Behind the Scenes of Photographing Le Labo On Wheels in Savannah | Luxury Photography

If you're in the greater Savannah area and at all interested in the fragrance industry, you likely heard about the exciting Le Labo on Wheels pop-up that lived on the edge of Forsyth Park for most of April.

Hosted in partnership with Hotel Bardo, Le Labo on Wheels is literally just as it sounds - the brand on wheels traveling from city to city to bring their signature scents to more people outside of the major U.S. cities that are lucky enough to house a storefront.

I was thrilled when I heard Savannah was on the route and even more excited when the brand reached out and asked if I would photograph the grand opening event.

On paper, it’s easy to summarize: an iconic fragrance brand, a beautifully designed mobile retail experience, a high-energy launch event in the heart of Savannah. But what doesn’t show up in that summary is the how.

How I managed to be considered for the job. How I became a photographer that a global brand can trust. How my reputation proceeds me in work and in life. And how word-of-mouth really is your greatest asset.

And while I would love to tell myself that Le Labo googled 'best photographer in Savannah' and my name magically appeared, I know too well that's not how this job found me.

The Setting: Le Labo On Wheels in Forsyth Park

Le Labo enthusiasts know the brand doesn’t do anything halfway.

The On Wheels concept is exactly what it sounds like -- a traveling extension of the brand that brings its signature fragrances into different cities through a mobile retail experience. But like everything Le Labo touches, it’s intentional down to the smallest detail.

Set against Forsyth Park, the experience felt both elevated and approachable. Natural textures, minimal branding, handwritten labels. It all aligned with the identity Le Labo has built so carefully over the years.

As a photographer, you’re not just documenting what’s happening. You’re translating a brand’s identity into imagery that feels as considered as the experience itself.

How This Opportunity Actually Happened

This is the part people tend to skip over, but it’s important to shine a light on.

This opportunity came my way through Hotel Bardo.

Over the past few years, I’ve worked closely with their team photographing the property, capturing their spaces, and helping visually shape their brand presence. It wasn’t one big project. It was consistent work, delivered thoughtfully, over time.

And when Hotel Bardo partnered with Le Labo to host the On Wheels pop-up, they needed a photographer.

Not just someone who could take photos, but someone who understood brand nuance, guest experience, and how to move within a space like that without disrupting it. So they reached out!

That’s how so many of these opportunities actually work. Not through pure luck but through referrals. If you build a good brand for yourself, clients will naturally talk about it and you'll find yourself in new spaces.

Working Across Multiple Le Labo Teams

One of the most valuable parts of this project was the exposure to how a brand like Le Labo operates internally.

This wasn’t a single point of contact—it was multiple teams, each with a different priority:

• Corporate team: Protecting brand identity and consistency

• Event team: Ensuring the experience ran seamlessly

• Marketing team: Capturing assets for future campaigns

• Social team: Needing real-time, scroll-worthy content

Each team sees the same event through a different lens. And as a photographer, your role is to bridge those perspectives and ensure your checking everyone's boxes.

You’re not just capturing pretty images, you’re creating a library of assets that can live across platforms.

That requires a level of awareness that goes beyond photography. It’s about understanding how images function inside a brand ecosystem.

Photography for Le Labo

A lot of people still think brand photography is about aesthetics alone, but it's most certainly not. Alignment is everything when you're shooting for a any size brand. And for a company like Le Labo, my goal was to capture imagery that felt understates yet intentional; elevated but not overproduced; and human but not a hint of messy.

And while that's simple to spell out, the balance is much harder to actually capture in real-time, especially when an event is taking place as the backdrop.

During a photography shoot like this one, you’re constantly making micro-decisions:

• What moments reflect the brand vs. distract from it

• How to capture energy without losing refinement

• When to step in and when to disappear

The goal isn’t to document everything. It’s to curate just what needs to be captured.

Capturing an Experience, Not Just an Event

The difference between event photography and brand event photography is subtle but worth noting. Anyone can capture what happened. In fact, many were with their iPhones, etc.

But strong brand photography captures how it felt to be there. What made the experience distinct? Why does it matter to the brand and others?

For this shoot, that looked like capturing one single person testing a fragrance, the social aspects amongst friends, and the textures used throughout the installation. These are the details that build a visual narrative and a story around the experience.

Why Partnerships Matter More Than Pitching

This project is a case study in something I come back to often: You don't always need more clients. You need strong relationships with the right ones.

Hotel Bardo has been one of my favorite partners to work with, and over time, they have grown to trust my work and the consistency of the images I produce. I'm incredibly thankful that they involve me in projects that extend beyond their own walls.

And it's relationships like these that land you clients like Le Labo. Not a cold call or email (although there is certainly a time and place for those). But a reliable partnership over time. I hope for fellow photographers reading this that provides encouragement to continue showing up for the clients in front of you!

What This Project Reinforced

There are a few takeaways that feel worth sharing for photographers, creatives, and anyone building a brand-based business:

1. Consistency builds credibility

Not one shoot, but many, done well.

2. Your current clients are your best marketing

If you’re doing great work, people talk.

3. Brand awareness is a skill

Understanding how a brand shows up visually is what sets you apart.

4. Relationships scale your work

One aligned client can lead to ten aligned opportunities.

The Bigger Picture

Projects like this are easy to point to as “milestones.” Shooting photography for Le Labo certainly wasn't on my 2026 planning list! But they always point to the quieter 100 other moments that resulted in this opportunity. Things like delivering images on time, paying attention to detail, and respecting the brand you're working all contribute to successful partnerships and referrals.

And there’s no shortcut to that. But that makes it even easier for the taking if you're willing to get there!

Final Thoughts

Photographing Le Labo On Wheels in Savannah was an incredible experience, not just because of the brand, but because of what it represented.

A reminder that the work you’re doing today is building something even if you can't see it yet!