It’s not easy switching between the personal and commercial world. Oftentimes when I am shooting commercial and advertising work I lose sight of the art that drives my passion because you’re making work that is supposed to cater to a specific market or type of person and not necessarily what you want to shoot personally. Shooting commercially, everything is so planned and thought out, so shooting personal work is a nice break from the rigor and intense preparation that comes along with being an advertising photographer.

Lately, I’ve been trying to loosen the reigns and just do what feels right in the moment. I want to put less pressure on myself to always do everything exactly perfect, as it can be tiresome and a lot of times very draining. So I took Nyadhuor, a stylist, and a make-up artist to a hilly park in east LA with not a whole lot of a plan. From there I let my intuition drive. In this way, I feel that I capture moments in a more authentic, almost accidental way. I love when my personal work excites me, it’s like a drug that I keep coming back to. Not all of my personal work is so spontaneous like this, but it was really freeing to come away with these shots knowing that it all just happened as it was meant to. :)