Tara aka T-Rhyme and I had been thinking about this session for a minute. We’ve shot together multiple times – videos, photography, CD covers, book covers, behind the scenes stills – we’ve played with it all. She’s always willing to model for me, and I’m always ready to try something new with her. But she and I were really vibing with this idea of a 90’s session to pay homage to her hip-hop roots, to the music she really connected with when she was beginning to find her voice.
We slowly pieced together the look – finding smoke bombs in the city was a hilarious adventure, trying to get our hands on a boom box, buying a massive box of tapes at the pawn shop and having them giggle at us. Tara styled her outfits – blending urban street culture with Indigenous fashion, flawlessly. And away we went. Laughing. Choking on the smoke bombs. Setting fire to the smoke bombs. Attracting a crowd. Having kids run wild around us when we were shooting. Laughing some more. Hopping in and out of vehicles and changing outfits and chasing the light and finally, finally, arriving back at the car and breathing deep.
Session done. Smokebombs gone. Tapes wrecked. Makeup fading. But worth it, so worth it.
