.: Kraizie Kat

Saturday, February 19, 2011

Kraizie Kat

Let me start out by saying that I pulled together 70+ images from the collection I have for this very special artist.... I pushed them back to him and had him cull them down to a somewhat smaller list that I could choose from. When I received the final list back I realized what a terrible task I had given him! All of his work has a resonance that makes taking any photo out nearly impossible. I told him I would use 12 and must apologize that I could only get it down to 16!

The photographer is Kraizie Kat and he hails from the region between London and Reading England. More nights than not for the past few years he has been a conversation companion in the evenings, we share a love for photography and a similar taste in subject matter and over the last two years he has become very prolific and the go to photographer for many models.

Tonight I have pulled together several images that show off his command of color and tone. The masterful sepia tones and duo tones make his images fascinating to me... Many of his images are so life like I want to reach through the monitor to the other side of the ocean. The poses he employs can be editorial and dramatic but they can also be very human, the combination draws you immediately in every time!

It is important to showcase his work because it is real and comes from a special place, it has a soul of its own. This is a photographer to watch for in the future!

To accompany his images tonight I asked Kraize Kat to respond to a few of my questions!
One of the things that sets your photography apart for me is the way you create the tonal quality in your images. What drives you to create, enhance these tones?
I have never given this too much thought before, so the short answer is,
because I just do it, and because I love it. But after some thought, here is the long answer. One of the things that got me started with photographing models was to be able to use the images as references for my drawings/artworks. Digital art is of course directly connected to digital photography and as such it's only natural that before long I begin to utilise the opportunities and possibilities to create artworks with the pictures I shot with digital tools. I think of visual art as communication through imagery (in my case most preferably done in a beautiful way). Colours and tones evoke feelings and associations in our minds. For example, golden or warm tones are often glorious or happy, blues can be cool, cold or melancholic, sepias and browns can be sensual or nostalgic, purples can be otherworldly, spiritual, and so on. They can also be strong or light, saturated or subtle, solid or soft. When effectively applied they can be employed to convey moods and communicate beyond just the form of the subject matter, this is where sometimes using colours or tones in a specific way can be a lot more 'successful' for an image than in its original colours or in black and white. From a purely visual perspective, they offer further possibilities (to change/enhance the look of the image, make the model stand out more and so on), though of course natural colours and black and whites will always have their place.

After all of the shoots you have completed so far, what is the most important lesson you have learned Photographically" ? How did you over come the challenge?
To make the best of your resources and opportunities, this can be in terms of your equipments (cameras, lenses, lighting and so on - if your camera can't handle a bit of low light for example, use a tripod), settings (studio, location, or your kitchen space - you don't have to wait until you can afford a big expensive studio to make images that look like it could have been taken in one), the weather situation (unless your mind is made up to shoot with bright sunshine and blue skies, if it rains you can always shoot under the bridge, car park or sheltered spaces, or have it as an option to shoot indoors), and so on. This will be helped greatly by developing your skills and getting a good grasp of photographic principles and technicalities to go with your talent and creativity.

What is the ultimate goal for you and your work? Books, Galleries? How do you want your work to be seen as in the end?

Definitely as prints whether in books or galleries. I have quite a few book ideas to be realised, as well as collaborations and commercial projects in the pipeline.

Model: Gus A
Model: Pokyes
Model: ToluA
Model: Nazstar
Model: Derrick T
Model Nick Daniel
Model: Daniel Mendez

To see more of his work you can click HERE and HERE

Note: All images and text (not specified) is copyrighted by Christopher Cushman. This site does not specify or denote the sexual orientation of any model and as such please post your comments accordingly.

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The Dance Through Life Project

Photograph project dedicated to capture the Art of Dance within the parameters of everyday life. The project hopes to capture the innate relationships between dance and everyday life. Images of dance performed in non-traditional locales hopefully demystifying dance as being inaccessible and drawing the obvious metaphor that while all can not express life with such movement and physicality, we all love with our own signature grace. Therefore we all dance.

Order your copy today by clicking on the books above!

Through New Eyes: The Photography of Christopher Cushman by Rinaldo Walcott

The Black male body remains an enigma despite its over representation in the public sphere. The dominance of hip hop culture globally, driven in part, but not exclusively by the innovative sounds of rap music have made Black men a standard by which Black men and other men judge themselves in contemporary culture. However, there is a paradox, because despite the prevalence of hip-hop’s popular global impact, Black men are also still some of the most despised men in Western culture. Stereotypes of criminality, disease and danger still abound and organize Black men’s lives, even within hip hop culture. Thus representations of Black men tend to be much more restricted, than open-ended. The struggle to bring Black men into complex open-ended representations has been an on-going historical struggle. One of the most potent forms of representation in the last one hundred and fifty years has been the photograph. Photography has offered the promise to represent the real in a manner that has both seduce its viewers and baffled them with its artifice. Black male photographic representations in the last half of the twentieth century and into the twenty-first have promised to rescue Black men from the confines of mis-representation and stereotype. One of the most difficult and complicated circumstances of Black male representations has been in the realm of representing their sexuality. Black men’s sexuality is still over-burdened by a perceived threat and danger, especially now in the hyped-up era of the downlow. Then along comes Cushman. I first hear of Christopher Cushman’s photography from my boyfriend. He told me of a guy who was taking photographs of black nudes based upon how they wanted themselves to be seen, not how he posed them as his models. When I met Cushman he confirmed that he did indeed work from the models’ suggested posed and not impose his own. The idea is a great one because it allows the models agency in choosing what they believe to be an adequate representation of who they are. While it is now true that in contemporary culture subjects have learned to play for the camera, offering us artifice on command, this artifice can be understood as exposing inner senses of self and being. Cushman’s photography captures and reveals those inner desires. Look at me, many of the models seems to say. But look at me anew, is also what they seem to project and insist on. Cushman’s eye lavishes these Black male bodies with glimmers of light revealing their nuance personalities. While most of the men are naked their individuality comes clearly through. And yet, their eyes too reveal that they belong to a community, a family and possess desires, fantasies and needs. In these photographs, as viewers we are given new eyes to see beyond our inner voyeur. Cushman channels, Robert Mapplethorpe, Rotimi Fani-Kayode and many other artists, commercial and amateur photographers who seek to rescue the Black male body from the disastrous depths of mis-representation, and who almost always fall short. The conversations that his models create between his work and others whether unconscious or not reveal the profound influence of the image in our time. However, in Cushman’s eyes the Black male body is not being rescued, instead it stands on a self-made pedestal, not arrogantly announcing its existence but coolly (its signature) singing its own praisesong as swathes of light and behind the camera love washes over it. In each moment a small but significant revelation is made. Each revelation offers us the opportunity of an Epiphany – to think a thought about a Black man that we have not thought before. Professor Rinaldo Walcott is a cultural critic and Canada Research Chair of Social Justice and Cultural Studies at the University of Toronto. He lives and writes in Toronto.

FIERCE! Being Black, Being Gay in America

"What Chris has done with this important collection of images, Fierce: Being Black, Being Gay in America, A Photographic Essay, is to seek, lift, and affirm the identity and visibility of men-who love-men and express it in many ways. His photographs display Midwest American men from the outlandish and flamboyant, to the subdued and subtle. You’d think these were “ladies who lunch;” muscular men dressed for the “Park” in lace, and floppy hats to give effect for all to see. Brothers connecting in places we know are safe, such as our nightclubs, the discos, and special events targeting our interests.

The importance of Fierce is paramount: all men are created equal, and share a space on earth. These portraits of men have to be recognized as God’s beauty and not His damnation. Time will thank those who were strong and dared enough to express themselves for all to see and appreciate in a manner that’s loving and creative. Time will also thank us for not living in a paranoid state of mind, and afraid of our own shadows. Remember, this cluster of work isn’t Robert Mappelthope’s approach to black imagery, but the approach of documenting men as they wanted to be seen: with and without sexual stimulation, for shock value."

Curtis A. Lipscomb
Executive Director Kick – The Agency for L-G-B-T African-Americans
Detroit Michigan / 2005
www.e-kick.com