My muse on film (Patreon)

Diana

This shoot with Diana was done entirely on film, without a single digital safety net. A full-on experiment. Film + studio lights + a styling approach that is definitely not my usual vibe + a handful of random references that caught my attention that week. I walked into the shoot having absolutely no idea what was going to happen.

My conclusions:

1. When you shoot something “new” for yourself - it hurts much less when it doesn’t turn out the way you imagined))) Honestly, you can’t be disappointed if you had zero expectations to begin with.

2. If you forget what film you loaded into the camera and confidently think you’re shooting Kodak Gold 200 while in reality it’s XP2 400 - the scans will magically turn out great. Now I try to overexpose my film by 2 stops on purpose. (The main rule: never, ever mention this to the lab).

3. For experiments you need a model who also enjoys experimenting and feels amazing in a styling that is totally new for you. That was the case here. I was way more stressed than she was.

4. And the main thing - if in the middle of the shoot you suddenly realize that all your references went to shit and absolutely nothing looks like what you planned… lean into it. Push the experiment into an even bigger experiment. Sometimes chaos is the best creative direction.

And one more thing: I didn’t save film that day - I shot a lot. A lot. And in the end the results were nowhere near as bad as I imagined right after the shoot. Actually, I even enjoyed the process of styling something that doesn’t feel like “me” at all - and watching it somehow work.

Maybe sometimes you really do need to burn a little extra film and step outside of yourself to realize that your crazy idea wasn’t that crazy after all)))