JUCO is an artistic collaboration between Julia Galdo and Cody Cloud who met while studying at The San Francisco Art Institute. Their early projects together were class assignments and they are now based in Los Angeles. Within their fashion and commercial photography, JUCO experiments with bold colors and patterns to showcase clothing in unconventional ways using high key lighting and vibrant backgrounds that contrast but do not clash with the clothing. Their studio work is inspired by photographer Gregoire Alexandre who incorporates studio equipment and props into his images to add scale or grounding while avoiding pure abstraction.

3. “JUCO represents the collaborative work of Julia Galdo
and Cody Cloud. They first met at The San Francisco Art
Institute in 2002 where Cody received his MFA in
photography and Julia her BFA. Their first projects
together were actually class assignments. Team JUCO is
based in Los Angeles, CA.”- http://www.jucophoto.com/contact/
Within both their personal and fashion commercial work, JUCO experiment with colour and pattern to create
bold images that showcase clothing in an unconventional way. They create very fun images. Most of their
work is created using high key lighting which works in correlation with the bold coloured backgrounds and
clothing to create bubbly, striking images. The images above are some examples of some of the techniques
used by JUCO. They often use very bright coloured backgrounds that don’t clash with the clothes and
patterns worn by the model however they do create differences in tone that make the model stand out
dramatically. They also experiment with using the studio space itself to create shapes within the image. This
is similar to the work of Gregoire Alexandre.
For Gregoire Alexandre the studio environment is central to his work – be that fashion, still life, etc -
with studio props and equipment interfering in the process. He initially worked as an assistant in a
Paris studio and fell for its sense of theatre.
“The studio often becomes a character I play with to question the photo process. I use the studio equipment
to give my pictures either a sense of scale or a greater anchoring in reality, to avoid the pure abstraction of
the cove.”
Although for Juco using elements of the studio in their photographs is much less extreme than in the work of
Alexandre, aspects of doing so are still apparent and add a level of depth and interest to an otherwise plain
background.
The use of bright coloured backgrounds is something I want to experiment with incorporating into my work.
Image by Gregoire Alexandre