Quiet Tension is a conceptual underwater series selected by Vogue Italia’s PhotoVogue platform. The project explores the emotional space between stillness and release - where the body hovers, fabric reacts, and silence becomes expressive. Through the lens of underwater movement, the imagery challenges traditional ideas of control, composition, and the female form. Created as a personal series and later curated by Vogue’s editorial team, the work reflects a continued exploration of fashion as sculpturem - fluid, weightless, and charged with subtle intensity.
Styled with translucent layers, underwater studio, Marseille.
Soft collapse of silk against breath and body.
Single take, ambient light at 2.5m depth.
Visual Approach
Choreographing light, texture, and motion
Each frame was constructed around contrasts: softness and restraint, motion and pause, elegance and disorientation. Natural light played a key role in defining mood - filtered and fractured through the water’s surface to create painterly textures and tonal gradients.
Garments were selected for their movement quality - sheer silks, structured pieces, and sculptural forms that changed shape mid-drift. The model’s direction emphasized instinctive movement rather than posed control, resulting in imagery that feels alive and intuitive.
A pause between movements – silence, exhaled.
Captured at 1/250s to freeze the tension in fabric.
“Quiet Tension captured something truly rare - movement and emotion, suspended in time. Every frame felt intentional, poetic, and visually arresting.”
Francesca Marani, Photo Editor, Vogue Italia / PhotoVogue
A pause between movements – silence, exhaled.
Captured at 1/250s to freeze the tension in fabric.
Process & Execution
Underwater intuition and technical precision
Shot over a single day with natural light and minimal retouching, the series was driven by intuition and visual rhythm. It involved pre-planned sequences with moments left open for improvisation. Safety and clarity of vision were equally prioritized, with breath control and underwater signals guiding the collaboration.
The final set was submitted to Vogue Italia’s PhotoVogue and was selected for their curated digital gallery, celebrating image-makers redefining beauty and narrative through alternative lenses.
Shot in a single breath, under fractured midday light.
Look 4 – raw chiffon gown, handheld Canon R5.
A pause between movements – silence, exhaled.
Captured at 1/250s to freeze the tension in fabric.
Light drawn across her skin like brushstrokes.
Natural top light, no modifiers – edited in-camera.
Recognition
Selected, celebrated, and shared
Since publication, Quiet Tension has been featured in multiple visual blogs, shortlisted in the IPA Fine Art Category (2024), and praised for its compositional fluidity and emotive atmosphere.
*This is a sample project for portfolio purposes. No user data is collected.
