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Filtering by Category: skin

Queer Expression: An Interview with Kirk Lorenzo

Guest User

Kirk Lorenzo, a queer Latino from New York City, shared with us his journey of discovering a passion for photography. His work gives voice and sheds light on topics such as identity and queerness.

Embrace yourself, Express yourself. Love yourself.

Christophe: When did you first become interested in photography?
Kirk: Ooof, ummm...I wanna say sometime in early high school. When I was super obsessed with having a very well curated tumblr blog! My blog consisted of photographs and illustrations I found to be beautiful and inspiring, so that interest has sort of been there for a while. I just never acted upon it till my first year of college; four years later when I finally picked up a camera!


C: Were you self-taught or did you learn in school/from a mentor?
 

 

K: I've been in an art specialized learning institution for the past eight years of my life, so all of it has been learned from teachers, professors and other practicing artists!

 

                                     

                                                      C: How did you develop your style?
 

K: Hahaha, definitely via tumblr! Who hasn't fallen in love with a beautiful VSCO film emulated photo on tumblr? However I don't use VSCO as often in my own work, but I do give my photos a film-y emulation I've put together myself on photoshop.

 

C: What themes do you explore through your work?
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              K: Being a queer man, sex, non-monagamy, queerness, bsdm, and politics such as race, class, age and gender.

C: How do you find and choose you subjects or locations?


K: Towards the beginning it was a lot of asking guys I hooked up with if I could photograph them, so I'd find these men via Grindr and Scruff ("Dating" Apps for queer men), though mainly Scruff. Then Instagram and now its a mix of those two plus Facebook and folks I've meet in night life/friends of friends! Locations? I tend to wander a lot by myself, I'm also constantly on google maps searching for the "green areas", and if it's not an outdoors location it's sometimes and indoor location that can be anywhere from a friends place I've visited, to a subjects home, to a bar, etc.

 

                                             C: What inspires your work?

                                  K: Sex, nature, sex!
Hahaha, but on a serious note yes sex, nature, but also night life, queerness, bsdm and the politics that surround our everyday lives!

 
 
 

C: How do you compose an image? Do you go into the shoot with a specific shot in mind, or does the inspiration strike when you place your model in the setting?
 

 

K: I started composing my images for the purpose of how I curated them on Instagram, but now its just become second nature and I do it even with my images that I deem more "fine art." However it tends to be a mix of both, I do go into a shoot with a specific shot in mind but the inspiration also often strikes in the moment too!

 

 

 

 

C: What do you hope your art says to people?

K: These queer bodies existed, were resilient, and pushed through.

C: What has been your biggest lesson learned through creating your art?
 

K: Learning how to trust myself.

 

C: Why did you choose your craft(photography)?
K: I came out of high school certain that I was gonna be a painter but when I got into college I realized I was getting frustrated with not being able to articulate what I wanted to say as quick as I wanted to say it. Being a slow painter on top of how slow painting is as a medium, was getting to me. So I ended up picking up a camera, and became relieved at how in sync I was with the pace of the medium.

C: How hard was it to become profitable at it? 
K: Hahaha, it's still hard. I wouldn't say I'm anywhere near as profitable at what I'm doing as I'd like to be, but I don't doubt I will be soon. Currently finishing up school is consuming a lot of my time so I just need to finish up school so I can start filling up this wallet!

 

C: Any suggestions to newcomers to the field?
K:Trust yourself, remember that there's not one way to do things, be ethical, and stay humble!

 

 

 

 

C: If you couldn’t be doing your craft, what would you do instead?
K: Ooop, I don't like this question haha! I've always led myself to believe that art is the only thing I'm good at. I don't like following directions, I don't like being told what to do, and I DO NOT like 9-5s haha. But for the purpose of this question I'd have to say something along the lines of an outdoors instructor, flight attendant, night life stuff or like social work or something.

 
 

C: What would you do differently if you could start from scratch?
 

K: Not a single thing!


C: Any favorite moments of your career so far?
 

K: Oh oh oh! I'd have to say meeting the beautiful and inspirational people I use to see on my tumblr feed who I wouldn't have thought I'd ever meet and getting to befriend them as well as being able to photograph them. All the internal fan girling I've done throughout my career thus far is kinda humorous!

C: Is there a defining moment in your career so far?
K: Constant ones, moments like this where others want to interview me about my me or my work, the messages I get from others asking me that they want my work in their publication, as well as those messages I get from others wanting to shoot with me. We all have tons insecurities and it moments like those that remind you that you must be doing something right. Those are the most affirming moments during one's career! 

 

C: Is there anything you really enjoy in your craft vs another line of work?
K: Printing my photographs. As someone aspiring to be a fine artist when I get to print a photograph to display somewhere and get to see the image on paper and not just through as screen. It's a very blissful and magical moment.

 

C: Biggest pet peeve about the industry?
K: The politics surrounding accessibility; people who can just up and quickly purchase the latest gear and think that because they own expensive gear that It makes them a photographer. Along those same line, people who claim they're a photographer and take their access to resources for granted. There are some of us who have to work twice or even three times as hard to get access to the resources some of our "contemporaries" have. 

 

 

Ben: Is flannel really always appropriate? 
K: Depends are you aiming for some masc4masc foolishness? Or are you serving some butch queen looks?

Photography is a powerful form of expression that Kirk uses well. His art is barrier shattering, dialogue creating, and all around beautiful. To continue following Kirk's work you can click on the links below. Instagram: @kirk.lorenzo  Website: kirklorenzo

Erotic Meets Ironic: An Interview with Freddy Krave

Guest User

FREDDY KRAVE is a young photographer whose art is thought provoking, inspiring, and absolutely one of a kind. His message is one of embracing oneself and being free in your own skin. It is refreshing to see someone so talented living authentically while doing what he loves. 

Christophe: When did you first become interested in photography?

Freddy: Since I was a little kid. I’ve always “had a thing” for photography.

 
 

C: Were you self-taught or did you learn in school/from a mentor?

F: Self-taught. I never had the chance to study photography, I have a big lack when we talk about lights, settings, lenses. I think I’ve just developed my own personal style with my basic gear.

 

C: How did you develop your style?

F: Speaking of..Well since I didn’t want to take bad pictures using natural lightning and since I didn’t know how to use at the best the environment, I just thought that using a white wall was a good idea. For me it was like drawing on a blank paper, creating something from nothing.

 
 
 
 
 

C: What themes do you explore through your work?

F: I’m a big lover of the human body. I just wanna feel free to show it without fears or censorship. I would define my work “eronic”, a mix of erotic and ironic. I love the part of being sexy but at the same time I love the part of being silly.

 
 
 
 

C: How do you find and choose you subjects or locations?

F: Some of them are my friends, some of them thanks to social medias. I just ask, if they’re interested we shoot! The location it’s pretty easy to find. I just need a white wall, usually my place is my home made studio.

 
 
 

C: What inspires your work?

F: I’m inspired by my inner thoughts and by music. Music really is my muse. The thing is that I just wanna do things. I have no limits, sometimes I really feel different from other people, but I try to embrace this feeling.

 
 

C: How do you compose an image? Do you go into the shoot with a specific shot in mind, or does the inspiration strike when you place your model in the setting?

F: I wanna give life to that blank space! The subject is the spark in the dark. Sometimes I have a certain shot in my mind but often I just do what I wanna do when I start to shoot. I think it’s much more sincere and natural.

 

C: What has been your biggest lesson learned through creating your art?   

F: Never listen to what people say. Just be yourself and always be true to what you are. If someone won’t appreciate it, there is no big reason to be sad, certainly someone else will love what you do. The most important thing is to have control about what you’re doing.

 

C: What do you hope your art says to people?

F: I would love to be understood by everyone in a parallel universe (lol), but knowing that this isn’t possible, I just want them to feel free to think what they want. I’m so open minded that sometimes I ask myself, “Is it possible to be more open minded that how i am at the moment?” I could never expect from people to see only what I want them to see.

 

And that is the one and only Freddy Krave. We here at FOLK are all looking forward to seeing more of Freddy and his photos. His work is a reminder to keep an open mind, live authentic, and be eronic.

Tumblr: Kraviation | Instagram: MrFreddyKrave

If you would like to purchase Freddy's work, click here

Q & A with Helias Doulis

Guest User

We had the privilege of hearing from Helias Doulis, a young photographer from Greece living in London whose expressive work capturing portraits of people is thought-provoking, breathtaking, & poetic. See more of him and his work on his website and Instagram @helias.doulis

When did you first become interested in photography?

I started taking pictures when I was in my second year as an undergraduate student back in 2014 at the University of Wolverhampton, which had almost nothing to do in terms of similarity referring to their subject, to the ones that I have mostly been shooting during the past year or so. I started shooting abandoned buildings across the city that I used to live in the UK, and after breaking up with my first partner, I wanted to explore my feelings within random partners and the different seasons of the year in nature. This series is a completely unpublished one, which I still hold on to in order to create an exhibition which would contain my true self at beneath and above its roughest hours.

How did your Nurtured Nature series develop?

I was shooting some photographs with my muse, back in 2015, in Greece, and more specifically at Limanakia. That’s quite common for us though, since I use his body as an artistic canvas where I can most of the times reflect myself upon, like creating a mirror that is not physically existing, yet is always managing to create a never ending emotional surface for both of us. It was just a month after our shooting for my first feature film that is now eventually completing its post-production process. He had lost more than ten kilos to be able to present his character on camera, so his body was extremely skinny apart from weak. We created random body shapes besides the rocky landscape of Limanakia in different times and types of daylight, when I realized that I wanted him to be a Siren within a project along more bodies.

Were you self-taught or did you learn in school/from a mentor?

I am a self-taught photographer who is experiencing his different emotional spasms with the support of the lenses of a camera, reflecting his filters upon poetic visuals.

 

 

 

What themes do you explore through your work, a dichotomy of nature versus nurture, or an exploration of humanity in nature?

There is a continuous fight between what we are designed to be with by Nature and what we have been armed to be with by Nurture. Nature in terms of a womb, in terms of a mother who is eternally giving birth to her creatures, yet Nurture in terms of a society, in terms of a father who is eternally killing his creatures’ sensibility upon the tomb of masculinity and patriarchy. The exploration of what men have been equipped to be with, the exploration of society’s expectation of them to be presented and act through their nurtured selves while running towards the shelter of Mother Nature.

You feature many types of landscapes in your work, sensuous rock formations and meadows. What do those settings speak to in your work and it's mood?

The setting for my ‘Parabyss: A Nurtured Nature’ and ‘Blossom of Solitude’ Series has been a rocky shelter where men can find a haven to exist freely and be protected by the threatening public eye of the viewer, who is always awaiting to corrupt their sensitivity across the shore. The ‘Sheltered’ Series was shot in Macclesfield Forest, in Manchester back in November 2015. I wanted to expand on that tightness within the expression of the bodies and the way they present themselves in adverse weather conditions while trying to survive. It has been the key point of my first exploration while using a female body as part of a photographic project in order to visualize Mother Nature as a desperate yet always resourceful body among the freezing meadows of Cheshire.

You compose your subjects in positions you don't normally see in portrait photography, how do you decide on those positions and what stories do they tell?

My aim is to highlight the creature’s path within the destructive environment, a dystopia that allegorically may vary the true identity of each one of us. The beautiful world of the Pre – Raphaelite paintings present the protagonists sitting sullen and sad, while in my own shadowy world, creatures – with beauty being conquered by desire – dare to look at the viewer, overcoming the shame they may feel. This shame, dipped in the persecution, is what I am trying to capture through the body.

What inspires your work?

Since my studies are on the Literary and Cinematic Writing, the art of speech is endlessly catching my attention when facing a human being or a landscape. Poetry, makes me realize that the human being is itself a landscape waiting to be explored. Leaving behind so many artists that have inspired me from this form of art, I will focus on some photographers and filmmakers, whose works have served as stimuli to my whole work, such as George Platt Lynes, William Klein, Greg Girard, William Gedney and Nan Goldin, whose aim was to create living statues exhale sensitivity or power, indolence or pleasure, ‘victims’ of their own desires and old memories. Regarding directors, I will deliberately mention Aleksandr Sokourov and Bill Douglas, who present their heroes always corrupted by misery, destitution, hiding behind the dust or debris.

Do you go into the shoot with a specific shot in mind, or does the inspiration strike when you place your model in the setting?

Within the first shots, I wanted to undress the Man of the coat that Magritte and Beckett gave to Him, the armor of which is said in the Three Guineas of Virginia Woolf that has supported the masculinity syndrome, and to reveal the vulnerable body, the enduring one. While observing my models and the movement that I wanted to create with their bodies, I realized that this is the time for me as an artist to reveal that sensitivity that they can hide in order for the viewer himself to reflect on the society’s garment that he is wearing, either.

How do you compose an image?

The poses are sometimes clear in my mind even before I get the camera in my hands and way more often when there are several models together, born at that time as the bodies exist one next to another, seeking to enliven with a touch.

What has been your biggest lesson learned through creating your art? What do you hope your art says to people?

Since I was a little boy, I wanted to create a shelter where everyone can hide himself from harness, wear or death. And even if I still find myself helpless or obsessed with what the past used to mean in my life, I do take the time to stay at home and hide myself from everything when I suddenly realize that there is nothing stronger than showing your weaknesses to overpower that scared little boy that is now crying to see the light of beauty, within my adult body. 

A Moment with Evin McClusky

Guest User

@evinmcclusky

I'm a 22 year old guy from Southern California with a love for photography, traveling, the ocean, listening to new music and a plethora of other things that I'd rather not take the time to list. My page doesn't have a color palette or style or anything like that. It's a direct reflection of where I am and what I'm doing in the moment. More often than not you'll see photos of the ocean but occasionally you'll get a glimpse of my face or some of the awesome people in my life. I'm always interested in deep conversations about anything with anyone, grabbing a drink or coffee, and shooting something fun.

Instagram: @evinmcclusky

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