Style Equation Magazine - THE STYLE OF MUSIC ISSUE | Page 6

LIFE + STYLE: Photographer

MICHELLE SIBRIAN
Portrait of an Artist
The lifework of a storyteller with a camera, swimming with sharks or running with
wolves is typically reserved for the men. In the cutthroat world of entertainment it
certainly holds true for male domination. Yet here comes Sibrian with her painteresque
photos; simple,sublime in color composition, and framing. Onlookers truly connect with
what is in the frame because Sibrian certainly connects with what she sees through
the lens. This is not the work of a hobbyist. And yet by all accounts Michelle Sibrian
couldn’t be any more approachable or down-to-earth.
So how does she balance passion for what she does, and respect for her client?
This working mom exudes an appetite for life and following your dreams. The same
appetite use for capturing rock icons Duran Duran. She captured Tyra Banks brilliantly,
on a make-over shoot going from business casual to haute couture for a corporate
shoot. Drive is one thing. But drive combined with one woman army fearlessness is
what separates Sibrian from the wolf pack and the swarming sharks.
Expect to see her portfolio morph from season-to-season both in colors and style as
she adapts to the needs of each client. Also expect to see an organic sense of storytelling, with honest portrayals of her subjects. While some of her contemporaries are
so big their subjects never live up to the Photoshop hype, Icons of fashion and music
look human like the rest of us through her lens.
The rest of us who remain unknown look iconic in the simple nature of our lives
through her lens. That is pure talent and is equally beautiful. One has the sense that
to photograph with Liebowitz or Sorrenti,you must have sold millions of albums, or
walked the runways in Milan or be named Madonna. Sibrian’s lens is equal opportunity. When does art become functional? And when does it remain fine? Is a question
one asks when surveying Michelle Sibrian’s subjects. Some wax poetic, looking uncannily like the muses of Rodin sculpted onto the film’s celluloid, and other times they
rock out in true slayer mode. These are the oeuvres of a storyteller with a camera.

- By Akil Wingate