Fashion nominee

I currently live in Brooklyn NY and am friends and neighbors with a single mother named Tanya and her two daughters Sophie and Annabelle. Sophie is a 16 year old ballet dancer and Annabelle is a 11 year old wild child. They are very close and always stick together. As we have became closer friends, we traveled to Tanya’s hometown in Alabama last year and I shot a fashion story with them with some of their relatives for SSAW magazine. As it was a fashion shoot, the stylist pulled clothes in NY and we brought them there. We mixed designer clothes and their own clothes up to keep their characters and make the images as realistic as possible. We drove around in town and I found locations that were unique and interesting to me. Each portrait emanates a different facet of the girls’ personality and every picture offers particular insights into the trio’s dynamics. The family photograph of the tree women is an intriguing composition that both highlights their differences and conveys the strong bonds that connect them.

I am very interested in people who are unique and different. For me that is true beauty. For over 10 years, the majority of my oeuvre has been photographing young people who I befriend on the streets and by building trust, I try to capture the moment between innocent youth and the cusp of adulthood. I like their innocence and pureness; that they don't need to be afraid of anything in their life. Their innocent looks eyes also remind of us [the viewer] of those times as well - because all of us had this once in our lives – which we sometimes forget as life goes on. Through my imagery I strive to present images that allow the viewer to realize that there are many ways of looking at the world and concurrently, support truth and beauty of my subjects, that life has many possibilities open to them.
I moved from Nagoya Japan to New York, to pursue a fine art documentary photography. It is my passion and dream. I finance and supplementing my art by working as a fashion photographer and while I have shot for numbers of high fashion independent magazines.