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Kelly Marshall © Dominic Sylvain

Everyday Realities Woven Beautifully Into Personal and Commercial Photography

Kelly Marshall on the power of personal architecture in commercial, editorial, and fine art photography.

New York-based Kelly Marshall works across fine art, editorial, and commercial photography to visualize how personal belief systems can manifest themselves into our everyday. Essentially – how these structures can design our lives, our homes – the blueprints for which we live.

Marshall’s style is pointed and subtle, using light to communicate the deep, nuanced, and open psychology of her wide breadth of subjects. This ranges from a portrait of Trevor Noah to a bowl of rainbow ice salad photographed for Travel and Leisure.

She’s also in the midst of a long-term personal project Birthing of a Nation, which, in Marshall’s words, is “an afro futuristic account of the history of the reproductive justice movement and the healing arts of Black women since 1619.”

Marshall is a frequent contributor to the Wall Street Journal and The New York Times. Commercial clients include CB2, Pottery Barn, Ebay, T Brand Studio, Architectural Digest, and Bon Appetite Magazine.

Her work has been exhibited at MOAD: The Museum of The African Diaspora, Southern Exposure, PhotoVille & Rush Arts, and she was 2018 Lit List awardee by Authority Collective.

The Luupe speaks with Marshall to learn more about her process and journey.

View post Everyday Realities Woven Beautifully Into Personal and Commercial Photography

The Luupe on February 25, 2021

How to Stay Innovative and Get What You Want as a Commercial Photographer

Luupe photographer Hayley Benoit discusses her career path from art school student to successful commercial photographer.

UK-based photographer Hayley Benoit’s career is constantly evolving. Using her experience attending art school at the prestigious Central Saint Martins art school as a building block, Benoit organically built her roster of client brands from the ground up. These now include Panasonic, Gelfidditch, PIMMS, and Nike. Her work has been exhibited and featured in Telegraph, British Journal of Photography, and The National Portrait Gallery.

While art school was a great tool, Benoit tells The Luupe that her biggest learnings come on the job, through constant research and always pushing herself to keep up with what other photographers are doing, how creative trends are shifting, and prioritizing opportunities that will keep her moving forward.

One of her best mantras: “Don’t wait for someone to teach you how to use Photoshop. Go on YouTube and figure it out yourself, it’s the only way to learn. The more you practice, the more you’ll figure out what you want.”

The Luupe speaks with Benoit to learn more about her career, personal style, and creative business advice for photographers looking to excel and stay fresh.

View post How to Stay Innovative and Get What You Want as a Commercial Photographer

The Luupe on February 18, 2021

Abrams

A New Book Centers and Amplifies BIPOC Art World Visionaries

We Are Here: Visionaries of Color Transforming the Art World features profiles and portraits of 50 artists and art entrepreneurs challenging the art world’s status quo.

In 2012, Jasmin Hernandez launched Gallery Gurls to amplify BIPOC voices in the art world. She participated in panel discussions, profiled and interviewed burgeoning artists of color, centering their influence on art & culture and pushing for a long-overdue balance. And now, she’s translated that fire into a book you need to get.

Hernandez’s We Are Here builds on Gallery Gurls’ energy, profiling some of the most dynamic and influential BIPOC artists and curators working today. It focuses on queer, trans, and nonbinary artists, photographed by Sunny Leerasanthanah and Luupe photographer Jasmine Durhal, with an introductory essay by the legendary Swizz Beatz.

She focuses on a diverse group of artists, collectors, curators, and fashion icons who are making an ongoing impact on art and pop culture. Joeonna Bellorado-Samuels – director at Jack Shainman Gallery and founder of We Buy Gold, for example, appears with her impressive art collection including work from Leslie Hewitt, Hank Willis Thomas, and Kerry James Marshall. Then there are curatorial luminaries like Legacy Russell, whose acclaimed 2020 book Glitch Feminism goes deep into the relationship between technology, art, and gender.

We speak with Hernandez to discuss the important mark this book makes amidst a gallery-shuttering pandemic and a global reckoning on institutional racism which has been no stranger to the art world since day one.

View post A New Book Centers and Amplifies BIPOC Art World Visionaries

Polly Irungu © Mickey Stellavato

Disrupting The Myth That Black Women Photographers Are Hard to Find

Meet Polly Irungu, founder of Black Women Photographers

In July 2020, Polly Irungu launched Black Women Photographers to amplify the work of Black women behind the camera and get more brands and publishers to hire them. Initially, it was an Instagram page to provide relief for Black women and non-binary photographers impacted by COVID. But soon after, the project evolved into its own platform. It is now a vibrant call to “disrupt the notion that it is difficult to discover and commission Black creatives.”

In just seven months, Irungu has built a rapidly growing community and directory with over ten thousand followers. She regularly partners with brands like Adobe and VSCO to help accelerate her mission, and just launched a benefit print sale to celebrate Black History Month.

Irungu, who balances her days photographing for big brands and creating content as a digital content editor for NPR’s The Takeaway, is likely one of the most driven and exciting people in contemporary photography and media right now.

We spoke to learn more about Black Women Photographers, Irungu’s inspiring career, and her path forward.

View post Disrupting The Myth That Black Women Photographers Are Hard to Find

The Luupe on February 4, 2021

A Holistic Recipe For Food Photography

Emily Teater takes us through her dynamic process, from building a recipe to making a meal, styling it, and finally, photographing it.

At her home in Denver, CO editorial and commercial photographer, Emily Teater’s yard is filled with garden beds of fresh produce. Her passion for photography, food, and the people behind it led her to a career in food photography.

Teater pushes what she can do as a food photographer, creating her own recipes and growing much of her own food. Carefully planning and testing each recipe, she creates user friendly and visually pleasing dishes. Using different styles for her personal and brand work, she explores her different roles as photographer, stylist, and chef.

The Luupe speaks with Teater about her experience working in the food industry and her journey to becoming an all-hands professional photographer.

View post A Holistic Recipe For Food Photography

Maddy Wiener for The Luupe on January 28, 2021

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