Our role as photographers is to capture a world that others can't see, and in this process, we leave a little bit of us in every photo that we take. In a way, every single one of our photographs is also a portrait of ourselves.
In this series, A World That Others Can't See, I ask fellow photographers to talk about an image from their portfolios in order to discover the stories behind their work and to learn about the person behind the lens.
For the fifth post of the series, Miami-based beauty, fashion and lifestyle photographer Erik Jimenez talks about his gorgeous portrait of Timothy Reyna.
Erik says: “This portrait is of Timothy Reyna, a model based out of NYC. I was very excited to photograph Timothy because when the agency sent me his comp card I immediately loved his facial features, amazing cheekbone structure and fun tattoos. But most of all, I was excited because Timothy had been photographed by David LaChapelle! LaChappelle was one of my favorite artists when I started photography, and I remember just staring at his amazing photography books for hours at the book store.
It’s an untitled image (at the moment) and this photoshoot was for a model agency in NYC called Hello. The inspiration for this shoot was Cirque Du Soleil - Kurios. Beautiful and mysterious. The styling was done by Pedro Guilloty and Johny Quesada, who is the owner of Hello Models but very much an artist himself.
I lit this image with a single light source, a strobe attached to a 60 x 60 cm softbox. It was placed very close to Timothy and up at camera right. No reflectors or fill light so I could achieve drama and mood. Although this particular image wasn’t used by the agency, it’s personally one of my favorites. I absolutely love it in black and white for the mood it creates, but really it’s the subject’s pose with his face profile and the tattoo on the back of his head aligned in such a way that speaks to our inner voices of good vs evil. I would love to print, frame and exhibit this image someday!
Tech & specs:
Aperture: f/4.0
Speed: 1/125 sec
Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark III
Lens: EF24-105mm f/4L IS USM
Focal length: 40 mm”
'Untitled' © Erik Jimenez
Erik, thank you so much for sharing this gorgeous portrait with me. J’adore! If you want to see more of Erik’s work, go to his Instagram profile now!