Pandemic isolation allows a new collaborative dream team of creators to flourish

Anoora is a team of 7 talented creators based in Malang, Indonesia. Growing from a like-minded friendship forged in the early years of Instagram and consolidated through the pandemic, Anoora has quickly become a creative powerhouse.

Being a diverse team of creative minds has allowed Anoora to be open to many projects maximising the pool of styling, photographic and editing talents amongst them. They have been a welcomed asset to our own creator platform and an inspiration to our community through their professionalism, work ethic and stunning delivered content.

The Anoora team have contributed to over a dozen different projects for our Creatively Squared customers. From perfectly arranged branded content for customers such as Ponds, Haagen Dazs and Suave, lifestyle content for Colgate and TRESemmé to amazing stop motions for Suntory Tea and many more.

Keep scrolling on to meet the team from Anoora and be inspired by this talented team.

Get to know Anoora

Unexpected coincidence - maybe that's the best word that can describe all of our journeys. Vicky and Deby were the first people that start the story of Anoora. We started as acquaintances on Instagram back around 2014.

When we were getting to know each other on Instagram, we use to travel to create content just for fun. We never thought about making a business out of it at all. Fast forward to 2020, Vicky was stuck in Labuan Bajo due to the pandemic. He contacted Deby to work together to build a product photography business, it turned out to be very welcomed by the market!

After several projects, Vicky was able to get back to Malang, and eventually Anoora began. Our team has continued to grow over the last 2 years and we consider the whole team a family. When we are not doing photoshoots we usually do some grilling, take a walk around the sunflower fields, or just go to visit coffee shops around Malang.

Suntory Tea+ lifestyle stop motion from the team at Anoora. Source: Creatively Squared

We started around still life photography with beauty products. We love to give soul to the product that we shoot, and we continually grow and become who we are right now. We decided to expand our own capabilities and work to include some of human elements and push our creative boundaries.

Our aesthetic is all about being beautiful, vibrant, and extraordinary. For us, art is arguably always meaningful. Meaning can be present when many people simply like the art itself - great work is work that many people can enjoy and subconsciously creates a lasting impact. That is our own committed goal - to always give our best in every piece of content we create.

Anoora’s journey with Creatively Squared

Our journey started when the account manager Kate sent us an email at the end of September 2020 offering us a work opportunity for an Indonesia-based project. Long story short, that's how we know and became part of Creatively Squared creator team.

The project we had with Tresemme Indonesia was the most challenging so far. We needed to step out of our comfort zone. Most of the time we work around Malang City, but after we review the brief, we think we cannot do the shoot in Malang. We need to go to Surabaya, rent a villa, and collaborate with a talent and hairstylist. It took us 2 days to finish production and we had to go to Surabaya the night before to do some rehearsal shoot, and the next morning we do the photoshoot session. One of the things that we were afraid of was doing some revision but luckily it turned out well, and we are very happy to have a chance to do work for Tresemme.

Tools of the trade

We are using Canon 5D Mark III, Tripod from Fotopro X-Go HR Chameleon. Our favorite lenses are Canon 85 MM and 100 MM Macro lenses. Our favorite go-to editing program is Adobe Photoshop & Lightroom.

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Anoora’s creative process

We love to work with natural ingredients every brand has its special treatments and we love to shoot in our lovely studio.

Creative ideas can come from anywhere. We are always trying new things to be able to realize what is in our minds and imagination. As an 8-person team, we usually gather to do some brainstorming, do some fun stuff, and multiply references. Pinterest has always amazed us with a variety of very inspiring images. Through the references that are there, then comes the existence of new science, and new photo techniques. The impressions of "wanting to try immediately" and create the same photo using it as the reference, which also ends up training us to get into the zone during the creative process.

Prior to our photoshoot, we always do some briefing and arrange some storyboards before we do the photoshoot.

Who inspires Anoora

We are inspired by these talented creators @florencejamescollective , @makidotvn, and @juradastudio.

Top creative tips

No matter the situation, there are no better sources of light than sunlight. We mostly prefer to use natural light as many times as possible, because the mood, the colour, and the feel are different rather than using artificial light. And that is the secret of most swatches shoot, it's all created with sunlight.

What’s next?

Mastery of lighting. We believe that lighting is a key factor in creating a successful image. Lighting determines not only brightness and darkness, but also tone, mood, and atmosphere. Therefore, it is necessary to control and manipulate light correctly to get the best texture, vibrancy of colour, and luminosity on your subjects and when we can master it we could create many more amazing pictures for our lovely partners.

A fun stop motion by Anoora for Lazada. Source: Creatively Squared

Thank you to the team at Anoora for giving us a glimpse into your creative process and your journey so far with Creatively Squared. Your studio is a valued part of our creator team and we are looking forward to continuing the creative collaboration. We recommend visiting their instagram page to follow their journey and be inspired by more of their stunning work.