Before COVID-19 brought us to the point of complete social distancing and self-isolation, I was lucky to kick off my pre-spring with a badass pair of people to shoot an off the cuff engagement session that oozed 90’s editorial, fashion and music vibes that have all heavily influenced my photography aesthetic since I was a pre-teen. My goal for 2020 was to be more forthcoming with my influences and ideas when I’m taking photographs as I’m trying to bring the momentum I had in 2019 straight into the new decade. Having spent so many years in the field of journalism, and now in the commercial, editorial and wedding photography spaces, I’ve always been mindful of the clients needs and expectations but have slowly realized that my own personal perspective and artistic instincts is usually what I’m hired for in the first place so it only makes sense to follow that light and philosophy if I want to create timeless and meaningful work while staying true to myself as an artist.
Alexis + Lilian are pretty much models in front of the camera, providing me with authentic emotion and completely giving in to the process of being photographed. Undoubtably I wanted to capture their love for one another, but my main goal was to create images from the essence of who they are and really rolling with that throughout the shoot. We blocked off an entire day to shoot some images in the beautiful morning light and glow and we eventually ended up in a vintage apartment to cap off the evening with a hazy sunset and truly intimate images of them during the at-home session. (stay tuned for a blog post highlighting that experience in its entirety!)
Thanks to having a sister who was both cooler and 10 years older than me, I used to steal all her magazines and music cassettes when she wasn’t home and spent countless afternoons listening to Nirvana, the Smashing Pumpkins, the Cranberries , American Football and Puff Daddy / Tupac just to name a few and I’d also skim through her magazine collection which was mostly comprised of VOX, Rolling Stone, YM and SKY magazine. Pulling from the editorial magazine influences I grew up around and the soundtrack of my teenage years I dove head first into that nostalgic aesthetic shooting the entire session on film and completely vibing with Alexis and Lilian in the process.2019 was an eye opening year for me as a photographer. I really let go of certain creative restraints I put on myself and finally committed to go full analog and truly bring back my photographic practices to the roots where my passion was born from originally. To enhance that, I finally allowed myself to pursue creative ideas that are propelled by the music I listen to and the imagery that I remember so vividly from my youth.
It’s been amazing to work with such like-minded people who completely invest themselves in the process, people who allow our wavelengths to match my own and are unencumbered by my creative vision but instead are completely on-board and reveal their true-selves to help create somethings that strikes a balance between beautiful and honest. I’ve work tireless to slowly meld the various experience in photography that I have and it’s exciting that people appreciate blurring the lines between fine art, editorial and wedding photography as much as I do.
Whenever 2020 picks up again, I guarantee I’ll picking up where I left off.
Song of the day - Ydrop bounce7_24_18 - Toro Y Moi
