Name: Shamayim {shaw-mah’-yim)
Profession: Fashion Photographer
Age: 33
While “fashion” generally refers to clothing, it encompasses much more than the popular trends that a person may follow. Footwear, furniture design, makeup, accessories, and most importantly the human body are all distinctive creations that play a significant role in cultural awareness and the society.
We constantly see print, digital, and TV ad campaigns that illustrate a brand and bring the product to life, but more often than not the person capturing these stories goes unseen. Shamayim is a professional photographer with a concentration in fashion, editorial, advertising, and beauty. His work can be seen gracing magazines and advertising campaigns in the United States, South Africa, the Caribbean, London, and Paris. Inspired by culture, ancestry, spirituality, and power, Shamayim is adjusting the conventional lens through which mainstream media and fashion outlets view models.
While in college, Shamayim was friends with a woman who wanted to be a model. “She was a very intelligent, beautiful, and classy black woman,” Shamayim tells BE Modern Man. “I didn’t understand why women like herself were not represented within the high-end fashion industry.” There were only an acute group of token women of color in mainstream international fashion publications and this did not sit well with the burgeoning photographer. “I knew that I had a passion to change that and so I set forth on a mission that would create a new standard of beauty. Dr. John Henrik Clarke stated, ‘To control a people you must first control what they think about themselves and how they regard their history and culture’.”
Traveling to remote areas of the world to capture an image, Shamayim realizes the power that he holds within the scope of his lens. Photography, and specifically fashion photography images, has the power to influence millions. Shamayim tells BE Modern Man that “Those who
control the media’s image of their culture also controls the collective self-esteem of their culture. Fashion models in general are the unspoken champions of their culture’s gene pool.” Gracing the pages and covers of magazines, commercials, and digital outlets, models are often considered to be the beauty representatives of a group so it is imperative that our group is honored within the industry. “If our women are not celebrated and held to the highest standards of value in the media then we damage the self-esteem of our people as a collective.”Read more on page 2…
Black as a clothing color is a staple in many closets as it is de rigueur—so slimming, but as a skin color it has struggled to be accepted by the fashion mainstream. Yes we have seen our biggest pop (crossover) stars more readily contracted for fashion advertising, but this does not translate into acceptance. “I find that much is lost in translation when it comes to the discussion of black stereotypes,” Shamayim tells BE Modern Man
. “We all know those stereotypes but many don’t have a solution as to how to cleanse ourselves of the toxic ones. I prefer to let my art speak on my behalf. I create images that stimulate the people who see themselves within the four walls of the image frame. The image translates that ‘ye are Gods’. Once we can see it, we can start to believe it.”Allowing his passion to lead the way, Shamayim is determined to use his gift to unlock the visual beauty that exists within our culture. More than an artist, he is also a businessman. “I took a skill-set that I was blessed with and relentlessly pursued excellence in my field,” says Shamayim. “I refused to stop working to change the media perception of my people. It’s important to me to
show young black children that there are many more options to being black and successful outside of the common routes of sports and entertainment. The pursuit of perfection is the defining trait of a BE Modern Man.The BlackEnterprise.com team salutes Shamayim for his recognition of the polarizing inequalities that exist in the world of high-end fashion and fashion photography. Frame by frame he continues to change the stereotypes that bleed inside the fashion world by visually capturing beauty that cannot be mistaken. We look forward to seeing Shamayim raise the awareness of what beauty looks like as his artistry is displayed across every media platform.
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Pic Title/Alt text: BE Modern Man Spotlight – Passion to Purpose – Salim Weldon
Pic Caption: Darryl Wilson, Jr., The Wedding Concierge and Global Marketing Director for Diann Valentine Living Well