Here’s looking at you, kid. — (Click here to download the promo hi-resolution.)

With the pandemic in our rear-view mirror and people taking to the skies again for business.  It’s time to celebrate & honor 2023’s United Chamber of Commerce nominees for Inspirational Woman of the year.    

What better way to display these five nominees than in a group portrait, pre-boarding a morning flight out of Van Nuys Airport (VNY).  Because of VNY’s connection to the classic 1943 movie “Casablanca,” (It was the location for the airport scenes with Bogey & Ingrid Bergman, and of course, Claude Rains and Paul Henreid too), and Los Angeles International Airport on the verge of celebrating it’s 100-year centennial.  We thought photographing this year’s Inspirational class on the VNY tarmac, in magic morning light, was, to turn a phrase — the beginning of a beautiful friendship.     

My thanks to Van Nuys Airport for granting me access to photograph their grounds, and to Clay Lacy for allowing me to include his timeless Douglass DC-3 into my scene.  It heightened the dramatic effect of air travel from a bygone era, and contributed to the nostalgic feel of the scene for this year’s class of Inspirational Women.

Best, Scott Bogunia