Portrait
I recently photographed rapper and songwriter BIA for HYPEBAE, HYPEBEAST’S female editorially driven site, and it was an absolute pleasure. BIA is currently signed to Pharrell's i am OTHER record label as part of a collaboration with RCA Records.
While BIA's presence is quite commanding and bold, we slowed things down a little and captured some quiet moments that day.
Read MoreI came into the shoot with an open mind and approach. We started with a clean slate and started layering emotions and fragments of stories that we came up with together. At some point during our shoot, I started to see emotions and feelings coming through Allie that I had just experienced myself--things that I'm still working through.
When you start to see yourself moving, feeling, and reacting right in front of your eyes through somebody else it feels so magical.
Read MoreI recently filmed Los Angeles based musician Graham Shafer performing two songs from his debut album, Where the Light Came Through. In between takes, I was able to capture this still of Graham. It's a great album and it was beautiful to hear him sing live.
Read MorePortraits of Keta Meggett also known as Keta Rush from Women of Wrestling (WOW). Keta has an incredible story of perseverance and courage that I couldn't properly sum up in one post. Keta took PTSD from a serious trauma and turned into a successful career as an actress, pro-wrestler, Muay Thai & Jiujitsu fighter, and anti-bullying activist. She runs Team Bully Buster, a self defense program that helps young people protect themselves in dangerous situations. You can also see Keta as Rayna on HBO'S Room 104. Keta is truly an inspiration.
I'm grateful to have my image of Devon included in the Girl Gaze book (out now) alongside such beautiful work with great meaning and substance. When I made this portrait, I didn't know what was going in Devon's life. We had met just a few minutes earlier and I was struck by his kindness and warmth. It wasn't until some time had passed that he shared with me what he was experiencing then and how it came through in his photo. In Devon's words:
"This picture was taken at a time in my life where everything was going wrong and I couldn't see it getting better anytime soon. I lost a lot of weight, I was depressed, and I was recovering from plastic surgery I had on my face from a car accident. I was living in a city where I had no family, no real friends, and was stuck in a failing relationship. I was booking a lot of modeling jobs, but my checks would never come on time, they were less than what I was supposed to get, or they just didn't come at all. There was one photo shoot that I did that I was really excited about; I had a huge billboard in West Hollywood on Melrose for this photographer's studio. I told my mom about it and that I was all settled into my new place in West Hollywood. She was taking a trip to Las Vegas and wanted to stop by to see me on her way there. A few days before she came to visit me I found out that my billboard was taken down because a new store was opening and they needed to put their signage up. There was also something that went wrong in my apartment so I had to throw out all of my furniture and most of my things away. My eyes were also affected somehow by my surgery; they were dry, extremely itchy, and blood shot red. I told my mom that I was doing fine in the new city that I moved to, but that was far from the truth and this picture is a visual representation of how my life was going. I had nothing. I felt empty, broken, and defeated. The only thing I looked forward to was seeing my mom, but I did not want her to see me in this condition."
I want to thank Devon Walker for being so open and trusting me. Thank you to the Girl Gaze Project, Amanda de Cadenet, Lynsey Addario, Inez van Lamsweerde, and Sam Taylor Johnson for the opportunity and everything that you do for the creative community. Do yourself a favor and purchase this beautiful book by Rizzoli on Amazon!
*Cover photo by Amber Zeekaf with book design by Su Barber.
These are more photos of Devon that we made together.
#girlgaze
Ethan is a realtor based in Westlake, California. He was interested in a portrait that captured a little bit of his personality for some promotional materials. We shot this fairly close to where Ethan grew up and since he loves being outdoors and hiking, we thought it would be fitting to shoot in the mountains. As a bonus, we spotted some beautiful deer along the way.
Alexis Ordonez with Next LA
I recently worked with model Ben Dahlhaus with Next LA, PMA Hamburg, and Models 1 London. While I do love conceptualizing and planning my shoots, I occasionally will do more of a spontaneous shoot with nothing planned ahead of time. I find that these type of shoots help keep my mind open to the creative process and connect me even closer to my intuition. Hair by Kenye Hart and wardrobe by Betty Barajas.
I made some portraits of Pierson Williams at Next Models LA. Pierson has done a lot of commercial campaigns with companies like Nike and Adidas. For our time together, I sought to capture something more personal.
There is a little boy inside the man who is my brother... Oh, how I hated that little boy. And how I love him too.
-Anna Quindlen
Models: Joshua Wilson with Next Models, Dayne Eigner with M
Wardrobe Stylist: Sabrina Che
Dean Michael with Next Models LA
Photography by Kat Kaye
Models: Leah Peterson & Claire Layman @ Hoffman Models, Kansas City
Hair & Makeup: Paige Pelfrey
Dedicated to a friend I once had. While the world we constructed and inhabited was quite small, at least we could be alone together.
Video coming soon
I recently had the pleasure of making some portraits of one of my favorite models, the ever inspiring Shaun Ross.
My photo series, My Skin, My Body is being featured on Udee for a second installment. In the series, I photograph women in nature with no retouching. The feature includes an interview I did with Anette Puskas who sat in for the series. Udee is doing some amazing things and I'm so honored to be a part of it! See the link below for the feature!
http://udee.co/skin-body-part-2/
A few images from a commissioned shoot for Zoe's agencies in Asia.
I was commissioned to make some portraits of hair stylist extraordinaire Julie Daniel, who also works as a national design artist for Neuma Beauty. You can get in touch with Julie through her website www.JulieDanielHair.com.
