Why I shoot | Music + Portrait Photographer

Savvy, Club Contour: Seattle, 2000

Storytelling with images | Seattle + NYC Documentary Portrait Photography

I am in love with storytelling

I’m always up for hearing a good backstory. I find that I often wonder, “But how did they grown up?”, “Where are they from originally?”, “What do you think influenced them to do that?” when I hear about any particular story. I like to know it in context. It is also what I enjoy the most about being a portrait photographer. When working with clients, I love to hear about how you got to the place you are today. Working as a portrait photographer is such a privilege because I get to capture this vision you’ve had. I get to help you create the image that represents YOU or your story and it may have been a long journey that brought you to the point of hiring a photographer. It’s inspiring to hear how you got here.

I thought I’d share a bit about my own personal backstory in this first post.

Documentary photography beginnings

I first picked up a real SLR camera around age 10. It was a big hearty manual film camera. The Pentax K1000. It was given to me as a gift and I was just fascinated with it. I started carrying it around with me and taking pictures of everything. It was less about the tool itself, and more about its ability to capture moments in time. It’s still about that for me. I’ve always been nostalgic, and so capturing life in photographs became a way for me to move on, knowing that the moments would be kept. I’ve also always been impressed with the camera’s ability to capture emotion and mood. I remember seeing Dorothea Lange’s photograph: Migrant Mother at a young age and being so moved by it. For years, that one photograph inspired me. She seemed to capture the emotion of the whole depression era in that one image.

After and amongst numerous photoshoots of my friends and family, I started taking my camera into the streets. I mostly photographed people. In middle school, I had a teacher who noticed my love of photography and encouraged me to use it in an upcoming essay. I remember he said the photographs would count as words for the amount of space they took. That blew my mind! I loved the idea that I could use photography to tell a story. I really dug into that project and I have continued to use photography for storytelling ever since.

In the early 90’s tattoo art was becoming a big part of street life and culture in Seattle, where I lived. I went for my own first tattoo at 15 years old and I was just fascinated with the art form. I photographed anyone I could find with tattoo art in Seattle at that young age.

Sábado: Havana Cuba, 2000

In college, I lived in Mexico for half a year and then traveled to Spain, Costa Rica, Kenya, Tanzania, and Cuba. My camera was always in hand, documenting street life. Cuba was an absolutely amazing place to photograph: Such rich textures everywhere you look, beautiful music ringing throughout the streets, and wonderful people full of life, and stories.

At home in Seattle, I became wrapped up in the Salsa music and dance subculture and I documented every minute of it - my camera flash would be going off at all the night clubs and afterparties in between shots of tequila and dancing. Good thing I had a hearty camera!!!

Hip Hop and my start as a a professional photographer

Lateef, Circle of Fire: Warroom, Seattle 2000

in the summer of 2000, a Monday night around 8pm, I first stepped into the Contour nightclub at the corner of 1st Avenue and Columbia in downtown Seattle. I was invited in to shoot by a friend, an MC, who was set to perform that night with other local hip hop acts. Club Contour had the longest running open mic hip hop night in Seattle, run by Savvy (pic above). The doors of the Contour face a busy street in downtown Seattle. In the summer, the entire front of the club can be opened up with a few chairs and tables placed on a small deck outside. The club itself is pretty dark, aside from a few orange-hued lights hanging above the bar and disco-style lights flashing randomly in the back by the stage. I took a seat at the bar, unloaded my camera, drummed up my courage, walked to the stage and began to shoot. Instantly the artist on stage began directing all of his energy and words to me. At the time, I was the only shooter in the club. I had this feeling that it was like, “Finally someone is here documenting this.” The energy and passion of the up and coming and underground artists was contagious. I went home that first night knowing that I had found the direction for my professional work. I also began that night working on my first book, “Emerald City Hip Hop” which documents and celebrates the underground hip hop scene. It eventually came out in 2008, just months before my move to NYC. Now in 2022, I’m preparing for a move back to the Emerald City.

How this influences my work today

The way I began still very much influences how I shoot today and why I shoot. I am still most driven by storytelling. I am still inspired by documentary photography. I still strive to capture the true essence, mood, and style of each individual I work with. I don’t tend to pose my clients (aside from headshots). Instead, I capture the moments when I see the true you shine through, or a glimpse of the story you want to tell. We create a vision together, we decide wardrobe, location, and sometimes we even create a set. But when the session has begun, I let it take us into the story and I capture the moments as they come.

My ultimate goal is that everyone enjoys being in the moment and part of the storytelling so much that they forget they are part of a portrait session and then they walk away with a few great magic images that tell their story.

What’s your story?