“My thing is just always capture people in their true self. That's it.”

Any specific moment stand out where you knew you wanted to pursue photography? 

After I started, I would go to the library pretty much every day and I would pick up photography books all the time. I would go through them and just try to learn about photography, because I didn't know anything about photographers, or not even black photographers. I didn't even know at the time that black photographers existed until I found Gordon Parks at the library. I just started learning. I was like, "Okay, he did a lot of great work." 

He was the first black photographer that shot for Time Magazine, Life Magazine. So learning about Gordon Parks, and then I started learning about Annie Leibovitz. I was like, "Oh, they all shoot film photography." I started researching about film photography. That's when I went ahead and bought my first film camera. I think by going to the library pretty much every day helped bring my curiosity to photography even bigger. I was like, "This is beautiful and I want to be able to do this as well. I want to be able to create these images like they did back then."

It was that summer where I spent pretty much every single day at a Barnes and Noble or local bookstores and just studying, literally just studying every day. 

You’re Ghanaian - is there any element of home that you like to feature in your photography?

It's crazy because I went to Ghana for the first time back in late 2019. I went there as an adult. Just seeing the people and the energy out there. I would say, the colors ... the way Ghana is is that once you step out, it's an adventure already. There's so much going on. You just instantly get inspired and it just makes you want to go ahead and just document everything. It doesn't have to be anything specific, but you can just turn around in a corner, see something and you just want to pull out your camera and document it. Whether it's people wearing beautiful traditional clothes with strong, bold colors, or somebody that's just hanging out in the street but you can tell that just, yo, this is a beautiful person that you just want to take images of. 

When I was home in Ghana, I was just freely creating. Every single images that I was creating was just so beautiful. I would say just being able to be free without thinking of spending time to try to come up with concepts or visions or creative decks or anything like that. Just being able to go out and create off of energy.

Now that you're back in the states, do you find things that catch your eye that remind you of Ghana when you're shooting or do you try to capture that energy here?

I guess it depends. In Chicago right now, there's certain communities in Chicago that when you go out there, it's just like, "Yeah, I want to be able to document the community who are here." So you get the same feeling. It's not everywhere like that. But there's certain pockets in the city that when you go there, it makes you want to pull out your camera and just create. Not even, "Yo, stand right there and I take a picture." Just whatever they doing, you're just taking a picture of. 

There's definitely certain pockets like that in the city. Also New York as well. When I'm out there, New York is full of life. It's full of energy every single day. So when you're out there, depending where you are, you just want to document it. You know what I'm saying?

There’s a sense of vulnerability in your images - your subjects fully trust you capturing a raw essence of them behind your lens. Can you walk us through how you get them to that comfort?

I think most of the subjects that I shoot are either my friends or people that I've admired for a long time. I reach out and I just try to build some type of relationship with. One thing that I always tell them when we're about to do work is just like, "Whatever it is that you're feeling right now, don't try to hide it. Just be your true self. I'm not asking for you to be like Naomi Campbell or anything like that. Just be you." Once we're able to get that translated to the images, it'll be the most beautiful thing ever. 

Versus you trying to overthink it and trying to do something else and it's just not you. Most of the times when I take photos of people, it can be super off guard, and that off guard photo is the one that I'm going to go ahead and share to the world, because it's just so real and beautiful. Versus when I tell them, "Hey, I want you to do this and that." Then they start to overthink. They start thinking too much and it's just like, "Oh, I want to make sure that I do it right."

You just yourself is enough. I just want to capture that. Whether you're happy, whether you're sad, whether you're feeling upset. Whatever that is, or whatever conversation that me and you had, whatever that conversation made you feel, I want to capture that. My thing is just always capture people in their true self. That's it. I don't want to do extra. I don't want to overboard it. Then we'll be able to move forward and just do something else. But once I feel like I've captured you enough, then that's a go for me. That's it, pretty much. 

There is a theme of a vibrant color complimenting your subjects. Do you have a hand in selecting these tones or styling?

Well, most of the times it's just me, just because I know exactly what I'm looking for. But sometimes I do have a stylist in place as well. If there's a concept that I'm trying to create, then I bring in a stylist for sure. As far as colors, because I love movies so much and when I was young I would watch Wes Craven's movies, Wes Anderson movies, Stephen King movies, Stanley Kubrick. I'm so into those kind of movies where they used to use film cameras. There's a specific film that I use that I know will bring out those type of colors.

I just don't use any film that's out there. There’s this one specific one called sinister that I use to be able to bring those beautiful red or blue or yellow colors. So in the back of my head I'm always thinking Stanley Kubrick. I'm thinking the scene of Shining where the kid was in the middle of the hallway. I think it was all green. The kid was in the middle sitting in the little bike. I'm thinking that.

Always have it in the back of my head. Most of the time, it is me with the colors. Sometimes if I want to get beautiful, blue colors then we're going to be shooting around blue hour. Go out there and make sure that we shoot around the same exact time so we can be able to get those beautiful rich, blue colors. I become very intentional. I'm very intentional when it comes to colors. 

Anything you’d like to do with photography that you haven’t?

Well, right now, I've started shooting a lot in black and white. I've been drawn to black and white photography. I've been studying it for a little minute. I just feel like black and white photography, it feels like poetry to me. It feels honest. I just want to get into that side a little bit more. I've been thinking about stepping away from color for a little and just focus more black and white. I've been doing that a lot. I haven't shared a lot of it, but I've been doing a lot of black and white photography. That's something that I want to focus on. But when it comes to color, just become very intentional. It depends on the situation that I'm in, if I'm going to use color. But yeah, black and white photography. Also I want to start shooting 8x10s Polaroids, mainly because of Dawoud Bey, this photographer, incredible photographer from Chicago, who created some of his best work with a 8x10 camera. Those are huge cameras, but the results that you get from these cameras are insane. So I want to start learning how to use that. I have a friend back in Chicago that has a 8x10 that wants to teach me. So I think that's going to be my next thing.

You’ve shot for a ton of publications. Can you tell us one of your favorite shoots shot on film? It's so crazy, because I just came back from LA. I shot one of my friends. Those I just got back the negatives of that shoot. Right now, those are my favorites. I haven't put it out yet. But I shot one of my friends at a barbershop. There's shots that I got in that barbershop were incredible. I can't even believe I took those photos. But before that, I would say there's one of my friend Aziz. It's just a close portrait in blue. Yeah, that's one of my favorites portraits that I've taken, because that one wasn't planned. It wasn't like, "Yo, I have an idea." I was bored at home and it was around, I would say, 5:00 PM. I called him. I was like, "Yo, where you at?"He was like, "I'm around your house." I was like, "Well, let's go to the tennis court and just play around." So I brought my camera with me and I just took those shots for 10 minutes. I did not expect to get those results at all, because I was just bored. I just wanted to take shots. When I got those negatives back, I was shocked. I was like, "Wow. This is it. This is the image. This is exactly why I do this photography thing." It was just so beautiful. That's definitely top, top my favorite image, for sure.

On Set…

What camera would you want to be your last?

I would say the Pentax 67II. That's my top favorite camera ever. If I can have that camera forever, I'll be good. That's Pentax 67, yeah.

Assistant or solo? Assistant.

When shooting analog on set, do you also shoot digital and/or vice versa?

It depends, because my last few shoots that I did in studio, I only used my film camera just because I wanted to challenge myself. Using analog photography in the studio can be tricky. I just want to challenge myself, so I use film. I always have my digital camera right behind me just in case something goes wrong. I think the thing about film and digital is it depends of what kind of work you're about to do.

Certain work deserves to have that analog feel, and certain work deserves to have that digital. I'm mainly a film photographer because I feel more connected to analog. But sometimes you just have to use the digital.

Candid or posed? Why? Candid

Flash or no flash? Why?

No flash, because I love natural light. I love natural light. That God light is perfect.

What vibe or mood do you like to curate on set? How do you go about doing that?

Music. That's just always the main thing. I want to make sure that I put on the right vibe for everybody to enjoy so they can get in there, bring that good energy out. I always try to make sure that everybody ... If I would have to ask, "Hey, what kind of music you want to listen to?" Or I may come on set with a playlist that I feel like everybody can enjoy. So I try to think about these things. The night before shoots, always create this playlist Spotify. I just let it play. Whether it's old …

What’s your go to song? I always start out with Dipset. Yeah, just brings that energy. 

When it comes to photography what moves you to shoot? 

The fact that I'm just able to capture somebody's emotion through the camera. Sometimes when you shoot, you're not even thinking about that because you're so focused on getting that shot. But then when you get those images back, you're like, "Wow," you were able to capture the way that person felt in that moment, I think that's the most beautiful thing ever.

I think that's what moves me all the time. With the most recent shoot that I did in LA, I was shooting it and I was trying to get those shots. But then once I got back my negatives, I was like, "Wow, this is exactly what I was looking for. This is exactly what I was trying to get across." So I know once I share with everybody else, they will be able to feel the same thing. I guess it's that. Just being able to capture somebody's true emotion in that moment, in that split second.

When you're taking a photo, you're trying to make sure you have the right focus and everything right. So the way that person feels, that face expression, may be gone in just a second. So you have to capture right away. Just being able to do that. I think that just keeps me going all the time, man.

Is there any particular element of shooting you’d like to tackle or explore?

I've been thinking about start to developing my own color and black and white. I've been watching a lot of videos on that. I kind of still remember how to do it because of high school. But I'm actually thinking of signing up for some classes to learn how to develop my own film. Hopefully that'll be sometime this year. But I've also been thinking of directing as well instead of photography. I've been thinking about buying a Super 16 millimeter camera and just use it around, especially for the summer, just so I can get good at it.Just because I have so many ideas in my head of short films that I want to do. So I just want to start with a Super 16, and see where it's going to take me.

What would you like people to take away from your work?

I just want people to see how honest the work is. I always try to make sure that all of my work just has that honest feel and it doesn't feel forced or anything like that. Honest and raw. I always make sure that with each image that I create, I just want to make sure that people don't feel like, "Oh, that's just too much going on. Too many distractions around." I want it to make you feel as honest as possible.

I don't do crazy fashion work. I like to think of my work as more portrait, documentary style. That's the type of work that I studied. Those type of work that I study were honest and raw, was true. You look at Gordon Parks's work that he created, it was just so honest because he was creating the realities in that time.

Interview by 35s & 45s

06.24.21