Black History Month: Celebrating Present-Day Trailblazers

Our Black History Month celebration continues by highlighting three amazing present-day trailblazers. Meet Temi Lawson, Brittney Janae, and Aundre Larrow.  The talents of these creatives go beyond photography, but also into filmmaking, creative direction, and advertising.

We use this month as an opportunity to shine a light on the talent and impact of Black photographers, but as February comes to a close we’re encouraged by the importance of celebrating Black joy, Black culture, and Black communities all year long. Read on to learn more about these remarkable photographers and their work. 

Temi Lawson 

Temi is a Dallas-based film and digital photographer passionate about portrait photography. She works in advertising but also has a YouTube channel primarily focused on her film photography journey. Her powerful portraits showcase many of the deep questions and experiences she welcomes.

How would you describe your photography style? 

“I would describe my photography style as intimate. I really enjoy portraits that are up close and personal and make me feel connected to my subject.”

Who inspires you to create?

“Honestly, Beyonce. Sis continues to improve her visual work and has such an appreciation for art and taking things to the next level! She’s like my creative lighthouse.”

What do you enjoy shooting? What do you want to shoot more of?

“I enjoy being on set and the process of framing an image, lighting, and getting in the zone. It’s a magical feeling for me. I want to continue to shoot portraits on film and digital and improve my knowledge of lighting.”

What does Black joy mean to you, and if applicable, how does your work represent Black joy?

“Black joy is existing in any and all spaces, freely; free of prejudice, judgment, and biases. Black joy is just joy, freely. 

My work showcases blackness naturally, in portraiture, fashion, etc. It’s not forced, it’s not cliche. It just is. It’s a reflection of my own existence in the space.”

What does it mean to you to be a Black Photographer? How does this make you proud?

“It means being my most authentic self and showing up as myself in everything I do and the work I create. I’m a proud Nigerian- American blending my roots and the countries that raised me.”

What cultural impact do Black photographers and Black photography have on the world?

“I believe black photography and black photographers showcase that the world and our experiences are not a monolith. The world we live in is vast, it’s dynamic, it’s nuanced, and cultures vary. In the visual world, it is important to display that. Diverse imagery and image makers help to educate and expand the thinking of so many people.”

What impact do you hope your photography will leave on your communities?

“I hope my photography showcases that we are beautiful, we are diverse, we are compelling, we have a valid voice, and we just are. Our existence is enough.”

Brittney Janae

Brittney is a filmmaker living in Los Angeles, CA. Brittney’s passion stems from the desire to tell compelling and captivating stories through documentary and personal work, not only through filmmaking, but also photography. Through Lor’eneJanae Photography, Brittney and Erica, a Los Angeles makeup artist, were able to connect with the Black experience by highlighting black women and showing all forms of their beauty through colorful art. To shed light on the beauty of Black women and all of their glory!

“The beauty in everyone derives from their story, and we all have a unique story to tell. The goal is to tell that story through the emotions of the images we put out to the world!” – Brittney Janae

How would you describe your photography style?

“I would say my style is very contrasted. I love making the individuals that I’m capturing pop out to the audience!”

Who inspires you to create? 

“Truthfully, I don’t think it’s any one person that inspires me to create. I think the world has so much to give and I’m inspired by all that I see. Not necessarily who, but what! I’m a creative at heart, so I’m just fulfilling my God-given talent when I create.”

What do you enjoy shooting? What do you want to shoot more of?

“I love telling stories and finding new ways to show black people’s authenticity and diversity, whether it’s documentaries or commercials. I want to shoot more men in these spaces!”

What does Black joy mean to you, and if applicable, how does your work represent Black joy?

“I think black joy is about giving black people the space to be seen as vulnerable, loving, creative, and smart, and those emotions being shown through creative arts. Who we are! I think my work represents that because the stories are authentic. My photography shows that women are not a monolith, and my film work shows all the ways that we love who we are!”

What does it mean to you to be a Black Photographer? How does this make you proud?

“Being a black photographer makes me proud because we are so dope! And to be able to capture that dopeness and show that through our unique eyes is something only others can inspire to have. “

What cultural impact do Black photographers and black photography have on the world?

“The impact is so important. Our history has been hidden from us and a lot has been thrown away. I didn’t grow up seeing people that looked like me in certain spaces. Photographers and filmmakers are important because they capture moments that will be in history forever, for us to know our story, our community and have a legacy in what is being captured about us, through us, and for us.”

What impact do you hope your photography will leave on your communities?

“I hope my photography and documentary work will continue to show history and leave a legacy. That people years from now will see the beauty in us today! People will see us in every light imaginable, and it only inspires and motivates the next generations to follow, so our history, our art, our pride, our love, and our intelligence is never hidden again.”

Aundre Larrow 

Aundre Larrow is a Jamaican-born photographer based in Brooklyn, NY. He seeks to uncover the fundamental similarities between people of all kinds — through portraiture.

How would you describe your photography style?

“My photographic style centers on intimacy. It’s a dance between myself and the subject. As the song goes on, I get to know them better. The images feel more natural, and eventually, they forget about the camera altogether. I want the onlookers, the viewers of my work, to feel no distance between them and the subject.

Sometimes that work takes the form of motion, sometimes stills, but it always centers on the subject. My work is a celebration of them, not a puff piece sort of way, but who they are in this moment, frozen in eternity.”

Who inspires you to create?

“I used to have a cleaner & clearer answer to this. I used to say artists like Dawoud Bey, Paul Octavious, or Dana Scruggs. They still inspire me but I find myself gravitating toward the stories of people in my everyday life. Stories of fast friends in an unexpected place, heartbreak, or even something as little as making it through each day despite capitalism trying to destroy us all.”

What do you enjoy shooting? What do you want to shoot more of?

“I enjoy portraiture because it allows me to meet new people and spend time with them. It’s one of the only ways to interact with people in a meaningful way. Listening to them, looking them in their eyes, and creating something with them that lasts forever. Looking back on each year I feel a deep thankfulness for my subjects.

My commercial lifestyle work is more juiced up but is still rooted in a love of people and capturing moments as scenes.

My editorial work lets me be more of a wallflower.

Right now my focus is growing as a director, so shooting on set more, and directing small and medium projects to keep honing my ability to communicate with talent and master how motion impacts mood.”

What does Black joy mean to you, and if applicable, how does your
work represent Black joy?

“Joy has been rebranded as the absence of pain, the absence of struggle. Which is frankly bullshit. Black people are marketed as entertainers and as struggle porn for the greater American landscape. I want to be clear that the joy we are celebrated for occasionally expressing shouldn’t mean the absence of the truth of the circumstances around us. Things aren’t consistently sweet for the average black person in America. It is in spite of those circumstances that we thrive and have joy.”

What does it mean to you to be a Black Photographer? How does this
make you proud?

“Someone will read this and ask why the label Black is important. It’s important because, in America, race and class are inextricably linked. Becoming a photographer is hard enough. Becoming a Black photographer in a world that doesn’t value Black people is damn near impossible. The work you’re creating is in direct opposition to the messages we are fed daily.

It makes me proud to be a Black photographer because it is a celebration of all sorts of blackness. Not just the monolith.”

What cultural impact do Black photographers and Black photography have on the world?

“Black and brown folks are the global majority. Yet, because of how expensive photography is and factors like colonialism, this medium was and still is dominated by upper-class white folks.

It wasn’t until the proliferation of the iPhone and digital cameras, an increase in accessibility, that we saw a boon in Black photographers like we see now.

That boon is valuable. It means more communities, more forgotten ones, more ones poorly defined by the outside world; can have a storyteller who knows their stakes, the players, and the plot. And they care to capture it.

That’s true responsibility and in that there’s beauty.”

What impact do you hope your photography will leave on your
communities?

“The legacy of being seen, truly seen by someone who cares about them should have an impact. I’m not sure I can measure it, and honestly, I’m not sure I need to. I just know that because of my work, more people have well-exposed, honest photos of them to keep and reference back to as time winds on. And that’s something I will be eternally grateful for.”

Check out more of their work:

Temi Lawson | Instagram| Website

Brittney Janae|Instagram| Website

Aundre Larrow | Instagram | Website