I
remember the day so clearly,” said Dagny Piasecki, co-founder and photographer of SHDW (pronounced shadow) Studios — a natural-light photo studio and agency.
“I remember us sitting at the dinner table,” she said, speaking to her partner, Taylor Jarrett. “It was our little roundtable where we did all our brainstorming. We had a few front runners for a name, for this space that we had just found. But SHDW Studios: That’s what we ended up going for.” Usually, six months into dating, couples are leaving the honeymoon phase and discovering a routine, or a sense of stability. For Taylor and Dagny, six months of dating brought them headfirst into a new challenging role: co-founders of SHDW Studios. That was four years ago. Nestled between the up and coming East Austin area and the Colorado River banks, the studio resembles an abandoned gray warehouse from the outside. A series of parked cars at its door hints to the activity happening within. Chic, the it couple, the must-know creatives of Austin: Everything I had heard about the SHDW co-founders swept through my mind as I entered the studio for the first time. It was dressed in clean, white-washed walls, save for one, which was adorned with beautiful double ninefoot windows overlooking the rushing Colorado River and flooding the studio with natural light. Taylor yelled down at me from the second floor. “Bella! Hi, I’m up here. Don’t mind Dagny, she’s shooting for a client.” Hugging the wall, I worked my way towards the jet-black staircase leading upstairs to Taylor. Dagny was sitting on the floor in front of me pointing her snapping camera lens at a model. 164