Maxim Kabanov lit this set two ways in a studio the pair tagged as being in Dubai. In the corner frames, a direct flash catches Kristina Yakovleva head-on and throws hard shadows across herringbone parquet, stacked chairs and a black flat on casters. In the others, the room opens into daylight: white wall, white cyc, a dark curtain at the window.
Between the two setups, nothing else changes. Yakovleva wears the same black turtleneck, with gold buttons at each cuff, the same wide black trousers and belt, hair pulled back, feet bare; she sits on the same dark bentwood chair throughout. With the wardrobe unchanged, the light sets the mood on its own. Under the flash, she gives the lens a level, direct look. In daylight, she turns away, smiling in profile in one frame and looking down in another.
It’s an economical set but a confident one. The tilted final frame is the boldest choice: Kabanov keeps the corner’s clutter in the shot instead of cropping around it, and her look back over the shoulder is still the first thing you see.
