برچسب: Love

I’ve been searching, for some time now, for the answer to a quiet question: “How do you capture longing?”

The moment I learned about Sigma’s latest Art lens and its ability to create incredibly soft, elegant bokeh with high-contrast resolution, my mind immediately went to Peter Lindbergh.

If you’re not familiar with Lindbergh’s work, he is widely considered one of the most iconic fashion photographers of our time. He had a singular gift for capturing raw human beauty by stripping away the excess, leaving us with only intimacy. His passing truly broke my heart.

While sharing the final images made with the Sigma 135mm F1.4 DG | Art lens, I want to take you behind the stillness. Into the spark that lit the idea. The collaborations that gave it breath. The constraints that invited intimacy. And the accidents that turned into magic.

In fashion photography we always begin with a moodboard to help align the team around a shared visual language.

To create a story that honored Peter Lindbergh’s interpretation of timeless beauty, I turned to Pinterest, to curate some of my favorite Lindbergh photographs: moody black-and-whites, high contrast, minimal backgrounds, stunning natural light, and that ethereal bokeh that gives the subject space to breathe.

Looking at Peter’s work, I knew we had to cast someone with a raw, classic kind of beauty. We partnered with Elite Model Management to cast Bojana Reljic. She has a timeless presence, soft yet powerful.

For makeup, I wanted authenticity. We reached out to Lateisha Grant through P1M. Her approach is subtle, enhancing natural features without masking them.

It was important to me that Bojana looks like herself. Not a character, not a mannequin, but a woman with a story behind her eyes.

This season, I’ve been completely taken by the romanticism on the runways, especially the Chloé Winter 2025 collection by Chemena Kamali. Her layering of light fabrics to bring summer dresses into the cool of autumn, felt quietly rebellious. I loved the idea that elegance doesn’t need to be heavy-handed.

For styling, I brought on wardrobe stylist Rashi Bindra. She’s brilliant at translating high fashion into accessible looks. We talked about how every woman has a silk slip dress in her wardrobe, and how silk pajamas have become the new post-pandemic luxury.

That conversation led us to Silk Laundry, a Canadian-born brand creating timeless silk pieces. They generously lent us key items from their most recent collection. For jewelry, we worked with Michelle Ross, whose bold yet refined pieces added just the right amount of strength to the looks.

Shoot day called for thundershowers, but I still wanted to play in natural light to honor Lindbergh’s love for it. To ensure rain was a challenge we were ready for, we chose Neighbourhood Studios for its courtyard access and rain-proof equipment.

Luckily, there was only a light drizzle, and the cloud cover instead gifted us with a giant diffuser.

Working with one prime lens meant I had to move. A lot. I had to think more carefully about composition, framing, and angles before pressing the shutter.

It reminded me of when I first started in photography, working with just one lens and a lot of intention. That limitation became part of the poetry.

The first time I reviewed an image on the back of the camera, I gasped. The background didn’t just blur, it softened into silence. A visual hush.

A compression that pulled all attention to the subject without losing the richness of the surrounding textures. Despite shooting in low light, this lens allowed me to open the aperture to F1.4, letting in enough light to keep the mood without compromising detail.

Even dark tones against dark backdrops came alive. It honestly felt like I was shooting in medium format. I couldn’t believe how crisp and cinematic the images looked.

One of the biggest distinctions between editorial and advertising photography is the emotion in the details. I love motion blur, soft focus, and layering elements that feel like memory.

This lens gave me so much room to play. The ability to layer soft neutrals in both wardrobe and backdrop, and still have the subject sing through the frame, is a gift.

Further honoring Peter, the images are very lightly retouched, only to remove distractions. I worked with Danila Panfilov for his soft touch and minimalist approach.

To me, a fashion film is its own kind of poetry. It moves differently than traditional cinema. There is no beginning, middle, and end. The story is often circular, not linear. It is made to be watched in loops, whether on social media or playing on screens in showrooms. With each replay, the story settles deeper into your senses.

Observing the quiet solitude of the studio courtyard, I found myself reflecting and longing for more quiet mornings on my deck. I wanted to romanticize that experience.

Inspired by The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, a story of personal transformation and spiritual longing. I hoped to invite the viewer into an intimate moment.

To witness the vulnerability of someone reflecting on who they are becoming.

In the film, there’s a moment when the wind moves through the courtyard, and Bojana leans back in her chair, surrendering to it. Just for a second, with eyes closed. That is the kind of shot I live for. And the Sigma 135mm F1.4 DG | Art caught it beautifully. Every thread in soft motion.

Further, having recently listened to Lana Del Rey’s audiobook Violet Bent Backwards Over the Grass, I fell in love with her approach. Her book isn’t just read, it’s performed.

Her longing voice over the music was woven into something cinematic yet confessional. It gave me permission to approach this film in the same way.

So, I wrote a poem. A love letter, to play as the voiceover throughout the film, paired with a minimal score.

Like Lana’s poetry recordings, the audio is moody and raw. Not everything is explained, but everything is felt.

These are the kind of visuals that I love. When fashion isn’t about spectacle, but about memory, presence, and emotion.

Creating this story reminded me why I fell in love with photography and film in the first place. It’s about intimacy, memory, emotion.

The Sigma 135mm F1.4 DG | Art allowed me to shoot with intentionality, to capture softness in low light, to layer textures and time, all within the frame.

Thank you, Sigma, for inviting me to explore. For challenging me to tell a story with a single lens. And for giving me the space to honor the artists who have shaped me.

BEHIND THE SCENES

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Additional Credits:

Muse: Bojana Reljic

Director/DOP/ Photographer: Ara Coutts
Editor: Danila Panfilov
Costume: Rashi Bindra
Grooming: Lateisha Grant

BTS Director: Gajan Balan
BTS Cinematographer: Thamilini Balakumar

Director’s Assistant: Carter Gallie
2nd Assistant: Fred Abramov

Special Thanks to: Neighbourhood Studios, Silk Laundry, Michelle Ross, Elite Models, P1M

Music: “The Spanish Heart” by Olivier Olsen