Gerard Harrison: The process always starts with a notion of what I want to produce

Please briefly tell us about your background. Who is Gerard Harrison?

I’m a fashion photographer from Houston, Texas. I was a lawyer for 25 years. When I got tired of it, I picked up my camera seriously, opened a studio, and started learning to shoot fashion. That was 4 years ago. With each shoot, I have tried to do something I’ve never attempted before. This editorial is the latest example. We assembled 6 highly creative emerging designers from across the U.S., shot in the near darkness of a laser tag arena with constantly changing ambient color and in space that limited us to a single, bare light. The result is a reminder that creative thought and boldness are what ultimately enable us to emerge from darkness. Fear, submission, and timidity will only keep us there.

What's been the biggest highlight in your career so far?

That’s hard to say. I try something new with each project, so each successful shoot provides a highlight. However, my biggest honor was having a work “Commended” in the Siena Creative Photo Awards. That photo was also published in Forbes digital edition as part of their coverage of the Siena Awards.

What's the most important thing you want your potential clients to know about you?

You are likely to be surprised by what I produce. Because I am not interested in duplicating one shoot after another, I will be looking for some way to make your final product both distinctive and better than either of us anticipated. And the result is nearly always a surprise in some respect.

If you could change anything about the fashion industry, what would it be?

I would end the practice of modeling agencies’ signing models and then requiring them to pay for expensive training with no guarantee they will ever recover their investment. Agencies should advance the cost of training, if needed, and only recover it from commissions on bookings for the model. That would create an incentive not to sign marginal models and to work for the ones they do sign. This change might also increase the career life of models and reduce the huge number of very young models in the industry.

Who is the person that inspires you the most and why? What suggestions do you have for new photographers?

In photography, I took the most inspiration from Ansel Adams. His black and white landscapes are still the standard, even after nearly a century. My limited advice to new photographers is to seek out the work of the very best photographers of the last 100 years. Note that very few of them, if any, post regularly on Instagram! Find the ones that make you feel something, then figure out how they did it. Study the book “Light, Science, and Magic”to learn the basic tools of the craft. Work on photography every day.

You are a creative mind with an exceptional eye for detail. Are you able to talk us through your process when creating your art?

The process always starts with a notion of what I want to produce. Then, after the images are captured in camera, the real creative work begins. Ansel Adams compared the negative to a musical composer’s score. It has no life until it is interpreted and performed. It’s during creative editing that I try to give voice to what is in the “negative.” And many times, what the negative offers is very different from what I originally imagined. 

Artistic images, by nature, are ambiguous because our first response to them is emotional, not intellectual. When we try to constrain art to a single interpretation, we diminish its power. So, I would say that my process is mainly trying to stay attentive to the ambiguities inherent in the images and to give those ambiguities voice.

What should we expect from Gerard Harrison in the near future?

I hope to continue shooting fashion and pushing my work in the direction of fine art. In that regard, the fashion work of Annie Leibovitz, Solve Sundsbo, and Nick Knight are inspirational.

Shoe Designer: Veragano Shoes @veragano

Fashion Designer: Mysterious By NPN @mysteriousbynpn

Makeup Artist: Cori Aston @coriaston39

Hair Stylist: Louis Lopez @louislopez07

Accessory Designer: CECILIA'S STEEL @ceciliassteelofficial

Shoe Designer: Alice D'italia Shoes @aliceditalia

Model: Shannon Winger @real_shannon @Page Parkes Agency

Fine Artist: Sarah Kate Harrison @sarahkateharrison

Photographer/Retoucher: Gerard Harrison @thegerardharrison

Fashion Designer: Adrienne Yunger @aryunger

Model/Makeup Artist: Federica Ferrari @federicaferrari_ @World Management

Fashion Designer: Jennifer Ritz @jenniferritzofficial

Wardrobe Stylist: Rosette Walker @stylebyrosetx

Venue: Laserzone @laserzoneusa