photographer style swap

models: Aerin Cheung + Maia Feruzi

Saturday November 25th 2023 4:00pm

📍”The Fens” Boston, MA

creative directed + shot by: Maia Feruzi + Aerin Cheung

shot on: canon eos rebel t3i 18-24mm 70-300mm

concept

I met Aerin while photographing strangers around Northeastern Campus in cold portrait shoots and found out later that she was also a photographer. After chatting for a bit she brought up the suggestion of a creative collaboration where we both played the roles of model and photographer in the same shoot. I had never done that before and immediately jumped at the opportunity, thinking it would be extremely interesting to see the differences in our creative eyes when working with the same basic setting and styling elements. Originally we planned to do a dark and romantic wet shoot in her bathroom but that fell through when I arrived to her place. So instead of packing up and going home we walked to a nearby park and decided to try something anyways. The sun started to set beautifully and provided us with great warm and ambient lighting. There was still some foliage despite fall coming to an end and we were able to channel some dark romantic and moody vibes. We alternated taking charge of posing and deciding location within the park as well as the use of props[dried flowers] and created an organic flow between who was in front of and behind the camera.

While shooting Aerin I tried not to pose her too much and instead allowed her to interact with her environment the way she would naturally. I feel like this is the best way to capture the essence of the subject, and usually a story organically unfolds within the photos. I got the feelings of longing, reminiscence, alone but not lonely, and an overall theme of romantic nostalgia from her photos which I matched in mostly dark and cool edits. When Aerin shot me she gave me very specific instructions of how to position myself[which I appreciated since I am rarely in front of the camera and do not know my best angles] and seemed to be taking photos of me in my most attractive pose but also keeping me soft and comfortable in my facial expressions. Her color choices in editing were also very warm and leaned into the yellows and pinks of the sunset.

When editing these photos in black and white the images inspired me to write a little poem to go with it:

forgotten feelings in fall foliage
trapped in the wilted leaves you left me
bleeding yellows and blues I called out
the wind answered
ssshhhhh
sleep my child
spring will come before you’re ready

social media aspect

Rather than focus on bts for short form video content on Instagram, I decided to vlog this entire process since it was a first for me creatively. It was also my first time spending any amount of time with Aerin as I had only met her in person once briefly when I took her photos. To be able to create so much magic together despite the amount of firsts taking place was something very special to me and I wanted to capture the process in a non intrusive way, and share it for others who are curious but mostly for me to look back on in future years. Below is the vlog of that day from start to finish.