Calipsian's session brought a musical artist's performance energy into a still photograph. Capturing that kind of kinetic presence without the advantage of motion or sound is one of the great challenges — and great satisfactions — of portrait photography.
Music Video Direction Meets Portrait Photography
Diego Cadavid has directed music videos for some of the most recognized names in Latin music — Juanes, JHAYCO, Bomba Estereo, Monsieur Perine, and Piso 21, among others. This directorial experience fundamentally shapes how I approach portrait photography.
When you direct a music video, you learn to think in sequences and emotional arcs. You learn to manage talent who are performing under pressure. You learn that the most powerful frame in a three-minute video is often the quiet one — the still moment between movements. All of these instincts carry directly into a portrait session.
A director's eye means I approach a portrait as a single frame within a larger narrative. I am not just thinking about how this image looks in isolation — I am thinking about what happened before this moment and what happens after. That temporal awareness gives my portraits a cinematic quality that is difficult to achieve if you have only ever worked in stills. If you want to understand how this crossover works in practice, my post on dual-career photography and direction goes deeper.
The practical advantage for clients is significant. When you book Diego Sanchez Cadavid for a portrait session, you are getting someone who can direct talent with the confidence of a filmmaker, light a scene with the precision of an advertising photographer, and create images with the intentionality of a fine artist. That combination is rare because it requires spending years in each discipline — not just dabbling in all three.
The Lighting Playbook — A Portrait Photographer's Guide
Much of the lighting approach visible in the portrait work on this page is codified in my book, The Lighting Playbook: The Art and Science of Professional Lighting. The book is a comprehensive guide to professional portrait lighting — not a collection of recipes, but a framework for understanding how light behaves, how it shapes perception, and how to use it as an expressive tool rather than a technical afterthought.
If the portraits on this page resonate with you, The Lighting Playbook shows you the thinking behind them. It connects the commercial rigor of advertising lighting with the creative freedom of fine art portraiture. It is the book I wished existed when I was learning — and the book that now serves as a reference for photographers at every level.
How to Book a Portrait Session
Diego Cadavid is available for portrait sessions across several categories:
Editorial and Fashion Portraits: For agencies, magazines, personal branding, and creative projects. Full styling, hair, and makeup coordination available.
Model Portfolio and Test Shoots: For modeling agencies and individual models building or refreshing their books. I work with both established agencies and independent models.
Private Commissions and Family Portraits: Personal and family portraits with the same production quality I bring to commercial work. Studio or on-location.
Corporate and Professional Portraits: Executive headshots, team photos, and corporate imagery that goes beyond the standard corporate headshot.
Sessions are available at my Miami studio or on location anywhere in South Florida, New York City, or internationally by arrangement. Learn more about what goes into a portrait session on my portrait photography in Miami guide, or explore my approach to photography and direction on the About page.
Contact Diego Sanchez Cadavid:
Email: Diego@dcadavid.com
Phone: 786-779-6791
Representation: ASA Films LLC
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does a professional portrait photographer charge in Miami?
Rates vary widely depending on the scope and purpose of the session. A personal or headshot portrait session with a professional photographer in Miami typically starts around $500 to $1,500. Editorial and fashion sessions, which involve more production, styling, and post-processing, generally range from $2,000 to $5,000 or more. For a detailed breakdown of commercial photography pricing, including portrait work, see my commercial photography pricing guide.
What should I wear to a professional photo shoot?
For most portrait sessions, I recommend bringing three to five outfit options in solid, muted tones. Avoid busy patterns, large logos, and overly trendy pieces that may date the images quickly. Bring layers — a jacket, a scarf, a different neckline — because small changes in wardrobe can give you significant variety without requiring a full outfit change. For fashion and editorial sessions, I work with professional stylists who handle wardrobe coordination from start to finish.
Does Diego Cadavid do fashion photography for agencies?
Yes. Diego Sanchez Cadavid has an extensive history of working with modeling agencies including Ford Models and Muse Models NYC. I provide model test shoots, portfolio updates, and editorial sessions designed to meet agency standards. If you are an agency looking for a photographer who understands the commercial and editorial requirements of model development, I welcome that conversation.
Can I book a portrait session on location in Miami?
Absolutely. On-location portrait sessions are available throughout Miami and South Florida, including Miami Beach, Wynwood, Brickell, Downtown, Coconut Grove, and more. I also shoot regularly in Homestead and the surrounding areas. Location sessions take advantage of Miami's natural light and diverse architectural backdrops. I handle all location scouting and logistics as part of the production.
What is the difference between editorial and commercial portrait photography?
Editorial portrait photography is created for publication context — magazines, online features, artistic projects — and prioritizes mood, storytelling, and creative expression. Commercial portrait photography is created for business purposes — advertising, corporate use, product promotion — and prioritizes brand alignment, clarity, and usability across marketing channels. In practice, the best portraits often blend elements of both. My background in advertising photography and celebrity editorial work means I am comfortable working in either mode, and I often recommend an approach that serves both artistic and commercial objectives.
How long does a typical portrait session take?
A standard portrait session typically runs two to three hours, which includes setup, shooting, and any wardrobe changes. More involved editorial or fashion sessions can run four to six hours, especially when multiple looks, locations, or styling changes are involved. I always build in time for the subject to warm up to the camera — the best images almost never come from the first ten minutes. We work until we have what we need, not until a clock runs out.
Diego Sanchez Cadavid is a fashion and portrait photographer based in Miami, Florida. His portrait work spans collaborations with Ford Models, Muse Models NYC, private commissions, and editorial projects across Miami, New York City, and Latin America. He is the author of The Lighting Playbook and is represented by ASA Films LLC. To view his full portrait portfolio, visit dcadavid.com/portraits.
