CULTURE SCOOP

Ocean gives the scoop on the realities of being a portrait + fashion + art + landscape photographer and shared the stories behind his most prominent projects. 

Ocean grew up in a small Kentucky town. He found his way out of Kentucky by joining the military in 2009. After six years of serving, he discovered his passion for photography and decided to pursue it as a potential career. His first published article was “Portraits of an Entrepreneur” in Microsoft and since then have been published by numerous fashion magazines both online and in print from Elegant Magazine to Atlas Magazine and many in between.

WHAT IS IT LIKE BEING AN AMERICAN PHOTOGRAPHER TRAVELLING THE COUNTRY AND TAKING PICTURES OF GORGEOUS MODELS AND locations?

 I live for traveling and taking photos. I think getting outside my box and creating while relishing in the relationships and encounters with people, places, and things along the way, is remarkable and intensely blissful. I think I enjoy these moments so much that I forget to capture them with my camera. Beauty seems to be everywhere whether good or bad, beauty consumes my mind.

where is your BEST INSTAGRAMMABLE spot IN the UNITED STATES?

There is no way that I could pick a favorite state to photograph in. I think the Pacific Northwest holds the best light to photograph people but the California golden hour is so precious and full of life. The desert states hold a light and seem to be always harsh, but when played with right it becomes alluring and yes so beautiful. There was a great photographer that said: “if you can’t make a photo within a 1-mile radius from where you lay your head then you are not a photographer.” So I tend to just browse the streets and the immediate location of where I am and then venture out from there. Generally speaking I typically just wander around mostly to find my locations. They tend to just jump out at me.

WHAT INSPIRED THE FINE ART PHOTOGRAPHY 'THE COTTON OF TRUTH'?

 “The Cotton of Truth” collection was inspired by my ancestors and American slavery. I like to simplify everything and make it appear beautiful while subtle undertones of whatever it is I am feeling or inject whatever historical context I can to the photo(s). I kept seeing people plague the fields in which I  created beautiful, but not meaningful photos in the many cotton fields that surround Phoenix, but not one person that I knew of thought about the history of cotton and how it shaped not only America but the people who slaved away in the fields. “The Cotton of Truth” is a collection of beautiful portraits of an African girl wearing a white cotton dress to remind us of this history and bring thought and meaning back into the beautiful cotton field photos.

WHAT IS IS LIKE HAVING YOUR PHOTOGRAPHY FEATURED IN Vogue Italia?

Being featured in Vogue Italia was something extremely meaningful at first. I actually never set out to shoot specifically for it, but I just submitted my work and photos started to get accepted. With everything being saturated Vogue Italia feels like a seemingly better curated Instagram. I no longer find anything special about it. What I do find special is simply taking photos for myself. I think that is what I enjoy most about photography. It is all for me.