As the first signs of spring started to express themselves, Nazanin, an Iranian photographer based in Toronto, decided to shoot a fashion editorial. She wanted to capture the beauty of the spring represented by the cherry blossom. So that is how her journey to find the creative team has begun.

The Team

Nazanin choice of model fell on a Canadian redhead beauty. A talented artist/ actress by the name of Alana Pancyr. One of my friends saw the ad posted by Nazanin in which she was looking for a makeup artist and a fashion stylist. So I approached Nazanin and she welcomed me to her team, which later was joined by Angelina Masich. A fantastic makeup artist. Isn’t it amazing how a bunch of strangers gather together to create a piece of art?

The Vision

According to Nazanin vision, the clothes should be a mix of feminine and flowy vibes. Since Alana, the model, is a redhead, I wanted the clothes to be in colours that will bring out the beauty of her pink-undertone skin and red hair.

Styling usually reminds me of Lego. At least that’s the way I do it. Looks dont just come out of the blue. I literally build them. Changing one pieces from one outfit to another, or trying to see how one garment will look in three different compositions. Sometimes, I find a piece – close to the end of my outfit-building process – that can change all the ensembles created before. However, it can be risky because you might end up changing the whole concept. Time is not a luxury a stylist always have. But this is where experience comes handy.

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The Shoot

The preparation for the shoot was done at a starbuck’s near high park. Among indifferent customers, lovely comments or bewildered stares, we were laughing at a couple of suspicious meet ups. A clearly not-knowing-each-other guys would meet, greet, talk for a minute or two, one will pay the other one a decent amount of money in cash and then they leave. In a matter of 40 minutes in happened twice. Our conclusion: “girls, we are clearly in the wrong industry!”

Spring in Canada is actually not spring until it is summer out of a sudden. We kept checking the weather and postponing the shoot for a couple of times. Once we arrived to the park, we headed to the cherry blossom spot. Suprise.. There aren’t any!! Well, there is nothing we can do now but shoot. Later our worst enemy hits us. RAIN. Every makeup artist, stylist or the next door girl knows that rain is the worst nightmare for hair and makeup. Guess what? We survived that just as well.

The toughest part was that Alana, the model, was cold. We would literally throw on her coat on her and then a couple of extra scarves and jackets and rub her back while Angelina, the makeup artist, fixes her eyeshadow or hair. Truth to be told, she is a fighter. She kept saying “I’m alright. I’m alright”

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A Notion

An outsider looking in might think that fashion is crazy, unnecessary luxury or glamorous. Let’s leave the first two notions aside for now and talk about the glam part. It is glamorous to this person because what he sees is the end product. He does not know what problems or difficulties the production team might have gone through.
I’m not trying to complain or or get your sympathy on what happened during my shoot. All I am trying to say is that next time you like a fashion picture, stop for a moment to contemplate the amount of work done to create it. And in case you want to criticize it, try to do something similar in a smaller scale first. Believe me, you will either discover a hidden talent in you or you will minimize your negative thoughts about other people’s work.

Finale

The photographer submitted this editorial for Salyse magazine with a publishing request. She asked me if I had a suggestion for a title. Since we didn’t have the planned cherry blossoms in our photos, I told her let’s name it “the spring which never came”.

Photographer: Instagram.com/nazaninmirsharifi

Model: Instagram.com/alanapancyr

HMUA: Instagram.com/angelinambeauty