My whole family is from Manhatten except for me. I was born in Jersey City and grew up In the South. In 2019 I was hanging out with my uncle for a couple of weeks. I would take the train to manhattan check out the city and do some street photography.
I was scrolling on Instagram and I saw a photographer taking portraits of peoples outfits for a publication so I asked him where does he get those shots? and does he ask the people or just grab them? He told me sometimes he asks and sometimes he just grabs them and to go to Soho because it’s the best spot for those types of shots.
So I told him I would do it the next day and send it to him. One thing about new york nobody cares that you’re walking down the street with a big ass camera. Well at least for me at that time. Most people I stopped were nice about it. I always choose people with nice clothes or have an interesting look to them. When I first bought a camera in 2014 it was to take pictures of myself and my friend’s outfits. And we would get dressed up every day even when we didn’t shoot because we would never know when we would shoot. Im guessing most people feel the same way due to Instagram. And recently I’ve been stopped here in LA for a portrait and it feels like a compliment for someone to go out of their way to say they like something about you. It’s common sense when someone is too busy and or not interested in taking a photo which is when you walk away.
Interview
When I got back to Raleigh I shot an interview with an artist In this video, he describes some of his inspirations before he hits the stage. My style changed a bit when I was shooting these portraits. I continued taking portraits and doing BTS shots for the rest of the fall/winter of 2019.
