MIXTAPE: MONOCHROME BY EBRU YILDIZ
We asked photographer and WNW Member #4557 Ebru Yildiz to make an original mixtape featuring some of the musicians she's had the pleasure of photographing. "I feel incredibly lucky that I got to photograph so many of my favorite musicians. Over the years I realized I have two constant feelings during my shoots with musicians: complete awe for these people who can create sounds that can make me feel things, and an immediate confusion that they are actually real people who check their Instagram, eat, laugh and what not. In my head they are these magical beings free of earthly bothers.
When I start working on a portrait, almost always the first thing I do is dedicate some time to listening to the band's music, in most cases over and over too, just to understand, and observe how it makes me feel. That is where I find my inspiration: the overall feel of their music and their lyrics. When planning, I always leave room to play for the day of the shoot. When I meet them in person, their personality becomes a huge part of how the whole shoot shapes up."
Photography
Sleater-Kinney
Shilpa Ray
A Place to Bury Strangers
Thee Oh Sees
About WNW Member #4557 Ebru Yildiz
Ebru Yildiz was born and raised in Turkey and moved to New York in 1998. While she was pursuing her Masters degree in Communications Design at Pratt Institute, her passion for music led her to seek it out everywhere - large clubs, small bars, back rooms, house parties, and the multitude of DIY venues in Brooklyn. Soon she found herself documenting the thriving New York Music scene. Only a year after she started photographing, she was invited to be part of a group exhibit at CB's Gallery called "Back To Bowery" along with acclaimed music photographers such as Godlis, Roberta Bayley, Mick Rock and Billy Name. Since then she has exhibited several times in New York and her photographs have appeared in print and online publications such as Pitchfork, NPR, Rolling Stone, The New York Times, Spin, NME, New York Magazine, Brooklyn Vegan, 'Sup Magazine, XLR8R, Village Voice, Time Out NY, and Huffington Post, etc. She was selected as one of "The 50 Greatest Music Photographers Right Now" by Complex Magazine in 2012. She also won the Independent Music Awards' Vox Populi Award in Concert Photography in 2009. Ebru currently lives and works in Brooklyn.
Ebru Yildiz (Photo by Mitchell King)