Hatnim Lee has a book party and exhibit opening at Transformer Gallery this Saturday.
She is also the girl that shot BYT’s latest fashion spread.
And aside from doing us that big favor and major honor she has also shot for National Geographic, Anthem Magazine, TEEN, worked with David LaChapelle and is probably cooler than most of us can ever hope to be.
See her site here and try to argue:
http://www.hatnimlee.com/
In the meantime, we snuck out to see her hanging her show (think big! and think amazing!) got her to sit down with me and answer some questions. Yesssss.
(not Hatnim)
BYT:Hey Hatnim, and thank you for doing this for us. Lets start out with some basic introductory stuff, you’re from the DC area originally?
Hatnim Lee: I was raised in Northern Virginia in Mclean/Fairfax and my family still lives here. Graduated from the Corcoran in 2005 with a BFA in Fine Art Photography.
BYT: And then you left for Los Angeles. How did you decide to go there?
HL: My best friend lives there so a friend and I cross countried it over. It was definitely a culture shock being there. I interned with David LaChapelle for 8 months and worked @ a rental house.
BYT: What was it like working with LaChapelle?
HL: A truly fruitful experience. It was like going into a total cliché photography world and being able to observe the ins and outs. I did a lot of sweeping. I did a lot of runs to Starbucks and Trader Joe’s. Umm..i was a studio slave but I was a studio slave for one of the most successful photographers in the world. During my course there, I worked on shoots for Evian, Motorolla, Niptuck, Midori Sour, Christina Aguilera for Vogue, etc..
Paris Hilton came strolling into the studio one night, smoking a joint and jumped in for some shots. Drank some jack and got back in her Bentley and rode off. It’s definitely a surreal world. Sometimes good surreal, sometimes bad surreal. Or good/bad together..yeah, that’s about right.
Oh, and best job ever?
Cleaning out the prop room with another intern. We tried on crazy costumes from past Elton John videos and took polaroids all day.
BYT: Not ashamed to admit I’m jealous. So are now temporarily back in the area….for how long are you planning on staying?
HL: Well, I have my apartment in Brooklyn still but I have been down here a lot helping with family business and getting ready for the show. I have also gained some DC clients so I’ve been shooting some editorial jobs here.
BYT: Do you feel the art scene in DC has changed since you left? And how?
HL:Totes. There’s definitely a tighter community of artists/critics/collectors and a hell of a lot of yuppies at the openings, fo sho. They really jumped on the bandwagon after all the galleries got renovated. So it goes.
BYT: Yeah, every week there is at least several exciting shows opening. How did you come to the idea of even doing a book in the first place?
HL: Well, I have a print portfolio for editors/art directors/etc. to look at but I wanted to make something so they could keep in their personal space. A coffee table book to put in their living room tables or in their bathrooms…to remind them everyday that they need to HIRE ME!!!!!
So I spent all this time on it and I wanted to throw a book release party. I e-mailed Victoria (Reis, at Transformer) and she offered me a show.
BYT: The book rounds out a year of work for you….what is included?
HL: Its 15 months. From the day I bought my first digital camera to the end of 2007. What is included?
They are highlights from my everyday life. It’s interesting to see the events change but a shooter’s perspective stay constant. To being on location for National Geographic and working behind bullet-proof glass in a liquor store in northeast DC is one parallel. I try to gain as much, photographically, from every situation.
BYT:Was it hard to pick the favorite photos to include?
HL:The edit was hard but I just kept telling myself that this is what I am leaving behind. How I want to show myself as an artist. What is most important to me.
My refrigerator was always empty in my apartment in LA. NOT because I was anorexic living there but because I went out a lot. One night I was bored and decided to decorate it.
This is Cursy, my neighbor in Brooklyn with a bunch of her friends. I moved there last summer and the streets were filled with screaming children and exploding fire hydrants. It’s wonderful. Such happy beings.
These are the “Figh Gnarts.” They are a performance duo that choreograph and lip sync to ABBA tunes.
This is Derrick. He is a former employee of my parent’s liquor store. One of the kindest people I know and very giving. It’s always a treat to photograph people who have honest souls.
This was taken during the “Skin and Bones” fashion exhibit in the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles. I love this little girl’s fascination with a larger than life size model and her mother taking her hand and trying to lead her in the other direction.
BUT: Now, some of those pesky “industry questions”….Who would you really look forward working with? Describe your ideal shoot? Who are some of your photo heroes?
HL:Photo heroes? Pretty much any photographer who is shooting. If they are good, I am inspired. If they are bad, I feel better about my work.
Ideal photo shoot?
Great craft service which means lots of fibrous foods.
BYT: What is next for Hatnim? (and are you planning to do this book every year, as a yearbook reminder …)?
HL: I am going to Mexico City for fashion week in April to photo-document Jose Luis Gonzalez who is super talented and won best new designer last year. He is showing his second collection. It’s up in the air right now which publication it will be shown in. Oh Mexico!! I’ve never been before but hopefully my diarrhea won’t get too bad and I won’t lose my passport and get sold to some underground prostitution ring.
As for book part 2, I am in the works of getting a gallery slot in NYC or LA. Preferably early 2009 for edition part 2 of HATNIM LEE PHOTOGRAPHS. I would like to show @ the Whitney Biennial next year and work with BYT again!!
BYT: Awwww, that sounds terrific. Pinky swears on much more Hatnim around here and see you Saturday
be here:
“Very afraid
I saw a dalliance of leopards.
In the beauty of their coats
They sought each other and embraced.
Had I gone between them then
And pulled them asunder by their manes,
I would have run less risk
Than when I passed in my boat
And saw you standing on a dead tree
Ready to dive and kindle the river…”
(From The Sanskrit)
The show is lovely. I’m very proud of you.
March 20, 2008 at 3:19 pmDid you hear Mom saying on the phone to me that “taking pictures is something any dog or cow can do?” I’m so glad you drag that bigass camera bag everywhere.
March 20, 2008 at 6:32 pmwith all this fame and fortune you can get a TV!!!!!!
March 20, 2008 at 6:44 pm
I’ve seen her work while I was attending Corcoran as a JR in the same program she was on (fine art photo). I Love her perspectives and fun approach!!
March 20, 2008 at 12:58 pmI don’t think she knows who I am …but I would definately like to send her much love and respect because she’s one of the few who graduated and continue to shoot and succeed after Senior thesis. GO HATNIM!!