We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Conflickteddd a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi ConFLICKteddd, thanks for joining us today. Let’s jump to the end – what do you want to be remembered for?

To be realistically morbid, I can’t really do anything with what people say about me when I’m gone. I would prefer people to say these things while I’m still here with my sense of hearing still intact. That being said…. GIVE ME MY FLOWERS WHILE I CAN STILL SMELL THEM… Word to Blu & Exile. On top of that, I would say I would want to be remembered for my empathetic ability to tell powerful stories with my portraits that highlight not only everyday life, but cultural heritages as well as capturing emotions and diverse identities of my subjects. Given the fact that we’re in the digital age, I would hope to maybe contribute to the igniting of the resurgence of interest in analog techniques. To conclude my long answer, I wanted to add that having a portfolio such as a book, or another exhibition would give my works the opportunity to be appreciated widely, ensuring that the impact I leave is cemented.

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

I’m ConFLICKteddd. A photographer who captures images on 35mm film. I specialize in capturing images of people, places, and things. I like to capture candid moments of people living live whether they’re smoking a cigarette, or just waltzing out of an arcade from having the time of their life. I got my start shooting film when my friend Clumsy Moses gave me the camera I shoot with and he believed I could cultivate some dope imagery with the camera. The camera being a Minolta Alpha Sweet that came with a Tamron zoom lens. You don’t need the most up to date or elite gear to capture captivating imagery. I started shooting any and everything that came across my eye. I eventually decided to explore with another lens, the 50mm lens. A versatile lens that can be used for an abundance of different things ideally portraits. The things I’m most proud of are the portraits I’ve gotten to capture of musicians. With me being a big fan of music, notably Hip-Hop. I never thought I’d capture portraits of Rakim, Mach-Hommy, Boldy James, and even Thundercat among others. I’d say in this day of age, it’s kinda hard to pick up clients for the type of work I do, but I don’t allow that to discourage me due to the fact that I do this for me and if folks rock with it then they rock with it.

How did you build your audience on social media?

Once upon a time I had a personal instagram and once I got the camera and started shooting, I had my followers from that instagram follow me on my new journey. Most of my followers at the time were friends so it was nothing for them to come over to my new page and support me. Once I reached close to 100, I offered a raffle that included a shoot of 10 photos if folks tagged and reposted my page. I got my 100 followers and I held my end of the bargain. The combination of my followers reposting my work as well as me using the proper hashtags opened my page to a bigger audience. I’ve even made a few friends off of mutual fondness for the art.

The advice I have for anyone who is just starting to build their presence on social media? Hmmmm I’d say stay authentic and stay consistent. Create a scheduled post in advance to dissipate any anxiety you may have on when and what to post. As mentioned in my previous passage, use the proper hashtags that relate to your post. Interact with your followers/supporters. Collaborate with other artists. Trust I am following the advice as I share it. I caught myself going from posting everyday to posting sometimes once a month. But life gets in the way and I also feel like I’m trying to outdo myself at times. Folks wanna view you as competition when you’re running a one person race, with only one lane.

Can you share your view on NFTs? (Note: this is for education/entertainment purposes only, readers should not construe this as advice)

NFTs made me a lil piece of change back during the inception of the limited hype/craze/whatever you wanna call it. I lost interest once I realized they weren’t really worth anything. I’m glad I got out while I did. It’s folks out here that spent thousands of dollars on something that they don’t physically own and now they have these things in their possession and they’re worthless. It’s like you tell someone that you collect comics and they can come by and see all the comics you got opposed to showing off digital images. Get them NFTs outta here. Pack ’em up.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: Conflickteddd
• Twitter: The_20thletter
• Youtube: Conflickteddd
• Other: https://Twitch.TV/Conflickteddd

Image Credits

Personal photo: Justin “GrizzK_” Rose

All others : ConFLICKteddd