There is a veil of indefinite intimacy in the images you produce. Do you consider the photographic lens a privileged view, an access point to the inner soul of your subjects? What has been the most intimate moment you’ve ever experienced while photographing?
Absolutely – especially with talents I shoot again and again, it’s a privilege when a talent truly lets me capture them as themselves wholly. And that can look like a lot of different things, at home, on location, right before a big performance or show. But I usually can feel or tell when it happens, and those are among my favorite shots. I think people can conflate nudity with intimacy and I find it’s not always the case – yes that can be an intimate moment built on trust, but some of my most intimate shots are facial expressions or poses when the model is caught off guard, fully clothed, but there’s an unspoken comfortability that allows a subject to express themselves more fully. The most intimate moment I’ve ever experienced shooting I don’t think I’ve shot yet – but I think some of my favourites are immediate before or after a runway show – you can see the designer, the models, enter into a different headspace – whether that’s fear or excitement or nervousness, if you can get them quite literally before or as the show starts, or immediately when it ends, that’s a special shot. So many emotions are projected onto their face and they all pass so quickly.
On this note, how collaborative do you believe the photographic act truly is? It seems like there’s a silent joint effort between you and the subject, almost a shared authorship.
The best photos are when it’s collaborative – I have seen so many sets fall apart or not have an idea fully realised when a director or brand tries to force a model into a vision that just doesn’t connect. That’s not to say models can’t act the part, for most commercial jobs it is about executing a singular vision. But there has to be some give and take between you and the talent – some of the best ideas and shots come from the talent. Who else knows their body and how they look better than the talent themselves? It should be a conversation, and that’s how you get the best results. And I find over time, the collaboration becomes almost second nature because you’ve had this understanding of creative and working together time and time again, and when it becomes unspoken like that you can get something really special.
Overlapping images, almost reminiscent of long exposures, unlock a sense of memory, blurring together static and dynamic dimensions. Do you perceive photography as something frozen in time, or as an evolving, living image?
I think it depends on the type of photo – a lot more candid moments will live forever in that moment, a shot off hand or unexpected. But as a body of work, whether with one subject or one brand or one idea, I think it constantly grows and shifts, because you continue to develop, expand your vocabulary of your body of work and your craft, and that informs how the whole looks.
