Who you photograph is a key quality of an image. The idea of female empowerment is very important to me when deciding who to capture. This is when I found Eva Oh.
Upon meeting, Eva's confidence radiated and I knew immediately that she was going to be perfect for this project. I had ideas about how I wanted the set to look long before I decided on my subject, but the set was really made for reflective latex and a powerful female sitter. Eva Oh embodied everything I wanted to portray within my work- unapologetic female confidence, sex positivity, dominance and female empowerment.
I myself often struggle with my confidence, especially when surrounded by so many men in my line of work. I didn't think being a woman would affect my career as much these days but through experience I now realise it is as important as ever to stand up for yourself. Eva's confidence has inspired me to work on my own confidence throughout the production of this imagery. Not only is this shoot a capturing of Eva Oh, it also holds a big part of myself and my own experience of being a woman.
When deciding on the key components of the images I took inspiration from city nights and dungeons. The seduction of a city in the dark was a big part of the set concept, where I took the colours from neon signs reflecting in rainy streets. With everything I included I began to think about the reflective qualities emanating from the latex, the flooring mimicking this. The use of the hi-lite as a backdrop was largely inspired by the clinical aspects of play spaces. The texture also reminded me of rubber. In the end, the abstract nature of the backdrop was my favourite.
When it came to the style and makeup I wanted these reflective qualities to stand out, where I opted for a wet look to follow the direction of the latex. Working with such an amazing team allowed these ideas to come to life where both Filippo and Natalia did a fantastic job.
I hope to follow on from this project by creating a body of work continuing to showcase the power of women.
