MODELING
I like to build characters. Something I’ve noticed myself doing since I started photo work is trying to find poses for my models to take that communicate a character. Often a costume or prop in a particular location is evocative enough of a personality that the character becomes the focus of the shoot. This is something I’ve been doing with more intent in the last two years. I’ve started to make powerpoints of mood boards and location scout shots to clarify a concept or an experiment and get feedback from the people I’m working with. I’m actively trying to get more conceptual. I’m trying to develop these ideas and build meaning before we get to the location.
My non-photography creative work has been in performing arts spaces: theater, live music, movies. I’m a self-taught photographer, my education is in stage acting and narrative film. And that background is what I bring to my modeling work. On top of the more basic composition work of the blocking of a photograph and how to hold one’s body there’s this entire extra layer of storytelling questions, and those things often inform each other. It could look especially dynamic to be standing here in this way with this expression, but why is that happening? I love answering that question.
