SVA MPS Digital Photography Thesis Project:

Seeking My Style in the City

Jenny Lee

I have always felt that the sense of self is intrinsically linked to styles of dress. The street and studio self-portraits in Seeking My Style in the City explore this idea. Each image was created in partnership with an established New York City fashion stylist. It often takes its inspiration from characters and motifs from TV, movies, magazines, and social media platforms. Yet each image is also an instance of me “trying on” different fashion-based personas, which I often take to a visual extreme to make a stronger statement.

The concept behind each image is often brand-based. Through my own growing connections within the fashion industry, I’ve been able to obtain the proprietary clothing and accessories needed for the shot. Other clothing comes from my own wardrobe or a friend’s, and some items, including props, are purchased.

Full Magazine PDF

Unapologetic Elegance

Powerful, bold, confident, charismatic persona inspired by the movie character Miranda Priestly from “The Devil Wears Prada.” This shoot shows my passion, love, and desire for fashion.

Styled by Mariela Suaya

Photographer: Agen Xin

Make Up Artist : Sang Le

Timeless Appeal

Sexy, Confident, and somewhat seductive personality represents my feminine side as a woman who wants to be more attractive and have high self-esteem.

Styled by Mariela Suaya

Photographer: Agen Xin

Make Up Artist : Sang Le

Match Point

Charms

Girly, charming, optimistic, and calm personality. This photo shoot character was inspired by the movie Challengers. The main character is Tashi Donaldson. We tried to make a regular tennis outfit more editorial so that we could be more creative and playful with different clothing and accessory pieces.

Styled : Mariela Suaya

Photographers : Zona Chen

Photo Assistant & bts: Hedieh Sorouri

Innocent Secrets

The very soft, romantic, and dreamy side of me dreams about the younger self wanting to be loved, just like in the movie we all watched as children.

Styled : Megan Tischhauser

Photographers : Agen Xin

Outfit Sponsor : TOD + TOM

Whispers of Roses

Falling rose petals symbolize innocence, who is in my mid-20s and have lost the innocent side that I used to have as a young kid. The pearls represent the unknown and things I still have to learn and experiment with as a young woman and adult.

Styled : Megan Tischhauser

Photographers : Agen Xin

Outfit Sponsor : TOD + TOM

Denim & Pearls

All-denim styling is one of my favorite ways of styling, so we wanted to incorporate as much denim as possible and be more playful with pearl chain purses, which can also elevate the overall look.

Styled : Mariela Suaya

Photographers : Zona Chen

Photo Assistant & bts: Hedieh Sorouri

Make Up Artist : Sang Le

Outfit Sponsor : Laurence & Chico

Pink

Panache

Pink has represented me as a person really well since I was a kid. Everything I had was pink, and I thought it would be amazing to have as much pink as possible to take it extreme and see how we could style different shades and tones of pink. This shoot was inspired by Sharpay Evans from the movie “High School Musical.”

Styled : Mariela Suaya

Photographers : Zona Chen

Photo Assistant & bts: Hedieh Sorouri

Make Up Artist : Sang Le

Outfit Sponsor : Laurence & Chico

Soccer jerseys were the one sport I needed to learn to incorporate into my personal style. I tried to bring in soccer players or fans around me with their passion and personalities to express this character and outfit. This is the photoshoot; 1 was inspired by people around me daily.

Striker's attitude

Styled : Mariela Suaya

Photographers: Zona Chen

Photo Assistant & bts: Hedieh Sorouri

Check out SPECIAL Edition NEWS PAPER of the project

This whole project is very, very special to me personally. It is my first time designing a book after learning graphic design professionally in graduate school. For the exhibition, I wanted to show a real-life advertisement print, so it would be powerful to show the main image of the whole project, which shows the identity I look up to the most.

In the image, newspapers represent the character's job and professional field from the movie, and newspapers would make lots of sense and be more creatively interesting for the audience as well. My career goal is to be a creative director for a magazine company one day, so it would be an amazing opportunity to learn how to design and create newspapers. Thank you so much to my professor, Debra Klomp Ching, who is also an amazing curator, for this beautiful recommendation for the exhibition.

If you want to get a physical copy of the newspaper, please come and join us for the IN-FLUX Exhibition at SVA Gramercy Gallery from October 9th to 26th, 2024. For those who cannot make it in time for the exhibition, I would like to share the PDF version of the newspaper, so please click the link below to check it out!

In this newspaper, the stylists and I share our insights and thought processes for each photoshoot, so if you are curious about the behind-the-scenes stories, I HIGHLY recommend checking them out!

News Paper (Link)

Acknowledgement & Thank You

Before anything, thank you for letting me join James Estrin to start this project and being the first person to support it.

Through this project, I have learned so much about it in various ways,

from working with many outstanding individuals with similar passions and a love for photography and fashion.

I want to express my deep appreciation to my team members:

Mariela Suaya, Agen Xin, Zona Chen, Hedieh Sorouri, and Sang Le.

You have all been a source of inspiration and support.

I also want to thank my MPS Digital Photography Class of 2024 classmates and

my friends who are all over the States now. You guys have been my source of strength and inspiration.

Lonnie Graham, my professor since Penn State,

Thank you so much for always believing in me and supporting me since day one.

I would like to express my sincere appreciation to all of my professors from graduate school:

Tom P. Ash, Marko Kovacevic, Sara Seferian, Debra Klomp Ching, Micheal Kaminski, Jamie Cody Rosman, Julie Grahame, Ben Bobkoff,

Laura ONeill, Jack Reznicki, Brooklyn McTavish, Micheal Foley, Samantha Isom, Greg Gorman, Elizabeth Avedon, Russell Hart, Thereses Gietler, Stella Kramer, and Allen Furbeck, who taught us and discussed everything with us throughout the master's program.

Lastly, I would like to thank my family, who are all the way to Korea and are supporting me from afar.

As an only child and a daughter, I am acutely aware of the distance that separates us and

the sacrifices you make to support me. 내가 엄마 아빠의 꿈, 원동력, 소원이듯, 엄마 아빠도 나한테 그런 존재야.

항상 멀리서 나 응원해주고 지지해줘고 고마워. 항상 많이 보고 싶고 많이 사랑해.

Even though we only see each other once or twice a year, I always carry you in my heart and send all my love.

Thank you to all, and lots of love,

Jen / Jenny