I’ve always been interested in contrasting dualities and this one was prominent in my life at the time. I was intrigued by the notion of being so physically close with someone, the closest you can possibly be, which is to say inside of them, while being completely emotionally distant and removed. I was no stranger to this scene but something about it this time around had me thinking critically about the act and the larger implication on the gay community. I had just broken up with my partner and was having a lot of anonymous sex with guys from Grindr and Craigslist. Tell us a bit about your graduate portfolio?Ī lot was happening in my life at that time and I dealt with it the best I knew how which was to obsessively photograph it.
I was 15 and didn’t know any better so I started shooting for him.
He messaged me on myspace and said “Hey, I like your photos, and you’re not too bad looking yourself”. I started as a “serious” photographer when I was 15, I was making portraits of my friends and putting them online, eventually I was approached by LA designer Brian Lichtenberg who stole those designs from Alex Kazemi.
My mom is a sculptor and painter and my dad designs truss, I grew up going to gallery openings and foreign films, art has always been a big part of my life. Tell us a bit about your artistic background? When did you first get into photography as a serious career?īoth of my parents are artists of a sort.