On June 17 and 18, 2022 I was privileged to work with a great team of creatives at the Chateau de Courriere in Belgium. I teamed up with friend and stylist Zoi Gorman who found the locations and expertly coordinated the shoot. Even her husband was roped into the act and provided much needed support! Our team consisted of:

Models: Emma Helena, Kate Ri, Mischkah Scott, Quinn Linden

Makeup: Flore Van Dorpe

Hair: Sha Vlijter

Assistant: Sissi Senuchki, Tina Zhen

Videography: Philippe Guedon of Normal Magazine

The Chateau offered many options for us as can be seen in these pictures.

It helped to formulate several storylines and themes. One of the most prominent is “Chateau des Jalousies” where four women are gathered and whose emotions include love, lust, jealousy and loneliness as they try to discover themselves and how they relate to others. It includes a theme that is part of my larger works around the concept of transformation. In this case, a woman who struggles within herself between virtue and hedonism as symbolized by the characters. How does she manage that conflict? Is it possible to embrace her conflicting desires and somehow bring them together? And if she does, is she compromising who she should be or becoming a whole and complete person?

Kate represented the woman in question, Emma was Virtue, and Quinn most convincingly filled the role of Hedonism. Mischkah represented solitude and loneliness and apart from the conflicts of life. In solitude we often find answers but in loneliness we long for companionships. And in one image we see a baby representing innocence and newness.

The result of that story can be found here:

https://paulzhen.artstorefronts.com/chateau-des-jalousies

I have outlined the broad brushstrokes of the story but it is always up to the reader to put the frames into their own sequence, interpret the images as they desire, and create an ending suiting them. My images simply represent moments in time.

Since the shoot was in the middle of summer, the sun set at almost 10:00 p.m. Shooting that late was impractical; as such, to have consistency with my love of the dark and noir look, many of the images were shot during the day and I painstakingly converted them to night. Although natural light (and finishing natural light images) is easier all the way around when diffused, I choose the night look for its drama and mood. Sometimes I add color filters or an overall color tone to enhance that. I hope you will enjoy the results of this shoot!

Paul