Lui Joseph
My First Artist Collaboration
Louie and I met in college in 2019 and I never expected us to connect artistically the way we did. He was very photogenic and I knew that he would be a good addition in my portfolio and someone that I could collaborate with. Louie stood out from the crowd and I knew he would provide a distinct style to my work. It didn't take me long to introduce myself and ask if I could do a free photoshoot. At this point I’d only been doing photography for 3 years so it was a big step for me. It was also my first photoshoot in college.
I remember the only class we had together was this freshman seminar course that freshman had to take. One day we went around the room as a class and introduced ourselves. We had to include what our major was and what job we wanted after college. When it was Louie’s turn I remember he told the class “I don’t know what my major is, but I want to be an artist.”
Since then, as a pop artist he has released many projects such as: “Hey It’s Me”, “Run Boy”, and “Lemonade”. Louie has nearly 300,000 monthly listeners on Spotify. Louie’s most recent project is “Jane” which released early November 2023.
My first photoshoot with Louie was shot at the back my dorm building in 2019.
I noticed that Louie and I had a lot in common after a while. I had goals to become a photographer and Louie an artist. We both had motivation to obtain achievements that people around us claimed that we couldn’t have. Instead of allowing ourselves to resign from the path we needed to take in order to go after what we wanted, we kept pursuing and using each other to get ourselves to our next goal. Louie is one of those people that I wouldn’t be where I am in my photography work if we didn’t meet and consistently inspire one other. We utilized the moments that we spent inspiring one another to get better at what we were doing for ourselves. I needed practice with my photography and Louie needed pictures to advertise his music. I didn’t know it at the time but this collaboration and friendship would allow me to become a better photographer.
Louie continues to grow as an artist and chase after his goals. I hope to work with him again very soon.
