Interview by Ece Yavuz

Photo Edited by Ece Yavuz & Athena Abdien

I noticed you were inspired by movies, how do you approach cinematographic photos, especially when taking photos of strangers?

I like for all of my work to have a cinematic look and feel to it. In my work, I’m subconsciously inspired by movie(s) I have seen. I have always been drawn to moody and dramatic lighting and because of this, the lighting that I use always has this feel to it. When it comes to strangers (or anyone I photograph) I’m always looking at the light first and how I can place them within it to get that look I want.

How do you plan and experiment with your self-portraits?

When I go about doing self-portraits, the goal is either to express how I’m feeling at that particular time or to experiment with finding new ways to light my work. I started doing more self portraits during the pandemic and it was like a diary entry where I was capturing, visually, how I (was) feeling then. I then started to experiment with lighting, in particular just using whatever I had available to create unique self portraits and translate that into future work I created.

Your work, Prelude, focuses on stylized editorial photography, while creating a sense of softness and hardness through lighting and props. How did the process of creating these images come to be?

This was a collaborative project that I did with my sister, Ylimay (@yli.made) and the artist Ja1da (@Ja1da). They had been working together for some time, as my sister was creating the album artwork for Prelude and I was asked to do the photography for it. My sister was the creative director for this project and I wanted the lightning for this shoot to highlight the props and Ja1da in a way that felt dramatic and reflective of motifs used in his music.

If you could teach a one-hour class on anything, what would it be?

It would have to be in lighting. I get asked a lot on my lighting techniques and how I go about creating them.

What was the last book you read or film you saw that resonated with you?
Last book I read was Stories of your Life and Others by Ted Chiang. It’s a collection of beautifully and imaginative written short stories that leave you wondering and thinking further about yourself and humanity. Definitely recommend reading them if you have not.