August 26, 2013

Photographing Tavi Gevinson

When I was in year 11, I did a folio piece titled, Portraits of Power. It was based and titled off a series of portraits with world leaders at the 2009 UN summit which was photographed by a man called Platon. Although I couldn't exactly get my hands on world leaders to take photographs of, I decided to apply it to my own circumstances and photograph my school teachers and principle. The main reason why I decided to appropriate Platon's work was because his original series was about getting these famous, world leaders out of their comfort zones. He set up a studio and would start yelling at them, playing loud music and trying to break down the wall that politicians effortlessly put up. Teachers are very different outside of the school and classroom environment and I wanted to capture this by talking to them, not as a student, but an adult.
I have a list of famous people I one day want to take photographs of. Most of the people on the list are people who inspire and motivate me. They have influenced my life in one way or another and I feel that they would be interesting people to very briefly get to know. I'm a firm believer that photographing someone's portrait is the most intimate way to get to know them. Tavi Gevinson and Bill Murray are tied at the top of that list. I'm not really going to go into why Bill Murray is at the top, as he's far to fabulous to sum up in a couple of words but I did want to talk about Tavi Gevinson and her influence over me.I'm a really big advocate for young people doing amazing things. I have always been more inspired by young people, around my age, doing extraordinary things than the masters of their craft who were my parents age. I think it's because ever since I've had an online presence, I've surrounded myself with like minded people who all happened to be around my age. Although Tavi Gevinson isn't the only person doing amazing things, her achievements influence me greatly because they align with my own aspirations. I started following her blog, Style Rookie when I was fourteen and incredibly inspired by everything I saw on the internet. I've never really been into fashion and I still don't have a great interest in it, but her bold and courageous experiments with clothes inspired me to feel a bit more comfortable in my own skin. I was also completely impressed with her abilities to style photographs of herself with her camera on a tripod and using self timer. I still try and photograph myself like this and nothing ever turns out how I would like it.When Tavi started Rookie at the end of 2011 I was actually more sad than I was happy for her amazing ideas and achievements. I was sad because something like this wasn't around for my thirteen year old self. I spent years pouring over trashy teen magazines believing that I had to have a boyfriend to feel any self worth and believing that I had to wear make up to be considered to be 'pretty'. I basically conformed for my first three years of high school because it was easier and I didn't really know any different. It made me miserable and made me compromise some of my ethics just to fit in, which is never really a good thing. Although I was 'on the edge of seventeen' when Rookie Mag came alive, it has still influenced my life, my thinking styles and most importantly my confidence in who I am. Even though the high school related stories, photographs and art are no longer applicable to my life, they fill me with a good sense of nostalgia and I find myself grinning to myself thinking, I know exactly what they're talking about. It's nice to feel connected, even if you can't really see the person on the other side of the computer screen.After leaving VCA it was very clear to me that working in journalism and writing were very important to me. I had always loved writing stories, blogging and english class but never really considered studying it. I always wanted to work in magazines with my photography and now the prospect of writing and photographing at the same time sounds like a little bit too good to be true. When I first decided to leave uni, I revisited Tavi's blog, Style Rookie for her wisdom. I guess she kind of became the poster girl for my aspirations in life and reminding me that anyone can achieve anything if they work hard for it. I struggle a lot with the whole being an artistic girl who also loves sport and exercise because I sometimes feel that the two don't mix together but Tavi's Ted Talk about how teenagers are multi-faceted really helped me in embracing all of my interests and not feeling like I have to fit a mould or stereotype.
When I met Tavi on Friday night, I gingerly asked her if I could take her photograph, explaining my famous list of people I one day want to take photographs of incredibly fast so that I didn't take up too much time. To be honest, I was incredibly shocked that she said yes. Her trip to Australia kind of seemed like a whirlwind and I wasn't sure if she would have a spare five minutes to let a complete stranger take photographs of her. We originally organised to take some photographs after Rookie Day on the Saturday but after she surprised the unofficial Melbourne Rookie meet up at Flinders Street, we quickly snuck away to one of my favourite spots in Melbourne to do a shoot that probably wasn't five minutes long. 

I feel that it's incredibly important to describe to you how I photographed her. None of the photographs are posed. I did not tell her what to do. In fact the only thing I really chose was the background, and I asked her to put on her jumper because it's completely rad. I photographed her in the same way that I photographed my teachers. I just talked to her and snapped as we chatted. I spoke to her about depression, something she mentioned in her talk on Friday night and something I have experienced since I was about fifteen. I don't often talk about that kind of stuff with people, outside of my family, boyfriend and psychologist, but it felt really nice to connect with someone who also knew how it felt. I didn't edit any of the photographs. I did this for two reasons. One; because I felt that the photographs were perfect as they are and that I didn't need to alter the brightness or colours. Two; because in a lot of magazine features (especially the recent Yen Magazine feature) professional lighting, make up artists, photoshop retouchers alter her appearance. I kind of wanted these to reflect my experience with Tavi. Although she was filled with wisdom and such an old soul, she was really just like you or I and I loved that. I feel that in these photographs, despite her achievements, she looks and seems like a regular person who is filled with fascinating thoughts and good advice.

I adore these photographs and I'm immensely proud of them. I read an interview a while ago on Hello Giggles and when Tavi was asked about what she defines as success she said this 'Satisfaction with both process and product, satisfaction regardless of public attention, appreciating positive attention without depending on it, ignoring negative attention that can’t help you, understanding that you are not entitled to an audience and your audience is not entitled to you.' I strongly feel that I am slowly working towards not relying on others to validate my work. But I've never felt more proud of something I've created than I do with these photographs. I'm not sure why. I think it's a combination of feeling completely satisfied with the unedited photographs and realising what I can achieve in a literal five minute period.

I hope you love these photographs as much as I do and that they give you a little insight in the the inspiring and intelligent person Tavi is. I cannot thank her enough with trusting me to take her portrait. 

26 comments:

  1. Wow! What an incredible post. I had the pleasure of meeting Tavi last summer, and your photographs really recall my memories of her mannerisms and nature. They're so beautiful and interesting, and the entire story behind them is rather fascinating.

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    1. Thank you so much! I'm glad they are kind of nostalgic for you in some way, whenever people say that my work reminds them of something is makes me immensely glad! Also, thanks for reading the whole post? I kind of just looked over it again and realised how long it is. I thought the story had to be told though :)

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  2. Hey dude!! Cool photos, love the close ups!! How amazing was Tavi on the weekend? I nearly died in her presence.
    Would you mind telling me what car park/rooftop this is in the city or where-ish it is? I've been searching for a location like this for a while now!

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    1. Hey, thanks! Ah it was amazing, I've never felt more inspired and excited for things/people/the future.
      It's the car park that's directly across from Fed Square and next to the Cathedral on Flinders Street. You have to go up to like level 8 and you get a birds eye view of Hosier lane and stuff. It's really cool! :)

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  3. These are great, but you already knew that

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  4. Wow this is amazing! I love the rawness of the photos, it really is so personal and beautiful. x

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  5. I love these photographs - so real, so raw, so simply beautiful. There is an urban feeling paired with some teenage randomness... Well done, good job!
    Tavi has been one of my style icons/references/influences, not only because of her own concept of personal style but also because she always sounded so mature, clever and creative... Girls should look up to her as one main inspiration, instead of relating to women who promote only the body image, or dressing/acting to please the men and people in general around... Tavi is a true gem! I'm so glad you've had an interesting time with her :)x

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    1. Aw thank you so much Nancy! We didn't have much time to particularly choose a location so I took her to one of my favourite places that wasn't too far from where we were.

      She is incredibly wise and intelligent. She is definitely an amazing role model (and we reminded her of that constantly). I absolutely adore her TED talk. It's incredibly inspiring.

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  6. I've just discovered your beautiful blog and this post seriously brought tears to my eyes. Tavi has been one of my idols for the past two years and I am SO jealous that you not only got to meet her, but photograph her. Your work is raw and youthful and stunning and I cannot believe these shots are unedited. You've got so much talent!

    Xo, Hannah

    sweetsweetnoir.net

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  7. Aw Hannah, thank you so much! This comment means such a great deal to me. I guess you could say it was just luck, or perhaps she's just an amazing person. I feel so blessed to have been able to photograph her because like you, she is a very big inspiration to me and she constantly reminds me that you can do amazing things with your life, you just have to believe in yourself.
    Thank you so much!

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  8. What a perfect post! The shots are so great because they're so raw and simple and unedited. You're so talented and omg the last one is so gorgeous asdfghjkl <3 <3

    xox
    http://teenmoonwitch.blogspot.co.uk/

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    1. Aw thank you Dani! I love the last one too. I have a few favourites but I love the whole series!
      Ps. Your blog is super cute!

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  9. I also want to say that I find your simple admiration and respect of Tavi very beautiful. In truth I have often felt very jealous of all her success, I can feel that despair that someone several years younger than me has already achieved so much. And then I can feel self-loathing for the jealousy as well as the sense of failure for not having done enough yet. It's all very confusing. :) In truth I do think she is amazing, and more than anything the sense of pride in being a girl that she has encouraged, and in celebrating that as something powerful is what I most respect in her. You know, saying glitter and pink and flowers are not weak. That it's not silly to be a girl. I like that a lot.

    I also like your photographs. I like the non-editing and the way they capture a person not a representation.

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    1. Thank you Ruth. I know exactly how you feel. I don't think I've ever felt jealous of her achievements but at times frustrated. I'm more frustrated at myself through during creative slumps than I am of her. I think it's really important to channel someone's success into our own motivation and that's what I try and do with inspiring people I encounter. Sometimes I do feel deflated, but ultimately it fuels my desire to work harder. I hope that helps somehow!

      Capturing a person was definitely a big part of these photographs and a lot of work I do. I was having a conversation the other day with my boyfriend's brother, that the images we see in magazines and online aren't people, they're representations or more digital artworks. It's very true when you think about it. Often I try and keep retouching in my photographs to the bare minimum, just changing the colours etc but I feel it's incredibly refreshing to feel incredibly satisfied with work that doesn't need photoshopping. I guess it's also a reflection on the person in the photographs too, you can tell that Tavi is incredibly sure of herself.

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  10. These are such beautiful photos, congratulations. I love her definition of success. I'm glad to hear you're not relying on others, you should be so sure of yourself and proud of yourself that your work completely reflects who you are as a person and that you love and own it completely xx

    Find me on bloglovin:
    www.bloglovin.com/binkachu

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    1. Thank you so much for your kind words, Bianca! I'm slowly learning to own it! Slowly but surely!

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  11. Nice photos, I love them! and this girl has a beautiful face :)

    http://www.mymymode.com

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  12. you are lucky to meet such a young inspiration. you are yourself serves an inspiration to me since ive been reading your blog :)

    http://flightvintage.blogspot.com

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    1. Aw thank you so much Carissa! You are super lovely!

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  13. Tavi is a heroine of her generation. These portraits are so beautiful and personal! Thank you for sharing

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  14. Very cute sweater.Good post ! :)
    Evia x

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