Soleil & Tatiana / Somewhere you’ve never been before
For my NYU Film Photography class, we were given the topic of Somewhere you’ve never been before to explore for our midterm. This could be interpreted any which way, but I decided to take it quite literally and venture out to Coney Island, where I had never been before.
I am often drawn to nature and water in my personal work, and found this theme coming up again as I gravitated to the Coney Island Beach. Casting best friends Soleil and Tatiana, I wanted to explore both their connection to each other and their surrounds. Both are artists of different disciplines, and exploring how they reacted and interpreted my creative direction was lovely to see with this project. I wanted to not only explore how artists and friends interact with each other physically, but also use the landscape to explore the solemn yet freeing feeling of having a place like the beach all to yourself, while the fog and gloominess of winter rolls in.
This series was shot on black and white 35mm film, so I was able to develop and print the photos by myself in the darkroom.
New York City / 2026
What I worked on:
Visual Research
Casting
Hair & Makeup Direction
Styling Direction
Location Scouting
Movement Research
Production
On-Set Direction
Photography
Film Development, Scanning & Printing
Selects
Editing
Full credits:
Creative Director, Photographer & Producer / Lauren Bessey
Photo Assistant & BTS Video / Jana Dimikj
Talent / Soleil Protos
Talent / Tatiana Sofia