Interview by Yzabella Zari

Yzabella Zari: When did you first become interested in photography?

Leeay: I first became interested in photography when I was in highschool. I was inspired by a couple friends from my art class, who had some really interesting style and looks, so I asked to photograph them. Luckily they are interested in modeling as well, so it happened smoothly.

YZ: Can you tell us more about the behind-the-scenes prior to the final results of these photographs?

Leeay: Yes I would love to! Although there’s honestly nothing much I could talk about since they are my creative/fun projects that I didn’t spend too much time on preparing (sometimes intentionally, sometimes unintentionally). Ever since I started working professionally, a well designed pre-production PowerPoint has become a part of the workflow and routine, which I think is great, but it definitely limits the flexibility and playfulness on set. Therefore whenever I’m shooting a creative/ passion project, I try to perpetuate the idea of being present on set, and have fun. Although it could come off as spontaneous and unorganized, not planning everything out and purely relying on my intuition is fulfilling to me, it’s the fuel to my creative engine. I also have to claim that my point could change anytime in the future, we’ll see.

YZ: How do you direct the models to perform these interesting poses?

Leeay: I’m honestly not the best when it comes to pose directing, but I’m definitely practicing this part of my brain. I like poses that are interesting, the idea of expressing emotions through body language is fascinating to me. Sometimes I’d ask the talent how flexible they are and see how far we could go. I love watching videos of contemporary dance, circus performance, and figure skating. Observing people in the public helps too.

YZ: What is the most interesting or memorable location you took a photo beyond a studio setting?

Leeay: The photo of 2 talents (Jude & Yao) throwing milk in the air won this one. I shot this series with another photographer, we drove around the town to chase the 5:30 golden lighting in late winter, and we found this little hill nearby a neighborhood, we did a little hike and got the shot. I’m not good at hiking, therefore shooting while trying to balance my unathletic-self was pretty memorable.

YZ: Where do your ideas for photoshoots come from? Describe your creative process.

Leeay: Ideas come from everywhere to be honest. A lot of my ideas came from a good conversation with other creatives. Ideas could also come from a real life event, a visit to an art gallery, a trip to the desert, a film that I have watched twice, a mundane moment in life that makes me feel a certain way, etc. I think my most updated creative process is: get inspired - write it down - cast talent + figure out a location - figure out my right hand man David’s schedule - shoot.

This is an advice for the artists that no one asks for: When you want to create/ make art, do it ASAP, don’t determine if it’s a good or bad idea until you actually do it.