Who/what inspires your practice?
"There's a bunch of photographers that inspire me but the main ones are Ronan McKenzie, Campbell Addy, Dana Scruggs, and AB+DM Studios which is a duo made up of photographers Ahmad Barber and Donté Maurice. I probably love their work the most. "
"I'm extremely hard on myself and always tell myself that I can do better. Even when my client tells me they love the shoot I don't think I've ever been content. There's always something that I tell myself could have been better."
"One of the main things that has really inspired me to pursue Fashion Photography is the lack of representation for people of color in Fashion, especially when it comes to Black people in the Fashion industry."
"The lack of opportunities given to us is terrible. That's why if you pay attention to my IG and website you see that I work with a lot of models of color and try to highlight that we can do more than just streetwear. Mind you, there's nothing wrong with streetwear but I feel like the industry has really pigeonholed most black models into that category. So you'll see a lot of my work is leaning towards high Fashion."
Why do you choose photography?
"I shoot because I love it. There's rarely a moment while I'm shooting that I feel like I'm working. I absolutely love photography and the relationships I've been able to build from it."
How would you describe your practice?
"I would describe it as sometimes being chaotic, sometimes being peaceful, sometimes being inspiring and always being my peaceful place."
How do you sustain your practice?
I'm always looking to shoot. Always looking for inspiration and becoming better with every press of the shutter. I probably have about 350+ photography videos saved on my " photography tips " playlist on YouTube and I've watched all of them multiple times. The main one is I want my daughter to be proud of her father's work."
Funny/ironic/wild story of a time in your studio?
"This one time I had planned a shoot with a well known actor/model from LA. The shoot was going to be at the studio in SoHo. I planned this shoot out for months along with one of my favorite stylists to work with, Reni ( IG: @reni.donline ). So after months of preparation and getting all the outfits together and scouting locations the day of the shoot finally arrives. The shoot was supposed to start at 1PM and it was 1:15 and we haven't seen 9r heard from him. So I waited another 10 mins and I finally called him. When he picked up it sounded like he just woke up. So I asked him what his ETA is and he said he should get here around 12:45, I told him it was 1:45 and he said let me call you back. At this point this is when I realized he was still in LA and thought I meant SoHo in LA. He called me back and confirmed this suspicion. Not to waste the outfits Reni pulled from the various floor rooms we ended up finding a random person to do the shoot and it came out amazing."
What makes you proud of yourself?
"When I see where I started from and how much I've improved. When I found out my parents were sharing my work with friends and family members. That made me extremely proud, especially being that I'm African and photography isn't exactly what most African parents will say is an ideal profession."