We recently connected with Charlie Durso and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Charlie, thanks for joining us today. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?

The first time I knew I wanted to pursue photography was honestly in the fourth grade. My grandparents signed me up for a week long summer arts camp at church and I chose photography, they bought me a teeny little point and shoot and after that I just couldn’t put it down. At first all I was taking were overexposed pictures of flowers in the backyard but my love for taking photos was instant and I was just like yeah this is probably the only thing I’ll ever care about now.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I am a queer photographer that focuses primarily on creative and colourful portraits. I am originally from northeast Florida but have currently relocated to PDX. Back in Jacksonville I really got into being fully involved in my local arts scene when I started hosting and documenting house shows for the DIY music and arts scene, going on to also create an artist tabling event called Open House.

From there I got connected with so many wonderful local creatives and really finding myself an incredible art family and putting myself out there artistically. I now offer portrait/small group sessions, and event photography.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

Earlier in 2022 several friends and I put on a fashion show / tabling event and we managed to get everything together and create an incredible show in under six months. I was in charge of managing artists and photographing all the work the day of the event and my friend Seven was the one designing and sewing together the main garment pieces for nine different models that were custom fit to each person. The night before the show we were supposed to finish up all the last minute details together but ran into some equipment malfunctions and we still ended up needing to finish garments the day of, but he was also one of the main makeup artists. The other directors were also busy with makeup and event set up that I had to jump in on finishing hemming and attaching details to outfits, while still needing to juggle doing one models makeup, and directing and photographing each model after they were finished and the makeup artists processes. It was one of the most hectic and nonstop seven or so hours I’ve had to manage on a creative project and I’m still amazed how well we all pulled together for an incredible show.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

The most rewarding part for me is honestly when I prove the person I’m working with that they’re wrong about being unphotogenic. So many times I get to work with people with little experience, even just friends for personal projects, and they start out apologising for how awkward they are or saying how they don’t think they look good in front of a camera, and then by the end of it they’re excited they are for how it’s coming together and saying they didn’t think they could look like that, before I have even started to think about editing even. Hearing how confident I can make someone feel in themselves and showing them how everyone else views them from my art is such a good feeling.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @slugsushi