demarcus
Demarcus is an artist from New York who I met whilst documenting the people of Gowanus, Brooklyn. Taking inspiration from his own past he uses a lot of physical imagery in his art - often utilising photos from his families history.
Although DeMarcus is a rather successful artist and has had his work shown WHERE. He still had the feeling of someone who was just happy to be doing it as his job, which is always nice to see. He was excited to meet me and wanted to make sure he did the best job possible. I told him that all I needed him do was be himself and act as if the camera wasn’t there but that’s easier said than done. I got him to start mixing some paints and work on a piece which he had been putting off for a while. This worked and suddenly the camera became invisible and it was just me and him having a conversation. My favroutie images of him are in the corridor outside this studio. His studio is in a large converted warehouse with those huge windows on each floor. I’ve always wanted to work in one of these and it didn’t let me down. I tried to give him things to do like walk up and down the hallway with his phone - which actually produced a very intimating image of a very friendly man - worked well. I sat him on a couch and talked to him from down the hall and popped off a few shots in between sentences so it didn’t feel too much like a photo shoot.
I think it worked.
