Lauren Fleishman was born and raised in the Midwood section of Brooklyn. She attended the School of Visual Arts with a Vice Presidential Academic Scholarship. In 2000 she was awarded a full scholarship to study at the prestigious Ecole Superieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris. In 2003, Lauren was named one of Photo District News’ 30 young photographers to watch. Lauren’s clients include The Fader, New York Times Magazine, Microsoft, Newsweek, Time, Marie Claire France, ESPN, ELLE and The Sunday Times. This year Lauren will be included in American Photography 23 and is an award recipient in the 2007 PDN Annual for her Time magazine work entitled Sixteen Candles.
How did you first become acquainted with Lucky Torres and what led to the publication of these photos in the Fader magazine?
‘I met Lucky while on assignment. I was shooting in a lesbian club in Brooklyn and I was introduced to Lucky by Laura Checkoway, the writer with me that evening. I first photographed Lucky at that club. About a week later I sent one of those images to Phil Bicker at The Fader. I asked if he would he be interested in featuring her in the magazine and he said yes’.
It took a minute for me to realize that these are fashion photographs. Whose decision was it to feature her in this way and how much did you participate in the styling?
‘I didn’t approach the story as a fashion story. I was really just looking at her. If anything the clothes made her more confident. It was exciting for her to be able to wear them and so that experience was a very important one. Mobolaji is such a great stylist that I often forgot that she was even styled. He picked out all the clothes on his own. It was Phil’s idea to feature Lucky for the style section’.
It looks as though you are a fly on the wall in many of these photos. How posed are they and how much is documenting what is really going on?
‘I would say it’s a little of both. I had a few weeks before I had to start working on this shoot and during that time I learned a lot about Lucky and her life. I went to visit her at the shelter on my own. I spoke to her on the phone. There were things that were going on that I was aware of and I used them to create the scenarios you see in the images. A good example is the picture you see of Lucky and her sister facing each other. I asked them to sit that way. To be a mirror of each other. And after ten minutes they forgot I was there and really started talking and that is what you see. It is a real moment within a composition that I constructed based on what I knew of their relationship’.
How much time did you spend with Lucky and are you still in touch with her?
‘I spent a lot of time with Lucky. Her life was not easy and the shoot was really challenging. I don’t think it would be possible for me to maintain a friendship with her’.
I know that you are hoping that this series will bring Lucky some good things in her life. What has been the response to this work?
‘I really hope that the shoot does bring her good things. As tough as she was at times she was always there ready to work. The response has been very good. People seem to like the pictures and that makes me very happy’.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Well Done, Lauren. These are fantastic.
yep yep…was a fan of this story Lauren….
cheers to you.
dope work.
great i love your work