Isn’t that just WICKED?! I am doing flips, I am so excited to share this shoot by my friend Ed Maximus today. If you’ve recently visited my revamped website, you’ve no doubt seen this shoot, and there are peeks on my Facebook Page as well. However, Tantalum Magazine gave us a shout out on their Facebook today since they published this in the May issue and I wanted to recap the shoot!

I love that Tantalum Magazine features each photographer from every issue, as they are also a very well curated magazine. On their site, they feature an interview with each photographer. Ed’s interview is worth reading and is inspiring to any artist. He talks about building the set, the hard work that goes into photography, and much more of course. You can read it here.

Our title page! I love the striking color of this Aqua by Aqua dress.

Reflecting on this shoot, I unfortunately immediately think of my own diva moment of being hungry and tired (it was only because I had driven about 7 hours before shooting that day, didn’t get to pre-style/tape shoes, and had to drive again 2 hours to go home). If you read the interview, it mentions Ed tends to play whatever music the model enjoys. Megan’s favorite is country music, which happens to be the opposite of what I like (on most days), so that didn’t help! Haha. I’m glad I communicated this to Ed, even though I did flip out. This made us work harder and focus on getting some badass shots.

Upon learning Ed’s motivation during this shoot (again, read the interview!), it made me laugh at my own self for getting so worked up that day and forced me to think back on why I style and continue to shoot. I love to create. While the fashion is an added bonus, I am all about experimenting with different colors and textures. The best part is collaborating with another true artist, who (/whom? haha) trusts my eye and is also dedicated to creating art.

Above is the still version of the animated image. Ed asked me for a lot of patterns, and while I knew the background was going to be super colorful, I liked the idea of creating a lot of contrast with black and white (which is also a huge trend this spring/summer). I also thought the combination of the chiffon and charmeuse in the top was interesting and played off that idea of contrast!

Here is ANOTHER picture of that outfit, haha. This is just a behind the scenes shot, but you can see each square on the set is individually placed. Crazy, right? I really appreciate Ed’s dedication to this shoot. Retoucher Steven Fendy did a bang-up job cleaning everything up, and Ed’s artful layering and toning in every image is awe-inspiring. Bravo, Mr. Maximus!

Much thanks to Ed, Megan, Zazou, Zazou’s delicious black bean burgers on fresh baked croissants, and Tantalum Magazine! Don’t forget to check out their feature and interview with Ed here.

Shoot Credits:
Photography | Ed Maximus
Retouching | Ed Maximus and Steven Fendy
Model | Megan Black
Stylist & some hair styling, haha | Argie Mitra, me!
Makeup & Hair | Zazou Pierre