Color and Chemistry by Detavius and Sarah

For Detavius Niblack, there were two key points that inspired him to pursue photography: one is his childhood, and the other is being in church. "When I was still going to my former church and wanted to join the photography team, it was required to have a DSLR. Even though I got the DSLR to join the team, I was taking pictures of dozens of other things outside of church like my friends, family, landscapes, architecture, and street. Carrying it around became almost as necessary as breathing." He remembers the presence of a camera since he was young, whether it was a digital point & shoot or a toy camera that he owns.

Before the pandemic happened, he met up with Sarah, who is also a photographer and Editor-In-Chief of Spoiled Bones – a safe space for trauma survivors to unload their thoughts and share their stories. Prior to this meeting, they were already exchanging ideas for the shoot.

"Before we met up, Detavius asked, "What can you do with saran wrap?" Immediately, my mind started winding. The saran wrap wrapped around my chest was meant to illustrate how censorship is lucrative and pointless. The clothing choices and the items used were just a foundation, but the natural chemistry is what made the work possible. The posture, the thought process, the coloring, every single thing was made on the fly and we created the concept as it was happening. It is crucial when shooting this type of work to have natural chemistry between the subject and the photographer. I love how the texture of the saran wrap looks against the colored lighting and gives that extra layer of texture necessary to make these images so satisfying to me."

We asked Detavius why he chose the Lomography Color Negative 100 film for this shoot.

"The funny thing is, my friend had it on him, and I asked if I could use it and then I would pay him back because it's one of my favorite stocks to shoot on. I have shot with the Lomography 400 and 800. The colors of the 400 are amazing, but honestly, it's the contrast of the film that always keeps me coming back to it. I also love the latitude of the stock. Every time I shoot with it, it gives me a necessary range that fits perfectly with my shooting style. I plan on shooting with the Lomo 800 more at night in the future."

Sarah and Detavius are on Instagram as @fuckthatnoise and @kneeblack. Follow them if you'd like to be updated on projects they're working on!

2020-10-08 #culture #news #people