model off duty 

model + stylist: chris felt

creative directed and styled by maia feruzi

Thursday February 1st 2024 2:00pm

📍Chinatown, NYC

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

concept

A models day off around the city during fashion week. As Chris and I discussed the shoot we wanted to create I came into it with the idea of juxtaposition. Playing with contrast between the models styling and the setting. My brain conjured up images of high fashion couture in subways and flowing fabrics amidst concrete jungles. Chris expressed his desire to capture that models day off vibe, relaxed but still serving looks as they explored the city. We settled on Chinatown and Chris arrived in a thrown together fit. The styling perfectly satisfied both his and my vision, clean and simple as a stark contrast to the chaos of Chinatown as well as the relaxed but still stylish aura of a model. We decided to work where ever spoke to us as a fitting vibe for our combined concepts and play with flowing movement more so then posed and stationary shots. This is the result of our combined efforts.

When editing the photos I tried to create a 90s aesthetic as I added green hues and spotlight effects that stemmed from the baggy denim and tight tank styling, while still maintaining modernity with crisp imagery and higher contrast. Usually when I edit in black and white I make the images softer and don’t change much of the lighting or other settings. I essentially just put the raw photo into a soft and crisp bnw filter and it’s enough to change the overall tone of the photo. This time I experimented with different bnw and chose one with a green undertone to fit with my 90s film vision. I upped my contrast and and lowered the exposure. I wanted it to be dark and grungy with a rough but crisp feel to it if that makes sense.

social media

For this shoot I really wanted to take my time in releasing the photos and garner a lot of anticipation before the drop. I experimented with different video aesthetics/techniques and released three preview videos in the days leading up to the photo drop, stitching together bts videos to different popular music or hip hop tracks that I thought fit the shoots overall theme. The videos were also a test run of different editing techniques and I found that digital fast aesthetic received the most engagement from my followers. Although the shooting process itself was relatively simple the project itself required a lot of effort and coordination. Rather than a simple photoshoot this shoot felt like a collaborative art project between two different creatives and I wanted to give it the proper respect and patience that I thought it was due.