Through The Lens

Evaan Kheraj + Luisa Rino

February 23, 2010, by Chelsea Coyle

Location
Vancouver

Website

www.evaankheraj.com, www.kathiz.com

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model: Julia G (Elite NYC), by Evaan + Luisa
What photographers have influenced you and how?
We tend to be more influenced by film than photography. Both Luisa and I have backgrounds in film and draw influence from movies we've seen rather than specific photographers. Films by Fellini, Woody Allen, The Cohens, Michel Gondry, Charlie Kaufman and Jim Jarmusch, to name a few, are the sorts of imagery we enjoy most. Our photography is more about story telling and what better medium than film to draw inspiration from.

Did you have a moment when you realized, within yourself, that you were skilled enough to do this for a living and if so when was that or what was it like?
I'm not sure if that moment of clarity ever really arrived in a specific moment. It's an extreme privilege to be able to earn a living creating photographs. I'll leave it to our critics to decide whether we're skilled or not.

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model: Kim Glaser (Next NYC), by Evaan + Luisa
What inspires you to continue shooting and how do you keep motivated when a certain shot or moment just doesn't happen?
Change motivates us, an amazing piece of music, basically life in general. Photography is a reflection of what's happening in the world. Our part is to interpret what we see. Patience and perseverance really are the keys to getting the right image. Also things can't be forced, you need to be able to recognize what you can do with the environment and setting you are in and work with it. Adapting is your greatest tool on set and understanding that all the great ideas and imagination in the world are only as good as your ability to execute.

As a photographer (and sometimes art director!), where do you find your own artistic inspiration?
Anything visual, each other and our team. Often the environment we're in shapes the story. We like to travel, sometimes just a different Tim Hortons can get the creative juices flowing. We have some really positive and creative friends and that kind of atmosphere generates new ideas all the time.

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model: Deborah Muller (ONE Management), by Evaan + Luisa
What do you love most about this career?
For us it's being able to work together. In order to do anything well you have to be willing to put in long hours, it's nice to be able to share that with each other. Also a lot of jobs are about process and this job is about product. Our personality types are drawn to that idea of final product and it's very satisfying that everything we do results in an interesting product.

What is your favourite shoot to date?
We don't have a specific shoot that we can point to that is our favourite, it's just not in our nature. We change our minds with every shoot we do. We always love our most recent work and we enjoy being excited with our team about the shoot we are working on that moment.

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model: Deborah Muller (ONE Management), by Evaan + Luisa
If you couldn't be a photographer, what would you be?
Luisa would be ah......um....well, I would be um......ah......hmmmm....why can't we continue to do what we love?

What advice would you give young people starting out in today's market?
Go to school. Nothing can replace that experience of learning how to learn. Everything that a person comes up with will always have its source in something else. Knowledge, not information, will give you fuel to be creative.

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model: Kyla Love (LizBell), by Evaan + Luisa