poetry book cover 

model: nova valenzuela

creative directed and shot by maia feruzi

sunday may 18th 2025 6:30am

📍labagh woods, Chicago, il

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

concept

Nova currently has a poetry book set to be published soon and reached out to me to work on making the cover photo for her book; the highest honor! As a fellow poet this scratched so many creative itches. Nova came prepared with a mood board and references for the specific vision she had; whimsical, soft, dreamy, essentially ‘she was a fairy’ type vibes. That’s nothing that me and a little forehead grease can’t accomplish! That’s not a joke either, a little forehead grease on the lens gives it the glowy effect you see in the picture to the right. A little trick of the trade ;). We headed out to Labagh Woods a little before morning golden hour ready to make the dream a reality.

When shooting with Nova she was as much open to direction as she was readily able to provide posing ideas she wanted to try. After some discussion there were a few specific shots she wanted: perched or walking on a log, sat surrounded by grass, and something close to water. We walked the trail until we found spots that met the background requirements and got to work. Like always I did not pose her unless it was clear guidance was needed and mostly just had her relaxing in her spot. She took her shoes off to aid with the whole fairy persona which is also a great grounding technique and a way to relax in an otherwise awkward position. Her wife accompanied her on the shoot and was great to bounce ideas off and help with jokes to get some authentic smiles out of her, my favorite part of the photography process :). When it came time to edit, although the morning was overcast and the only glow we had was one provided by my forehead, I was still able to get that soft woodland creature feel through some minor color and light changes. I warmed the photos up by increasing the yellows and reds and reserved the black and white edits for the blurry photos to add some drama and mystique that you can’t always get with a crisp colored photo. Through this method I think we achieved what we set out to!