Photographer To Follow: @taliacollis
A powerful woman telling stories about powerful women.
A powerful woman telling stories about powerful women.
Text: Julian Wright
Talia Collis, above being a skillful photographer based out of New York City, seems to be an expert navigator. In life, she has a personal philosophy of endlessly finding opportunities and extracting lessons from them. Her first internship was at a studio of a friend’s mother that she just so happened to be visiting in Paris. During her tenure as a student at Parsons, she encountered an internship at Red Hooks Lab, which led to a subsequent internship with Steven Klein. There, learning from a photographer she greatly admired, Collis discovered her drive – a desire to create what she loves at all costs and overcome any obstacles ahead of her success. After meandering towards Vogue, where Collis now serves as an associate video producer, she has uncovered a sense of realism, identifying ways to make her art work for her. Her time at Vogue has taught her how to collaborate with creative minds, juggle budget requirements, adapt to life’s surprises and ultimately, be a better artist.
Her art, at first glance, is visually stunning. Highly contrasted, dramatic and dynamic images that repeatedly grab your eye as you scan their dimensions. But beyond their aesthetic achievement, they are masterful visual narratives. Her work in the past has been described as “cinematic”, a clear indication that her professional experiences in production and direction have influenced her eye for storytelling. In her latest work, Her, Collis’s new book of photography, we find stories of women as the central protagonist, authored by a female photographer. Shooting on sunsetting beach sides or moody dark spaces, she shows her subjects as figures of glamorous authority. Collis takes great pride in having the space to tell the stories of women, as she feels a duty to present them in the light she sees herself: strong, powerful and paramount. With the tools she’s garnered throughout her career, she has found a balance between the grandeur of life, the surrealism of high art and the realities of production to create photography that comprehensively captures its audience.
In the end, Collis always finds a path towards what she wants and so far, making her way towards stardom, she has created some exquisite work to show for it.
Follow Talia Collis on Instagram here
