My mom worked in the fashion industry in China so instead of Dr. Seus laying around the house, I got Vogue China. From a young age I was exposed to the idea of self expression through fashion, in my mom’s case it was through the medium of buying as much luxury shoe as possible (as seen in the third picture, those are all of her shoes). 
My experience with photography prior to this class was limited to taking photos of my friends when we went out, at concerts or just whatever I thought looked good. I have not once considered the composition, lighting or any technical aspect that went behind photography, yet I have been credited for “having a good eye.”


For my final project, I wanted to do something I was passionate about. When Professor Davis showed us a presentation on Tyler Mitchell, the first African American photographer to ever shoot for Vogue at only 23 years old. I was heavilly inspired. With further reserach, I found out Tyler Mitchell was actually responsible for the controversial Vogue cover that featured Harry Styles wearing a dress. At that moment I knew exactly what I wanted to do. Fashion and photography are intimidating, I feel like the barrier of entry mainly resides on the fear of not being good enough. I experienced this same phenomenon, in the past I wanted to start taking photos, but I was scared of being judged by pretentious people for not being good enough, so I didn’t. All of this is to say, I wanted to deliver the message that fashion and photography is simply self-expression, that there’s no such thing as not good enough.