montrose mother 

model: kailey sedlacek

creative directed and shot by maia feruzi

Wednesday may 14th 2025 6:30am

📍montrose beach, Chicago, il

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

concept

I met Kailey during a trade exchange where I helped a tattoo artist with POTS move in exchange for a free tattoo. I didn’t know what to expect out of the day beyond moving boxes but I definitely didn’t expect to also make a friend, a creative kin at that. Kailey and I instantly bonded over our love for the arts specifically the weird, the spooky, the sexy and the very queer. I’m not sure exactly how it came about, perhaps I mentioned wanting to do a beach sunrise shoot and Kailey expressed excitement and a plethora of outfit options including a handmade bloodied wedding gown that spoke directly to my inner weird kid; next thing I knew we were at the beach at 6am with a bag of fake blood and creative souls bursting with inspiration.

Kailey came prepared for any and everything with multiple outfit choices, veils, and a bag of fake blood to boot. I was ready to get crazy. For all our props and energy, we didn’t have a clear plan about what we wanted to create. We just showed up ready for whatever and let the shoot take us where we felt like going. The beach had a dock, an artfully piled bunch of boats, and barren beachball stands that resembled something of a graveyard. We got dressed and got to work. I found the story as we went or rather the story found us and begged to be told. A runaway bride. A woman scorned. Returned to the water where she lost her love to cleanse herself anew. To curse the fate she was given in blood and tears. It’s giving women in black. A soul enshrouded in grief. Drunk on pleasure to blind the pain. These were the phrases running through my mind as I snapped away, posing minimally as Kailey’s excellent body awareness left little room for improvement.

Despite the overtly sexual and spooky nature of the styling I felt like the images were invoking a sense of sadness that created a really lovely juxtaposition. That came across in my editing as well, as I really only enjoyed the final set of images with the fake blood in color. Despite the multiple colored veils we used I felt like black and white delivered a stronger sense of storytelling than the color versions of the photos did. Even in the realm of black and white I battled between a softer and a darker more contrasted and grungy approach to the editing. At the end of the debate I just used both styles depending on what I thought fit best for the photo. This was for fun so why not choose everything?

The last section of the images feel like we finally found our motif and leaned completely and heavily into it. It’s very much dark witch in the middle of her ritual and I love it. It was interesting to reflect on this process because as I was editing the photos I was honestly very underwhelmed compared to the feelings I had when shooting it. Either my skill level wasn’t high enough to capture what I wanted or my lack of a strong direction in the beginning truly affect the overall process more than I thought it would. It was still an interesting exercise in what can be made when we let our minds wander without a true focus.