“HAND-ME-DOWNLOADED: RECOVERED AUTO-SAVES FROM A DIGITAL LANDFILL”

5 years ago at Katsucon - an east-coast anime convention - I stopped at a small booth in the Artist Alley, struck by how unusual it was. Amidst booths of anime prints and acrylic charms, there were clothes. Not just any clothes. Really, really unique clothes. Upcycled weird stuff I’ve never seen before, handmade by this friendly booth-runner and designer from Walla-Walla (I just learned this was a real place, by the way). I told them their stuff rocked. We followed each other on Instagram. I remember immediately being surprised of their (at the time) small following – to me, their work was truly onto something. Guess I just got ahead of the curve, because 5 years and 15,000 followers later, Fi Black of DYKEMINT is making waves in the sustainable fandom fashion world.

Every collection they put out has always been banger after banger after banger. I kept wondering when they’d get their big break – and when they said they’d be heading to New York Fashion Week in February, I was so, so stoked. “Finally!” I remember thinking. “The recognition they deserve.”

Obviously, I had to make the trip there to support them the best way I know how: with my camera. The day before the show, we gathered 5 models together out of the 15 looks, and crashed Chinatown in style. I could wax poetic about their clothing, but I think Fi said it best:

“This collection is what happens when a mothballed wardrobe glitches mid-update. Every piece is a hand-me-downloaded anomaly, stitched, airbrushed, printed, embroidered, and salvaged from timelines that never synced properly. It’s a maximalist layering of forgotten aesthetics, a wearable rebellion of reworked, one-of-one garments that will never exist the same way twice. This is character creation: hit randomize.

And if it doesn’t make sense? Try licking a graphics card.”

📸📲📺📀📡📟💽🕹️🎞️🧸🌈🦄☔️🧨📈💥

It was a fucking joy and honor to do this for Fi. I am unbelievably proud of the work they and their partner Lita did to make these pieces a reality… this is just a preview. Get ready for the full show soon, with all 15 looks.

In 2019, I went to Paris and stayed with a dear friend I met online through our mutual love of a video game. From there, I had the time of my life exploring this beautiful city for two weeks. Coincidentally, Paris Fashion Week was happening at the same time as my trip. A happy accident that I ended up enjoying greatly! 

I only just got these developed. So my New Year’s Resolution is to actually get film developed right after I shoot it! But looking back on these, I can see how enamored I was with Parisian architecture. I was in love with the way the light and shadows fell on the buildings and streets. So few images consist of people, or anything but street sights. Paris was truly the city of light. 

Rose (fuwafuwanwan on Instagram) and I visited the Yin Yu Tang House on Chinese New Year, to photograph her Tang Dynasty qixiong ruqun. It was a quiet day at the museum, and we were able to roam the house freely and explore the space in new ways I hadn’t before. I hope to visit and shoot there again soon, when the skylight opens and lets in that summertime air. 

Here in Durham, NC, an exciting show is in town … But not just any show. The most incredible, unprecedented theatrical production, ever – The Lion King! I saw TLK 2 years ago in Boston, and wept my brains out into my $30 obstructed view ticket. Admittedly, I didn’t think I’d be seeing it again anytime soon, with tickets going $150+ a pop. But thanks to some incredible luck, I managed to find some tickets without breaking my bank account. It was a blast being able to show my boyfriend Anthony a production of this caliber, as he is a fledgling to theater. Even after all of the hype from me, constantly, every day for a full week, he was still blown away. I’m not surprised. 

The knowledge that The Lion King cast was in Durham, just a two hour drive from me, gave me a lot of ideas. I was truly interested in capturing the talent of the performers, and so I got in touch with Raymond “Ray” Baynard. He has been a dancer for The Lion King’s national Broadway tour for over two years now, and has been dancing his whole life. With twelve costume changes, intricate puppetry skills, and a myriad of dance numbers, Ray is a well-rounded, flexible (no pun intended) performer full of energy and talent. 

It was wonderful meeting him, and he fell right into the role of a model despite being more of a photographer himself (he runs the Instagram for The Lion King!). It was impossible to get a bad photo of him.

Downtown Durham’s American Tobacco Campus was the setting for most of our shoot, and is a sprawling renovated cigarette factory for when Lucky Strike was producing products in NC. The towering brick lofts are abound with texture, history, faded paintings and advertisements. It’s not without its gems of greenery, though, and this was much welcomed by me. 

I have admittedly never worked with a dancer before. Initially I knew I wanted him for portraiture, and saved some reference dance photos to try and capture… but I was truly blown away. 

It was so awesome to see a dancer of this caliber up close and personal to photograph! I found it very fun and challenging to manually capture his movements (usually I don’t like to use high-speed continuous shutter for movement like this, it feels like a cheap move to me).  I pretty much told Ray the bare basics of what I wanted him to do (such as jump with one arm out, etc) and from there I let him do his thing. After all, I am no dancer, and would much rather let the pro do what he does best while I try to get the right shot. 

After we explored the Tobacco Campus for a bit, we checked out a cool alleyway I discovered only minutes before the shoot started. talk about a lucky find! I don’t know Durham at all, and am so grateful I found this unique urban jungle/ruins scene… definitely a fun space to explore movement!

And last, here’s my favorite shot below. This alleyway led to the cool caged-off ruins-spot (whatever you’d call it)… I loved everything about it, and it didn’t take much for Raymond to fall right into incredible poses and movements while we wrapped up the shoot.

What a pose! Ray was so great about doing these amazing leaps and bounds while still staying perfectly in the center of where I needed him to be. Guess it comes with the territory… 

All in all this was a great experience. Ray was truly a kind person and it was wonderful to have the opportunity to photograph him in his element. 

Here are some behind the scenes photos for kicks that Anthony took–who, by the way, was once again the best assistant I could’ve asked for! 

This was, again, my first time photographing a dancer. I had a lot of fun with it, and I hope to grow the more I continue to shoot this type of medium.