Living Life, Frozen in Time: Adam DeGazon on New York and the Moment

Malini Through My Lens is a fashion editorial photographed, creative-directed and retouched by Adam DeGazon with model Malini Patel, published in the printed edition MALVIE Fashion Across Cultures 137.

From the printed edition: MALVIE Fashion Across Cultures 137

Malini Through My Lens is one of the editorials in MALVIE Fashion Across Cultures 137, the new printed edition of MALVIE Magazine, alongside French Charm, Mauvaise Grâce, Threads of Identity and Two Muses.

The printed edition will be available to order from our print partners MagCloud, Peecho and DPBee.

Adam DeGazon: the interview

You were born and raised in New York City, and you still live and work there. How has the city shaped the way you see and frame the world?

Living in such a diverse city as New York, with its people and culture. It helps fuel my creativity while doing a photo shoot, different places provide so many different aesthetics, that can enhance a photo and making each shot as different and unique as the last. It sparks my creativity & fuels my ideas for different concepts for photo shoots.

You studied photography, art and film in college. How do those three disciplines still come together in your work today?

Once I learned the fundamentals of film photography, art and film. Knowing how to frame, light, crop and set up a scene. I am free to create, what I want that photo to be. Because, I understand how to capture it. To use a metaphor, once a person learns to write with a pencil, that person can write anything, from a grocery list to a novel.

Since 2007, your work has covered editorial, commercial, sports, fashion, portrait and still life. What connects all of these fields in your eyes?

What connects all of these fields in your eyes, I would have to say simply is, knowing what to capture and how to capture it.

You describe your approach as unique and at times unconventional. What does that look like when you step onto a set?

I tend to think outside the box, as much as I can. For example, if it means using natural light instead of a speedlight, to capture a certain look and feel for a shot or positioning myself in an uncomfortable position to capture a certain angle. A moment of discomfort to capture a great shot is more than worth it, in my opinion.

You aim to bring a certain energy to every photo shoot. How do you create that energy, and how do you keep it alive throughout a session?

I create that energy for a photo shoot, with my enthusiasm and pure excitement, for any photo shoot I'm about to do. I let my love for the craft come through, in my personality. My joviality is how I approach and express to the model I'm working with, keeping their excitement and energy up. Regardless of whether the photo shoot is for an hour or all day.

Capturing the true complexity and emotional state of your subjects is central to your work. How do you get past the surface to reach something real?

To capture something truly complex and or emotional, in my opinion, is totally collaborative, between myself as the photographer and the model I'm working with. It's no different from a director working with an actor. We both have to understand, the vibe and feel of what we want to have come across with each shot. Only in a collaborative way can that be achieved.

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You often leave your home studio for real world settings. What do natural environments give your images that a studio cannot?

An in-home studio photo shoot, can be very limited at times. There's only so much I can do in a studio setting. Again, this goes back to me living in New York. Utilizing natural environments, such as Times Square, The New York Public Library, neighborhoods in Downtown Manhattan, Brooklyn, the different beaches and parks in Queens and on Long Island.

Even a simple building with graffiti art on the wall, can offer so many creative opportunities to capture so many different photos. The possibilities to capture something unique, different and special are almost endless here.

Your images reflect the act of living. Can you tell us about a moment where real life unexpectedly made a photograph better than you had planned?

Excellent question, there have been so many instances over the years when real life unexpectedly made a photo better. While I was doing street photography, during the Christmas season. I came across a man sitting in front of the New York Public Library smoking a cigar. There was something, about him that just caught my attention. I asked him very politely, if he wouldn't mind if I took some portraits of him while he was smoking the cigar.

He was so nice, he allowed me to do a quick photo shoot with him. There was something so real and raw, photographing a person just living life and enjoying a nice day in the city during the Christmas season.

You call your camera a time machine. Which moment that you have frozen in time means the most to you, and why?

There is no one moment that I have frozen in time that means the most to me. There have been many over the years. The best way to answer that question is, when I photograph weddings. That moment when a couple, say their vows and have their first kiss as husband and wife, being there to photograph that moment and knowing I captured it for them.

And, they will have that memory frozen in time, throughout the years of their marriage is profoundly gratifying to me, that I was able to give them that memory.

Working in sports and fashion requires very different instincts. What has each one taught you that you bring to the other?

Working in sports and fashion, shooting sports in places like Madison Square Garden, Prudential Center and shooting New York Fashion Week at different venues. Even High School sporting events, in a gymnasium. The most important thing I've learned, is how, where and when to position myself to photograph that game-winning goal and that moment when a lead model walks down the runway. In my opinion, that is crucial to know. Once I know where I can position myself, the photos come natural.

You approach every collaboration as an artist, no matter the project. How do you protect your artistic voice in commercial work?

How I protect my artistic voice in a commercial photo shoot, is first by knowing what the client needs to have photographed. Working within those guidelines, I can let my creativity flow. I deliver what the client needs and I can be happy with the results.

Looking ahead, what personal projects or new directions are you most excited to explore?

As a huge superhero and comic book fan myself, another genre of photography I want to explore more is Cosplay Photography. I would love the opportunity to do a photo shoot with a cosplayer dressed as Superman, recreating the iconic photo shoot Christopher Reeve did as Superman here in New York.

Malini Through My Lens credits

Photographer/Creative Director/Retoucher: Adam DeGazon @adam.the.images

Model: Malini Patel