Artists Exposed | Cohen_
I had the pleasure of being introduced to Cohen_'s work recently through Madame Elaine who insisted I look at her sets. I have to say, this girl is an all-around fascinating and unexpected artist. She is not only an entirely self-shot photographer, but she captures the essence of raw, unfiltered, unedited, honest-to-life beauty. She has such a strong artistic voice in each one of her sets that they tell the viewer something about herself. It's rare that someone's work will make you feel like you actually know the artist on a personal level, but Cohen_ does it effortlessly with each set.
You're a self-shot model but you identify yourself as a photographer. How long have you been doing photography?
There are a few answers to this. My first memory of picking up a camera was when I was 8, my father was taking a shot of a landscape and I said, "No, you're looking in the wrong direction." and took the camera off of him! So I think I've had the instinct for quite a while! I truly started photographing when I was given a digital camera at the age of 12, I spent all my free time taking abstract shots and making digital manipulations. When I was 16 I decided to take it from a hobby to a serious level, got a part-time job for the sole purpose of making money to buy a good camera, and began dedicating myself to making a career from it.
What do you try to depict through your photography?
Although I sometimes delve into the decadent and sensationalist, I always come back to trying to depict honesty, rawness and vulnerability. Even within my most outrageous self portraits, there's a degree of honesty and its really at its core an abstract representation of an emotion or situation. My heart lies within truly, brutally, inescapably capturing humanity.
How do you usually set up one of your shoots? What is the process you go through to take these self portraits?
I think I've got the self-portraiture gig down to a fine art by now! I set my camera up on a tripod, tether it to my laptop and use the Canon EOS Utility to shoot live. This means I can adjust the focus and all manual settings via the laptop, see what was taken immediately and set the camera to shoot multiple photos at intervals of a few seconds. All this means that I'm not constantly running back to crouch behind the camera and see what's going on, and is how I manage to make compositions and poses that work. I can see exactly what I've just done and that I, for example, need to move a leg slightly and arch my back- and then its a shot that actually looks composed out of more than just luck.
How and when did you find Zivity? What made you decide to join?
I was on Suicide Girls before Zivity, and was always seeing blogs mentioning it. I asked around and the lovely Scotty Suicide (KateyDee on here) sent me an invite so I could see what it was about for myself. I fell in love, just the idea of people coming together to make art in a space free from judgement and creative restrictions. The calibre of work is so high and so inspirational, I wanted to be a part of it instantly. I never imagined I would be so warmly welcomed, or even noticed at all amongst all the talent!
What is one of the most rewarding things to doing what you do?
A wonderful man from the site once said that it must feel so rewarding to be entirely self made, and its true, it does! I have no one else to put the fault on if a set looks bad- I styled, modelled, photographed and edited, the whole thing is on my shoulders alone! Its all just me. At first this felt like a terrible thing, but now I wouldn't have it any other way. Every set is a labour of love, the ones that took an hour and were just for the hell of it, to the ones that I planned and spent hours preparing, shooting and editing. Aside from that feeling of accomplishment, the best thing would absolutely have to be people loving my photos enough to purchase and frame them. Thanks to Zivity that dream of having someone have my photo hanging on their wall is a reality. That's the best reward I can think of!
What do you like to do when you're not shooting photos?
My days mainly consist of searching for a photography internship so that I can finally receive my BA in photography and thus really get into it as a professional. When I'm not doing that, I'm making countless pots of tea, reading, watching movies and doing pilates.
You mention a lot of writers in your bio! Who are some authors that have inspired you the most? Why?
As some might have guessed, Leonard Cohen would have to be my major inspiration, in every facet of my life. His poetry and prose are so poignant that I'm often just left in awe of this amazing human! Aldous Huxley rates highly as well, for both his dystopic visions of the future in his novels as well as his inspiring essays. Of course, also rating a mention is the wonderful J.K. Rowling of Harry Potter fame. She created such a richly magical world of such detail that I consider her not only one of my favourite authors, but one of my favourite people.
How would you describe this site to others who havent heard of it?
I'd describe it as a creative hub of a community. I'd say its best aspect is that photographers and models get to showcase their work to other creatives, gaining and giving inspiration from and to others. The fans are also integral to the community, because that's who any creative person is making their art for, essentially. All in all, when describing it to others, I generally just say its an awesome community centered around art.
If you haven't already, check out Cohen_ at Zivity and show her some love. It's always great meeting someone with a personal and intelligent view of art and reflect that concept and passion through their work. A huge thanks to her for giving me the opportunity to pick her brain! :)
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