Photo Live Magazine First Issue Photo live - cat's add in 2017 versioin | Page 177

ting a camera in between us. Then I
ask a few key questions like; “What
characters appeal to you?”, “Who
are you usually cast as?”, and “If you
could have any actor’s career, who’s
would it be?”. This helps me to fig-
ure out what they want an image of
them to portray. I don’t believe in a
generic headshot. If you are an actor,
I think that your headshot should aim
directly towards the roles you want
to play. When I did Dane DeHaan’s
first head shots out of acting school,
I was really impressed that he had
such a clear grasp on what made
his image and how that affected the
roles he wanted to be cast for. The
photography is the photography, but
the forethought of “What do I bring
to this craft?” can really help create
a headshot that defines you.
What about your musician photogra-
phy, do you approach it differently to
something like the actors?
Yes! End of the day, all musicians
want is a photo to make them look
cool. I don’t mean that in a bad
way or conceited way. Actors want
something specific, and usually want
it to play into their image. Musicians
are usually much more open to
something artistic, and creative, as
long as it fits with where they are
creatively. With musicians, I want to
listen to their latest songs and that
alone is usually enough to give me
a starting point. I can start thinking
about visuals after listening to and
reading the lyrics. They are also
usually a bit more interested in
collaboration which usually elevates
the places that the photos can go.
Sometimes not. But I’ve been pretty
lucky to work with some really
creative people.
Your Chrysta Bell photos are stun-
ning, they seem to really capture her
personality, as many of your photos
do, how do you bring that out?
Thank you! Chrysta was still living in
Austin and I had just moved to NYC
when that shoot came together.
Capturing someone’s personality
depends on two parts for me. The
first is creating a safe space for
someone to be themselves. The
second is what is that person willing
to bring to the shoot? I believe that
I’m pretty good and creating a space
where people can not be judged and
have a sense of freedom to be part
of a creative process, but part two I
don’t have much control over. It re-
minds me of how people feel when
they look in a mirror. We all see a re-
flection that is distorted through how
we feel about ourselves, but some
people are comfortable with that
view, and others just are not.
The Jenny Owen Youngs photos are
very film like, beautiful grain, what’s
the story behind them?
Jenny and I became friends through
other musicians I had photographed.
We had talked about collaborating
and though a few conversations we
had talked about how she is a huge
Buffy the Vampire Slayer fan. She
is also an introspective, funny, mul-
ti-layered person and not that com-
fortable being photographed. We
went a diner in New Jersey that Jen-
ny loved and shot for about and hour
and a half. I feel like those photos are
actually more fitting now than when
we shot them a few years ago be-
cause Jenny and her partner recent-
ly started a Buffy podcast that you
can find here: https://bufferingthe-
vampireslayer.com/
You’ve got lots of beautiful black and
white, talk about that and perhaps
share how you create a black and
white.
Black and white photography in
some ways has been a return to
where I started in photography
when I worked in the darkroom. I
don’t want to bore people with the
HOW of making a black and white,
especially because I’m not a tech
head when it comes to photography.
What interests me to constantly try
to get rid of the the non-essentials
in my images. I’m pretty much a
minimalist in both my work and my
life, so I like seeing how much of the
non-essential information I can get
rid of. This is why I’m so drawn to
black and white. It’s making a portrait
of the bare essentials of that person.
Currently I’m especially drawn to find
beauty in the rawness or unrefined
parts of people.
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