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Friday was one of the most eventful days of the entire year. From being ditched by a client in SoHo at 9am in the morning, to running into Lil Durk on Canal Street, to preparing myself to do exclusive live coverage for an event by LIM College’s most visionary creatives, I was heavily taxed with task and responsibility. However, what I looked forward to the most that day was attending Fake Socialite NYC’s photo shoot for their latest spring collection that dropped Friday morning. I took the subway all the way to Euclid Ave (as in, I essentially rode to the end of the line on the C train) and walked to a generally modern neighborhood in Brooklyn with modest apartment buildings scaling the vast area. Deep in Brooklyn, I had a hunch that I might have known the owners of the studio.

And low and behold, after FSNYC owner Curtis Bryant opened the door and showed me around inside the space, I went into the other room and finally met the owners – Charley and Jullian of OG Studios. I couldn’t stop laughing from how obvious this all was – where else could have Curt shot his clothing line’s newest collection? Knowing he had thrown his last birthday party in the studio, the joke finally settled and I began working like I had been friends with these people for months rather than associates in weeks.

First, I met Trae, the soulful female model from Jersey City, and automatic fell in love with her spirit and creativity.Being a filmmaker and overall visual composer, I knew from her composed demeanor that she must have had some theater background, later finding out she graduated in 2010 from the New School of Research with a degree in acting. Silently referring to her as Badu in my head every time we conversed, I watched from a respectable distance of other black visual artists do exactly what they loved, supported by those who loved what they did as much as they loved themselves, and treated each other with the love they both deserved.

Male model Sam walked in not too long after the beginning of the shoot, and because I hadn’t done studio work in almost 4 years, I thought I could practice on someone, I took a quick headshot of him before Curt resumed the set again. The chemistry, whether synthetic or organic, that I witnessed being developed between Trae and Sam was surely something I admire most about visual art – to watch your vision literally manifest itself in the creative direction of both yourself and the subjects in a scene. Later after the shoot was finished, I tagged along with my self-proclaimed mentor Trae to her other appointments in Brooklyn and Manhattan. I only went to one in Forte Greene, watching her being photographed by this amazing female photographer named Sioux. I’m sure I’ll be seeing many of the people I met this weekend fairly soon, possibly in the same space.

Check out FSNYC’s latest collection on their site, and also be sure to follow them on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. Thank you again Curt for allowing me to excavate OG Studios’ property for the day and photograph alongside yourself in documenting FSNYC’s growth and development as an enterprise and social movement. Look forward to working with you all again!