Hariel
On a Monday.
Singer/songwriter Hariel and I chat on the phone about booking her in for a personal branding (editorial portrait) shoot. She needs profesh images to beef out her online presence and to have some assets in the bag for future gigs, advertising and potential single/album launches. She admits she’s anxious about having her photo taken. About being looked at. I get it. Most of us are like that. Fuck, I’m like that, tbh. As we talk, I’m standing in a small park opposite the Napier Hotel in Fitzroy. I kick the dirt beneath the single statue in the park. It’s called ‘Courage’ and depicts a lithe young thing unburdening himself of his Cowardly Lion costume. The lion’s head lies at his feet. Be yourself, the script on the plinth exhorts.
On a Tuesday, a month later.
I drive south-east out to Hariel’s place. It’s been stormy and there are rainbows over the freeway. We’ve made plans, but the weather has been so fkn wild that we may need to change them. I check out a few of our exterior locations on the way and they’re all but flooded with the previous night’s heavy rain.
Hariel has sent me a ton of inspo pics. Along with the more Grunge photos, it’s the images of a young Janis Joplin that resonate most. The directness of her gaze. Her defiance. Her ‘no bullshit’ attitude. Hariel shares this with her idol. And that’s really what we’re here to capture. Honesty. A realness. No bullshit allowed.
We shoot. And get some lovely stuff. Then Hariel gets on the keys and sings. From her guts. From her soul. She rocks. And she’s there. Really there. Dropped in. Inhabited. Embodied. Herself. It’s thrilling. A whirlwind of inspiration picks us up and we improvise. The speed light comes out and Hariel jumps in the shower like it’s 199fucking1.
On a different Tuesday, two weeks later.
We decide to split the shoot over 2 sessions. I’m not confident we captured enough variety on that first afternoon given our exteriors were a wash-out. We knock off some standard actor-headshot-type portraits in my studio before stepping out onto the Collingwood streets.
We walk and talk. Shoot the shit. Hariel laughs every time I swear over a particular shot. She says, I know it’s a good one when the ‘fuck yeahs’ come out. And it’s true. Not because I’ve framed up particularly well. Or, at least, not just because of that. Those shots work because we’re in-synch for a few unguarded moments. Connected and unmasked without judgement and without expectations.
A Nan Goldin quote comes to mind - The most important thing is standing in front of another person and feeling empathy for them. We try to stay in that zone of vulnerability and kindness as we wander and shoot the afternoon away. Honesty and compassion are a kind of magic. Everyday kind of doorways to connections that can feel like transcendence.
On a Friday, a couple of months after that.
I’ve emailed Hariel a few months post-delivery of her final images to ask how her experience of the shoot (and everything else) was.
She’s replied and her response (and lion-heartedness) is humbling.
Of the shoot days, she replies, I absolutely loved the freedom I was given just to be myself - even if I’m not sure what that is entirely - and I was completely supported the whole time. It was a lot of fun, and I felt really safe in what was a confronting thing for me to do. I learnt a lot about myself, too, which I wasn’t expecting.
And of receiving her final images, she says, It was wonderful and a bit scary. I felt like I was meeting myself for the first time in a long while. Meeting Hariel and understanding who she is. I loved that.
I love that too. Thank you. x
Hariel is a triple j Unearthed artist.
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HMU by Grace McGuffie.
View the shoot here.