Revisiting My Most Popular Models

Today is #anythingcanhappenday on the Blog. Last year I expanded the number of portrait-related posts appearing on Thursday and based on an increased number of page views, people seem to enjoy them, so my plans are to continue this trend in 2026.

Today’s Post by Joe Farace

“A star doesn’t need words to tell the world what it does; it just shines.” ― Matshona Dhliwayo

No model I’ve ever worked with shined more before my camera than the legendary Maria Cedar. Over all of the years I’ve posted different images of many different models while demonstrating various photography and portrait lighting techniques but whenever certain models are featured I seem get a higher than normal number of page views, likes and responses about those particular photographs. Recently, when I’ve featured Maria Cedar in a post I’ve received questions about her from other photographers who would like to photograph her and I can’t blame’em. See my answer to that question at the bottom of this post.)

Photographing a Legend

All of my favorite models have a few interesting similarities, not so much in how they look—there are only a few resemblances—but mainly in their approach to modeling and, most importantly their attitudes. One similarity is that whenever I post or feature any of these women’s images the Internet loves them. I think it’s because they’re not only attractive but their inner light shines through in the portraits as well. Needless to say, each of them was a delight to photograph. I think one of the reasons Ms. Cedar is one of my most popular models is that she also brings her fan base to visit this site. You can see one of her outdoor portraits here. She was also one of the models featured in my Women’s History Month series.

How I made this portrait: Maria Cedar is one of the more famous Internet models and photographing her was a rare privilege. This was something that I had wanted to do for many years before we finally got to shoot together. Our first session was scheduled several years ago at her home in Utah. My wife had business there, so I tagged along and she was going to drop me off for a shoot with Maria. Unfortunately, Mother Nature had other ideas. On the road to Utah, we got caught in a heavy snowstorm and had to turn back. When I called Maria to let her know, she told me she was snowed in as well, so the shoot didn’t happen. It wasn’t until a few years latter that we had our first shoot that produced this Elvira image.

This portrait was made during our second shoot together. It was made in my 11×15-foot home studio using a blue Paul C. Buff DigiBee 800 with Plume Ltd Wafer soft box attached as the main light and was placed at camera right. A limited edition Purple Haze AlienBee 800 with 16 x 30-inch Westcott Apollo Strip soft box was at camera left with another Digibee with a 48-inch Dynalite Quad Square black/silver umbrella was located in the back of my studio at camera left. The camera used was a Panasonic Lumix GH4 with Lumix G Vario 14-45mm f/3.5-5.6 lens (at 45mm) with an exposure of 1/125 sec at f/10 and ISO 200. The background was an inexpensive muslin backdrop that was suspended from my JTL background stands.

Update: I had a fifth potential shoot scheduled with Maria but had less than 24-hour notice for it when she would be in Colorado and I was unable to make the shoot. I kick myself in the butt every time I think about that. When she announced she was thinking of retiring, I tried to schedule a final shoot with her and live in hope that we can do that if she ever visits Colorado again. She has moved and (I think) retired from modeling.