When I reached out to Ms. StefaniaFerrario a year ago via Instagram, I put it into the universe that we would someday meet up and when I didn't hear back instantly (because that's what we expect, right?) I assumed she was busy living the dream of being a model and doing her thang (which she was!). But let me rewind a bit: My first "meeting" with Stefania, was watching her interview in the Embrace documentary and watching her speak so eloquently about what it was like being a "plus" model who is between a size 8 and 10 and explaining about the terrible things that women would do to themselves and their bodies to be accepted into the modeling industry. As soon as I saw her poise and sparkle on camera, I started following her on the Instagram. Now, I had never really had the guts to reach out to professional models before, but for some reason I reached out to her because our dual passion for body neutrality and celebrating the uniqueness in humans was something that connected us. Anywho, fast foward now a YEARish after I sent the original message asking to work together and I commented on one of her insta stories about a book she had found! I guess, in responding to my message, she had seen that I had previously messaged her about working together and messaged me back telling me about the book AND THEN SAYING YES WE SHOULD WORK TOGETHER. I almost dropped my phone....but I tried to play it cool, because I didn't want to scare her off. But in Winnipeg, in my studio, I was fucking FAN-GIRLING. HARD. Anywho, she had just moved to New York to model with IMG Models (she's originally from Australia), so I took literally the only free four days I had off in the last 6 months and booked a flight to NYC. Sometimes, you just gotta take a chance. Now, this sweetheart also let me stay with her, which was freaking incredible, because she, like me, gets inspired at the drop of a hat so we found ourselves shooting throughout the day and even one evening at midnight (as you will see in another chapter later on!). So, the day I flew in, I had a hiccup with my luggage at the airport, but we ended up shooting anyway! Previously, I had found this adorable vintage cotton bra and panty set from the early 80s so I threw it in my bag last minute AND THANK THE GOOD LORD! It fit her like a damn glove. We paired that with her amazingly tiny pink bathroom and set to work on our first editorial! Now, as a she is a professional model, I doubted my skills for a second...especially when I pulled out JUST my camera and she said "You don't have any lights?" and look inquisitively at me. I choked down my fear and replied "Nope, I like shooting with ambient light." but in my brain was like "oh my fuck." But really, what was I going to do? I work best under pressure and have way more fun creating, so somehow we managed to throw together literally one of my favorite editorials EVER because it is lifestyle, but also bad ass. Oh, Stefania is also a big proponent in saying no to Photoshop! So, while her images have been color corrected and color toned, there is no skin retouching on this fierce babe! So, now that you have the low-down on how we met, I am going to let you get to enjoying this delightful session we did! I introduce to you Ms. Stefania - Chapter 1:
