Kesler Tran, Photographer

Kesler Tran's entry into fashion photography was straightforward enough. He merely bought an expensive camera, and about five years ago, began shooting import models (used for car shows, trade, etc). This is a method often employed by Asian photographers, to accept advantage of the less strigent specifications for acme and so on. Now based in Los Angeles and New York, he concentrates on fashion, editorial, and beauty.

We sense an honesty and integrity in his photographs, with an intimacy that invites us into his world. He trawls the web for inspiration, peculiarly focusing on blogs and social media. In these digital days, he is one of a number of young photographers to experiment with analogue.

Tran'southward preference is for natural low-cal without reflectors, and he has a skilful eye for light and class. His spontaneous way of working tin exist frustrating for his team, especially as he doesn't always selection the identify in advance. He has to use more planning in the studio, "mainly because it gets old quick", but he is constantly dreaming up new ways of shooting.

Refugee, his pictures in the Californian desert, came about when he and three models took a automobile out, looking for a location to inspire them. The consequence was simple and unspoiled, yet with a slightly heart-searching atmosphere that comes across to us. "It was almost every bit if we welcomed the sunset in a spiritual way, after a blistering 115 degree afternoon", he muses. Although the team was pared back, and the heat intolerable, Tran couldn't have been more than pleased.

He is renowned for his work, specially for the way in which he gives his models the freedom to express their sensuality. He celebrates the dazzler of the female form at its near perfect. However, artistic though it is, if y'all don't like photographs of nudes, or semi-nudes, then his portfolio probably isn't for you lot.

For him, the highlights of his career and then far have been the helicopter chore for Treats! Mag, the mud shoot, and the yacht consignment, all ideas that he'd always wanted to pursue. With Treats!, his debut came in issue v, and he nevertheless contributes regular exclusives to the website. For his Metropolis Slickers feature, he kept it raw and natural by limiting it to photographer and model, with no team and no make-up.

He's keen for the photographs themselves, rather than body language, to express the emotion. He takes on responsibleness for the shoot, relying by and large on his own skill. Shouldering more than of the workload himself allows him to shoot with less experienced, and therefore less expensive, models. Postproduction, he just adjusts colour tone, and removes a few blemishes, but keeps them as they are, as much as possible. He'southward satisfied when he captures the eternal qualities of beauty, happiness and sorrow, hoping to encourage united states to stop and reflect.

Kesler Tran's idea of a good image is "more than than just about expression, information technology has to carry a thought behind it, the way it was created, a soul, if yous will". And we can feel that soul.

Photography By Kesler Tran From The Series Green berries on wild bamboo