In this video, see behind the scenes of Joey L's shoot with Kerala India, and how he created rich and vibrant portraits for a tourism campaign, with a difference.
Joey L is one of my favorite current photographers and has been for some time. His work is beautiful to the point of singular, and his subjects are always captivating, ironically more so to me since moving away from people in the public eye. This campaign he has created in India does not stray from the intrigue of his past work, and he stages and creates scenes which emanate Indian culture, without feeling contrived.
There's a very recent risk of backlash with portraits of locals in far away places, particularly if they are traditionally dressed. While I appreciate the extreme representation bias of tribes in countries where few tribes still exist can mislead people and damage the country's global image, I can't stop my love for them. Joey's newest project is only on the fringe of that discussion, partially due to the subjects and the brief, and partly due to the client being for Indian tourism.
The resulting set of images are stunning and the rich tones and complex but natural feeling lighting of the scene gives a nostalgic sense of India. I implore you to look through the full set either on his Instagram, or preferably, seeing the larger sizes of the images on his blog.
The price of a tethertools table in the set is income for one year of one of those families in the images. I do love Joey's work, I am just saying the income inequality around the world.
Yes but the cost of rent and food there is low so it equals out.
oh yes, that's right too.
rent and food being low is true but it sure as heck doesn't "equals out"....
Joey is a living legend