Dennis Rakim-I Angelou

Dennis, it a very dear friend of mine. I've known him 13 years and he's one of my favourite people that I follow on social media. He keeps me up to date with what's going wrong with the world. He manages to eloquently express his feelings with out coming across as an idiot.

One thing I've noticed is that shoots in film and how I love this. It makes me sad  that film isn't a popular choice for photographers but I can understand the appeal of digital. There are pros and cons.

There is something really special about film photos. I think there's a feeling that can't be recreated with digital. To me, I have memories of being younger with the freedom of a disposable camera or my nan's camera if I was lucky. The chances were that you weren't doing a photoshoot; you were more likely to be snapping away memories and fun times that you were participating.

I know he isn't a 'famous' photographer, but this is about what inspires ME. He's really easy to get hold of and chat to for the most part (when he isn't being useless and not looking at Facebook) so it means I get an opportunity to ask him questions about his art.

I asked him really nicely if he would send me some of his photos and he kindly obliged.


So here they are:


















To me, these look like they could have been ripped out of i-D magazine. I'm not saying that because I'm biased because I'm always honest with my friends and I wouldn't be putting time into writing about something that I thought was rubbish.

There's something magical about the photos he took at the fashion shows. It almost looks like they have been taken out of a capsule, what makes me like them so much isn't necessarily the models or the clothes they are wearing but more that the people watching it are taking photos on their phones and yet, there is Dennis. Taking photos how I remember them before we went digital. They give a feeling of nostalgia that can't be recreated from digital.

My favourites from the ones I've posted are below









To me, Dennis captures the essence of my home town, not the tourist attraction that is one of the fashion capitals of the world. There's a grittiness to these that gets glossed over when people do fashion shoots in London. The truth is, there are hundreds of hidden gems in London. Dennis and I grew up in different parts of London, both as notorious as each other. Not the pretty London you see glossed across pages of magazines but it's still somewhere we call. Dennis captures what it's like seeing London as someone who was born and brought up there. There is something so raw about them, even though some of them are posed, there is a natural feel to them.

It reminds me of a video I saw of Mario Testino's creative process. I saw the video on Vogue.com he was in Japan and down in all the streets and the markets taking photos on a camera. He likes to take influence from the culture of the country he's in. The way he sees it. To me, Dennis does the same thing. He captures the essence of our culture how he sees it.

I took the liberty of asking him some questions. Why not?


N: How do you get the person, place or thing that is in front of the camera onto the film, chip or paper in just the way you want?
D: I don't plan. That's pretty much how I do it. I'm impulsive. I just frame the image how I want, take a look at different angles and whichever gives me the most feels, I just take the pic. There's loads of pics I thought turned out trash so never posted lol.

N: Which photographers influenced you, and how did they influence your thinking, photographing, and career path?

D: The photographers that influenced are more local, not so much known. I genuinely can't say I'm a fan of a photographer but there's random pics I'd see on the Internet and just felt. I'll say this though, one photography series called The Gods by Ivar Wigan is extremely influential to me. He is maybe the one person whose work I'll come back to. I knew I liked film photos more than digital though, they have a mood and a feeling to ten that digital absolutely cannot capture. I do spend a fair amount of time on I-D Mag photography section though. N: Exactly what it is you want to say with your photographs, and how do you actually get your photographs to do that?

D: In my photographs, most of them have actually just been me testing my camera. I know what kind of images I want to take, but not right now, once I'm more confident. I have ideas for various series, focusing on different things, from social and political issues to sub-cultures within music. I mostly want to document moments, rise and/or fall of things.
N: What was your career path? How did you get from being an aspiring photographer to actually doing it full time, for a living?

D: My career path? Hm. It was and remains a filmmaker. I'm just an aspiring photographer at the moment, but things have moved very fast from the moment I started posting pictures. It was easier to do than the hassle filming and setting up shoots. I could just see something I liked and would take a pic, but then I start arranging shoots and people started messaging me for shoots. It's pretty weird. I've never received money for it but I've been offered which is cool. I mostly just ask for travel reimbursement and the money for development.
N: What motivates you to continue taking pictures economically, politically, intellectually or emotionally?

D: Nothing whatsoever. I just enjoy taking pictures. The attention that comes w/ it is cool but I can see the issues it can cause in personal life as it already has lol. I just like to document things and I like to be in control, and I can do both w/ photography. You see what I want you to see and I can put any message I want to in my imagery, and there's nothing anyone can do about it. If I had to say anything is a motivation, it's that money is going to come from this, I can feel it. N: What's your favourite thing about fashion photography?

D: I guess my favourite thing about fashion photography is being able to show people someone's collection in a way that I want to, they can associate the clothes w/ your photography. If I can convince someone to wear another person's clothes based on how I took the picture to make them seem cooler than they are then I am pretty chuffed.
N: What struggles have you ever found?

D: A person not looking very nice once I look at them through the viewfinder and trying to find a nice way to tell them to fix their face.
N: What's your favourite photo you've taken and why?

D: My favourite photo is one that I haven't actually posted anywhere yet. But of the ones I have posted, it's probably one of the mandem or of a sunset I managed to capture. It's difficult. The one of the mandem is cool cos it's so perfect a depiction of what life is to us, there's a mood that comes w/ it and you can feel it even if you see the individual pics I took of them. We were just messing around. And the sunset is just beautiful, I captured the sunset, the red sun so perfectly. I'll probably hold onto that pic as long as I live. N: Any advice for budding photographers ? Wink Wink x
D: I'll say do exactly what I do. Just take pictures of anything you like, you begin to just pick up knowledge along the way. I still like to tell people I don't know what I'm doing cos I don't. I just know what I like and I'll do what I have to to get it.

A massive thank you goes to Dennis for letting me use his work. I really hope that some day soon we can collaborate. :)


You can find his Instagram here:

https://www.instagram.com/callmerakim/

All photos used were taken by Dennis Rakim-I Angelou