Kevin Necessary shared with us his work from a studio shoot in Beijing and Shanghai China and his own street photography.
“I have been to China before for shooting. The most interesting thing to me is the diversity between living in the city and living just outside. You go from Ferrari's to hoarse drawn food carts in a hurry. The lifestyle of people in the city is full of commercial shops and outside is family and friends, thats why I like it out side.”
I asked him what some differences were shooting in studio and with clients in other places like China as opposed to hometown Los Angeles. Turns out there are many. Craft services “One day it was fermented fish heads with goose intestine soup. Luckily I speak mandarine so I order out.” as well as “Client style is all about the relationship, many nights at the bar and many cigarettes(I don’t smoke but its offensive to say no).” All the way down to longer shoot hours and the equipment. He has an office in Beijing and shoots there regularly, he's seen a huge variety of differences. Seem’s working in a foreign country is just as much of a cultural experience as traveling for fun.
When asking about this association with work and travel and where they blend Kevin says, “I do one family trip a year with no camera and one photo trip with.” And with the rest - “I always have a camera with me. It’s not just a profession. I always take a few days to explore and take photos.” Traveling for photography allows him to be drawn to third world places for the colors and the people.
Born in Los Angeles, a childhood in Lake Tahoe, and then back to L.A. - this perhaps draws a line between the range in his photography - studio vs. surroundings. Finally, I asked him where he would want to be sent for work. His reply? "Outer space, I’ve been to most countries." We'll work on that, Kevin.
Kevin Necessary's work with BYD (Build Your Dreams) and Volkswagen.
“It was about -15 degrees in the studio that week. No heat, just the lights. we all stood around the lights for warmth. Cameras kept freezing and the windows of the car kept frosting over. I had to put the camera in a running car outside to defrost, bring it in, then after about 10 frames the shutter would freeze solid.”
