kat kaye
I recently photographed rapper and songwriter BIA for HYPEBAE, HYPEBEAST’S female editorially driven site, and it was an absolute pleasure. BIA is currently signed to Pharrell's i am OTHER record label as part of a collaboration with RCA Records.
While BIA's presence is quite commanding and bold, we slowed things down a little and captured some quiet moments that day.
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I'm grateful to have my image of Devon included in the Girl Gaze book (out now) alongside such beautiful work with great meaning and substance. When I made this portrait, I didn't know what was going in Devon's life. We had met just a few minutes earlier and I was struck by his kindness and warmth. It wasn't until some time had passed that he shared with me what he was experiencing then and how it came through in his photo. In Devon's words:
"This picture was taken at a time in my life where everything was going wrong and I couldn't see it getting better anytime soon. I lost a lot of weight, I was depressed, and I was recovering from plastic surgery I had on my face from a car accident. I was living in a city where I had no family, no real friends, and was stuck in a failing relationship. I was booking a lot of modeling jobs, but my checks would never come on time, they were less than what I was supposed to get, or they just didn't come at all. There was one photo shoot that I did that I was really excited about; I had a huge billboard in West Hollywood on Melrose for this photographer's studio. I told my mom about it and that I was all settled into my new place in West Hollywood. She was taking a trip to Las Vegas and wanted to stop by to see me on her way there. A few days before she came to visit me I found out that my billboard was taken down because a new store was opening and they needed to put their signage up. There was also something that went wrong in my apartment so I had to throw out all of my furniture and most of my things away. My eyes were also affected somehow by my surgery; they were dry, extremely itchy, and blood shot red. I told my mom that I was doing fine in the new city that I moved to, but that was far from the truth and this picture is a visual representation of how my life was going. I had nothing. I felt empty, broken, and defeated. The only thing I looked forward to was seeing my mom, but I did not want her to see me in this condition."
I want to thank Devon Walker for being so open and trusting me. Thank you to the Girl Gaze Project, Amanda de Cadenet, Lynsey Addario, Inez van Lamsweerde, and Sam Taylor Johnson for the opportunity and everything that you do for the creative community. Do yourself a favor and purchase this beautiful book by Rizzoli on Amazon!
*Cover photo by Amber Zeekaf with book design by Su Barber.
These are more photos of Devon that we made together.
#girlgaze
"Couldn't Drag Me Away..."
Published in Rogue magazine, Issue 6, Summer 2017
Photographer: Kat Kaye
Models: Sam Evans w/IMG & Next LA, Allie Holton w/Nous
Wardrobe: Sabrina Che
Hair & Makeup: Kenye Hart
Here's a preview of my editorial for Rogue Magazine's issue 6. The models for this shoot were Sam Evans with Next LA whom I always love working with and the very talented Allie Holton with Nous Models. Wardrobe styling by the very stylish Sabrina Che. Hair and makeup by the wonderful Kenye Hart.
It was great working with horses on this. The day felt magical..
Issue 6 of Rogue Magazine should be hitting newsstands soon!
I recently worked with model Ben Dahlhaus with Next LA, PMA Hamburg, and Models 1 London. While I do love conceptualizing and planning my shoots, I occasionally will do more of a spontaneous shoot with nothing planned ahead of time. I find that these type of shoots help keep my mind open to the creative process and connect me even closer to my intuition. Hair by Kenye Hart and wardrobe by Betty Barajas.
I made some portraits of Pierson Williams at Next Models LA. Pierson has done a lot of commercial campaigns with companies like Nike and Adidas. For our time together, I sought to capture something more personal.
I am happy to announce that I am part of the Girl Gaze exhibition currently being held at the Annenberg Space for Photography. Girl Gaze is a multi-media project founded by Amanda de Cadenet and is supported by Inez van Lamsveerde, Amber Valletta, Sam Taylor-Johnson, Lynsey Addario, and Collier Schorr. At the opening night, Amanda discussed the importance of media platforms embracing imagery from a female perspective and it was inspiring.
Whether you care or don't care about fashion and art, it is irrelevant when it comes to the significant effects that these industries actually have on your sense of self and the different roles you perceive people having or being capable of having in society. Listen, I love the work of many male photographers and continue to do so. However when one group dominates the image making process, as is the case with the photography industry, the results are images that cater to that one group and how they see the world. You become conditioned to believe in expectations that may not represent your experience in life and contribute to a feeling that you're always coming up short. At that point it's not about your experience but what someone else thinks it should be. There is a difference between a story being told by a main character versus a bystander. And personally, I enjoy seeing a woman for who she is and how she sees the world and not what she's been told to be.
Here are some photos from the opening night!
Artist Elyn Kazarian and I at the show. Polaroids by Sabrina Che.
There is a little boy inside the man who is my brother... Oh, how I hated that little boy. And how I love him too.
-Anna Quindlen
Models: Joshua Wilson with Next Models, Dayne Eigner with M
Wardrobe Stylist: Sabrina Che
My photo series, My Skin, My Body is being featured on Udee for a second installment. In the series, I photograph women in nature with no retouching. The feature includes an interview I did with Fahamisha Thompson who sat in for the series. Udee is doing some amazing things and I'm so honored to be a part of it! See the link below for the feature!
http://udee.co/skin-body-part-3/
Dean Michael with Next Models LA
On the shifting nature of fame, author Jill Neimark writes that “where once the famous achieved an almost godlike status, one that seemed impermeable and historical, today celebrity exists for and by an information age.” There is a new template for fame and it involves the disclosure of personal information as a form of social currency. The once enigmatic and elusive figure that fans would project their own dreams and hopes onto has slowly dissipated into obscurity and been replaced with a figure that is online and available for public consumption. The less one shares, the more they fade out of public consciousness.
We want to see the person as a product and learn about the process of becoming them--how they apply their makeup, what they eat, where they sleep, and we want it in real time. Product endorsements are a signifier of fame and are presented as a tool to achieve emulation. Past icons are protected on their pedestals of fame and mystery because their rise predated tools like social media that are built on an excess of mundane details about people’s lives or because premature deaths left us with more questions than answers, maintaining the mystery. Yet it is a different kind of fame than that which builds icons. It is now through familiarity that we connect, no longer do we spend much time speculating--there is an entitlement to personal information. So much is exposed, that the cloak of mystery is dropped and we are left with a person and not a god.
I took iconic people and moments and recreated them in a present day context. I imagined what new archetypes these people or characters would potentially embody if their rise to fame was happening now. I explored the idea of constant visibility and self presentation, product endorsements, an infatuation with technology, and a general sense of ennui that seems to permeate so much imagery today. Justin Gossman w/Wilhelmina NYC was cast as Mick Jagger. Sam Evans w/Next LA & Wilhelmina NYC got into character as Elvis, James Dean, and Marlon Brando in "A Streetcar Named Desire." Lacey Claire Rogers w/No Ties became Frida Kahlo, Priscilla Presley, Amy Winehouse, and Marilyn Monroe.
Team Credits:
Photography by Kat Kaye
Models: Sam Evans w/Next Models LA and Wilhelmina NYC, Lacey Claire Rogers w/No Ties Management, Justin Gossman w/Wilhelmina LA/NYC and New Madison Paris
Wardrobe Stylist: Sabrina Che
Hair Stylist: Jen Puebla Alfaro
Makeup Artist: Sam Takao
View the webitorial at www.fantasticsmag.com/stories/new-iconic
Photography by Kat Kaye
Models: Leah Peterson & Claire Layman @ Hoffman Models, Kansas City
Hair & Makeup: Paige Pelfrey
Dedicated to a friend I once had. While the world we constructed and inhabited was quite small, at least we could be alone together.
Video coming soon
