a love letter to wong kar wai 

model + stylist: sasha tang

creative directed and shot by maia feruzi

Friday May 26th 2023 8:30pm

📍Chinatown, Boston MA

shot on: canon eos rebel t3i 18-24mm 75-300mm

concept

This shoot was supposed to be my first step into fashion photography but instead became my first step into cinematic photography and I’ve been craving more ever since. I reached out to Sasha initially because I loved her unique styling and interesting sense of fashion. She’s a master in fabric layering and creating interesting silhouettes. The more we talked about this shoot the quicker it turned into something more and when we began shooting it was clear that we were headed into a different direction. That being said, we ran with it. Chinatown in Boston is very small and quite crowded but we were able to find a few quiet spots with less neon lights to shoot.

I didn’t want to use flash which gives a very different feel to photos and instead imagined my perspective as that of a lover capturing their partner during a date. From lover it turned to cameraman following the lead actress during a late night walk as she reflected on the decisions in her life that brought her to this point. As I began editing I knew exactly who we were channeling during this shoot, none other than master of color and mood, Wong Kar Wai. Bright yellows and greens, blurry and grainy imagery, but powerful emotions of love and longing, and thoughtful reflection throughout. I was thrilled and completely committed to the aesthetic. I used to be the type of photographer who believed as long as the photo was crisp and in focus that made for a good photo. But photography is an art form and in art you can do whatever you’d like to accomplish your goal, if you have one. As many artists know, their best projects are the ones they created for the pure joy of creation.

social media aspect

Since the finished products of this shoot felt like a tribute to Wong Kar Wai I wanted to fully embody that when sharing it online and decided to experiment with overlaying lines from some of his most famous movies atop the images. I was surprised by how well they fit the mood of the shoot considering that wasn’t the shoots mission when we started. It’s also interesting to see the stories you can create simply by changing which part of the photo you show. I could not have the full image in each frame so I had to adjust what was shown based on what I felt fit the words above it. This process made me all the more excited to dive into the world of cinematography and experiment with more of its elements.