A Defiance of Conformity

04 November 2024

When I was doing this shoot, I had a multitude of ideas and themes that I wanted to incorporate throughout these images—and was quite satisfied with the results. Shot inside of the James Turrell Skyspace in Austin, Texas, I figured that this would be a location where I could practice capturing images that break various boundaries, as well as deviate from what is viewed as “the norm” whilst posing for a photograph. The space features a circular room lit purely by the elements, and can be quite the contemplative and peaceful spot. When I first encountered this space, I knew that this would be a great opportunity to try something new, although I was quite unsure of what I was doing—I only had an idea. Pictured above is Nikita, who also came to me with an idea similar to mine—he expressed similar feelings of attempting to adopt a rebellious nature, and was originally inspired by Willem Dafoe’s shoot for Interview Magazine in Russia. We did initially recreate the iconic image that everyone has most likely seen, but spent lots of time also experimenting with other rather unconventional or even surrealist poses that I hoped would be memorable. The photo above was most likely my favorite from the shoot—not only does it initially have the ability to capture the attention of an onlooker, but upon showing this image to several friends and family members, I noticed that they continued to glance back at the image more than once. This was my goal, ideally, to have an audience question what they were looking at—and not to feel strange about the photo, but rather in a “what am I looking at?” or a “what is he doing?” way. Although my goal was reached, as it was a very simple one, I want to thank Nikita for helping me channel this newfound sense of creativity and boldness within my photography, as it definitely strayed from any sort of normality. I think what really contributed to the boldness of this photo was the awkward and unconventional posing, the intensity of his upward gaze, and the lack of vibrancy—all things which helped me get my point across: that in which beauty and comfort can also be found through disturbance and unease in visual art.