Heroic. Confident. Unique. Attainable. Authentic. Artistic. True.
These are the words most often spoken not only about the work of, but also the subjects of, post-modern artist Taylor Grey.
Grey, who prefers the pronouns they/them in the context of identity, uses photography as an art medium. They have blended the essence of boudoir, with the idea of lifestyle, and blended it with fashion, modeling and portrait techniques and methods to create a unique style that balances the subjects inner beauty with their outer beauty.
Grey strives to show women in a non-commercialized aspect. Unfiltered beauty, aspects of their sociocultural upbringing and raw emotional and psychological strength.
Since 2011 they have sought to make images less about being a photograph and more about the real aspect and emotions of the human experience. With the advent of social media desktop critics and filter heavy promotions of ones self, they have sought to erase stigmas of perfect beauty and a perfect life by using zero to a minimal amount of Photoshop or Lightroom.
Grey primarily uses natural sunlight, occasional creative source light and strobe use, and the continued mastering of manual mode shooting to make each session unique.
What sets them apart is the use of the world around them by stepping out of the studio their work continues to push the boundaries of outdoor portraiture. A fully encompassing effect that uses the model's fashion, physique, and the environmental surroundings to create artistically style shots that bring sunsets, landscapes, and cityscapes to life. The effect goes even deeper by showing living breathing scenes enhanced by lighting, angles, and fierce poses. As one viewer put it, you make the drab look vibrant and full of life.
Since making the switch to Mirrorless, they continue to strive, not only for quality over quantity and constant evolution of their craft, but also pushing to get the images shot up to 90%+ perfection in camera. A feat that has pushed them to really understand the a6000.
Grey's background and experience enables them to be a wardrobe stylist, make decisions about hair and makeup, and modeling techniques to improve the images final outcome.
On top of the massive portfolio that exists here on this website, Grey has been published as a photographer in Art of Portrait, a photographer and photography article writer in three issues of Shotcaller Magazines, along with two sets in a local photography magazine NM Cliq.
When not behind the lens. Grey takes to writing. They are currently writing a novel series backwards, having finished Book 3, they are currently working on Book 2. Stepping away from the computer, Grey has taught beginning photographers how to better their work, provided fashion advice, been a place for friends and models to come to about their daily struggles and has worked odd jobs just to stay one step ahead. On their downtime they can be found walking the urban expanse of Albuquerque or hiking the wilds of nature.
Grey is a functioning Autistic with anxiety and gender dysphoria which has been a major source of inspiration behind their art.
Prior work is marked as BRF (Blue River Foto), Soleil Photographie, RE (Rivers Edge).
Visage Photography is an extension of Rio Azzurro Productions.
photo by Rita Louise Imaging