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

Hi Erica, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

All of my large scale personal projects are meaningful to me in one way or the other. I don’t often do a shoot on my own without research, deeper meaning, or message that I’m trying to get across. My art is the way I show what’s going on in my head, the thoughts that swirl around and stay stuck. They stay in my head until I create and release it; almost as a form of therapy. Large or small, the projects are typically talking about a broader social topic, or is inspired by something in nature that I’m fascinated by. Some of my most encompassing multi-medium projects:

– Woman – 2018 – A docu-fashion piece on womanhood and the multiple roles we balance

– [SELF] – 2018 – A poetic dance on how to stay sane when so many parts of society are weighing on you mentally

– Sensual Me – 2019 – A docu piece on womanhood and sensuality

– Liberty&Justice – 2020 – A visual and audio project about being Black in America

– Marble – 2020 – A dancer piece putting Black statuesque bodies in museums and galleries where they belong.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I’m a New York-based photographer/filmmaker and studio owner. My love of culture, nature, music, family, travel, architecture, luxury, and more traditional forms of art deeply influences my life and work. I focus most on authentic stories, especially the stories of women and people of color. I shoot from a place of strength, poise, and emotional honesty and hope to educate through my art. I started taking my art seriously in 2013 after a car accident that had me reevaluate a lot of things. In 2017, after working as a photographer doing small jobs and going to portfolio reviews for a few years I earned my Masters in Fashion Photography at The School of Visual Arts. That time really helped me focus in on the types of stories I wanted to tell, and guided me more towards the style of work you see me doing today. The photos I take and videos I direct don’t all look the same, but they are always authentic to me, telling people’s stories in my own aesthetic.

My sets feel like the imagery we are looking to create that day – bumping playlists created specifically for the shoot, to get the whole team into a similar mood and mindset. All in an effort to truly live in and feel the moment we are creating. Expect me to get a little giddy when creating something I’m really liking. Working on a personal project or a commission, my intention and dedication to a fun, trusting, honest, and effective set is still the same. One of the most important things for this to happen is to make sure that everyone on the set is not only talented, but invested in the story we are trying to tell. Everything, and everyone is chosen intentionally.

It’s long been a goal of mine to help other creatives achieve their goals. I taught photography for 4 years, and have been a studio owner since 2017. It’s a small but mighty natural light studio with all the fixings, an amazing studio manager, and members. WE do rentals, but as a member you get a lot more access to feeling like you have your ownb personal space, and we do get togethers a few times a year for portfolio reviews and just general industry chats/q&a.

I’m a believer in being a student of art, and art encompassing your life. When I’m not shooting, you can catch me with my family exploring nature, caring for my plants, deep diving into music, creating my own backdrops, and enjoying the moments in life that we often take for granted.

Do you have any insights you can share related to maintaining high team morale?

Lots of communication, transparency, and honesty. Valuing everyone’s opinion and listening, because everyone has a different point of view, and you picked the team you have because you trust their opinions an expertise; lean on that. Showing that you trust them enough to give them responsibility is important also. Just make your team feel seen and equal – leave the egos and power trips at home – it goes a long way.

What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?

It’s a mix. You do so many different things to get out there it’s hard to really know which is most effective. These days a lot of things come through word of mouth, which is so beautiful. When it happens I’m always reminded of one of my favorite quotes, “Your name is in rooms you haven’t stepped foot in yet” There are so many opportunities that I’ve had by no action of my own aside from just creating the work and putting it out into the world. Like my inclusion in The New Black Vanguard show by Aperture that traveled for almost 4 years; or any of the commissioned work, licensing, interviews that have come my way in the past two years while I was pregnant and raising my daughter in her first year of life.

Of course we are a business and can’t leave everything to chance. I do some seemingly old school things like portfolio reviews and meetings, but keeping in touch with people I use social media and email a lot! I don’t post a bunch, but I will have some quick, more personable conversations through social media, and email for the more formal stuff. As much as I believe in quality over quantity, having new work, or a new way to present the work, is a great way to keep in touch with old clients, and gain new ones. Just be yourself, be honest, and be real. People see through the bs now more than ever. And that also goes true for your work. If your work isn’t honest, in whatever way is true to you, people can tell.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.egenphotography.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ericagenece/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericagenece
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/EricaGenece
• Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/ericagenece

Image Credits
Images from : Marble (2020); Liberty&Justice (2020); QuarantineBeach (2020); Ian (2020); Amaya (2021); Petals (2021); RobBynes (2023); Pesy&HerGirls (2023)