At the Car Wash Photo series by Yasmin Avdji with AlR
Hey Dazed club, this is my first post as an introduction to myself, showing you my most recent photo series! My Name is Yas and I’m a 20 year old London-based creative, mainly working with photography as my primary medium. I use image-making to tell stories and help build the emerging visual culture of young creatives in London which is becoming a more inclusive, diverse and representative space. As a Cypriot and queer creative, my background is important to my practice, and I hope to empower other young people with the strong identities I represent with my photos, collaborating with as many people I connect with as possible, from those I meet at raves to queer idols on reality TV. I have submitted a series of photos from my most recent collaboration with All-inclusive Resort (AIR), a T-shirt brand run by Milly Porter, for a shoot intended to re-claim the male gaze of a Car wash scene with queer public figures, Amy Spalding and Jacques. While Milly and Fashion Communicator, Katie Poppy developed the creative direction of the shoot, arranging props and our models, I focused on the Art direction on set, making this a truly collaborative project. While taking these photos, I wanted to make Amy and Jaques feel like their hottest, baddest selves, communicating to their audiences that they too should feel proud to be queer/non-binary rock stars in whatever space they are in. I used an array of different lighting setups , aiming to create dynamic photos with a lot of movement, inspired by the car wash setting. Setting up lighting is a process though, I’ve learnt you don’t always get it right the first time, but if you keep at it, you eventually get the result you want. It’s definitely a “trust the process” situation. I also edit and retouch all my photos, meaning I work on the colour grading, curves and dodging and burning. This is an essential step in making my photos look the way I want them to. I love movies, so a big inspiration for my photos has come from the art direction and world-building of my favourite directors like Gregg Araki and David Lynch who use colour as a major story-telling device, something I’d like to do more of. Credits (insta handles): Photography, Edit, Art Direction: @yas.avdji Creative direction, Concept, props & casting: @millyporterx Magazine direction, concept, props, casting: @katiepminto Models: @amy_spalding & @la_sode (Jacques) Styling: @lottie.wilson Rings: @sltstudio T-shirts: @allinclusiveresort_ Hair and makeup: @millie_makeup4 Yas's pronouns are She/Her <3