My latest editorial named DEATH VALLEY combines storytelling with fashion. I wanted to show an individual's journey, deciding consciously to choose only one model for each role. „Death“ in this case does not refer solely to an ending life but can be seen also as a metaphor for an inner death everyone experiences after a certain loss or even personal failure. The powerful Queen of Death, dressed in black and crowned like a ruler, personates loss, foreordination and dolefulness. At the same time she's contrary to the young and deathly pale girl, fading away, dwindling away in death's arms. But at the very end this girl is going back to nature, a place where everyone's bodies return and find peace. Inspired by the colors of rocks and endless desert areas in America's Death Valley, I've decided to use a dark brown colored background. To emphasize the dark and melancholic atmosphere of the whole scenery I've chosen to work with arid branches as a symbol of natura morta. Holding the branches in specific ways, the model underlines furthermore the character she personates: we see a scepter-like branch in the Queen of death's hand, but a tangle of filigrane branches surrounding the weak girl like a cobweb. Using historical costumes created by fashion design students and adapted from ancient artworks the whole scenery is transfered into a surreal world. Credits: Photography, Retouch & Concept: Lisa Jureczko (Lisa Emilia Photography) Model: Sonja Lin Kirsch MakeUp & Hair: Tanja Stiffi Yellow Dress: Caroline Melles Black Dress: Tu Anh Nguyen (Secmec) Brown Dress: Eugenia Singer Black Headpiece & Golden Hair Accessories: Lisa Jureczko
