We were lucky to catch up with Chris Facey recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Chris , thanks for joining us today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

The most meaningful project I’ve worked on is my ” Dad Duty Project”. It’s a photo project that highlights and celebrates black and brown father’s for being active in their children’s life despite the long standing stereotypes against them from society and or media. Too often are black and brown father’s depicted as deadbeats or a ” second class parent”. Being a black father myself, I feel that I and other black and brown fathers aren’t always properly represented in the media, in advertising or in general. This my my attempt at giving these gentlemen their flowers.

Chris , love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I got into photography during the last few years of my service in The United States Army. I needed an artistic outlet to break the monotony and physical demands of being a soldier. I started out doing portraiture and then I came across some black documentary photographers like Gordon Parks and Roy Decarava and got inspired to tell stories instead. I provide a visual storytelling aspect to my works and to anything I’m curious about. It’s my way of learning more about a person, place or thing. When I get to use my skills for a business, I help them to create a visual understanding for their customers to relate with that business on a more personal level. Customers get a better understanding of the in’s and out’s of said business.

I am most proud of myself for taking a chance on myself and working hard toward a legacy that I truly feel will make my daughter’s proud. If there is anything I want clients, fans, or whoever to know about my work, it would be the raw and authentic honesty of the images I create.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

The mission driving my creative journey is the possibility of leaving behind something great and worthwhile to the world. Capture the zeitgeist of the time while I’m here but more importantly, leaving something of substance behind for my children. Hopefully they can learn more about the world, about me and overall, themselves.

Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?

While there are numerous amounts of books that greatly impact me in several ways, one in particular is ” Unlearn” by Humble the Poet. That book helped me realized that some of the things I’ve been taught in my lifetime are not exactly the best or the wrong lesson was taught. ” Unlearn” has pushed me to do the work I needed to start to understand myself in this world and my place in it. Helped me to prioritize what’s important and what’s just a crutch.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.cocobuttershutter.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/coco.butter.shutter
• Twitter: www.twitter.com/cocobuttrshuttr