Kevin Thom
“All at once, I felt I needed to mourn the death of my previous self, while being called to reinvent myself from the ground up. ”
❤️KEVIN THOM @KEVINTHOMPHOTO
🧡LOCATION: HAMILTON, ONTARIO, CANADA
💛PHOTO BY: KEVIN THOM
💜BLACK ”TEARS” ITEM: SHIRT/SHOES
💙CAPE BY @INDIE_TRUE_
💚FOLLOW @TEARSANDTAFFETA
🎤IN KEVIN’S WORDS...
It was an honor to be asked to participate in Tears & Taffeta. It’s been a wearisome year and a half for so many of us, so the timing of this project feels perfect in so many ways. Thank you Gina for asking me to be part of it!
Tears & Taffeta gave me an opportunity to think about my own responses to hardship and the experience of being a man. As men, we are often called upon to be stable, to be solid, to be present, to be the source of safety and security, to have all the answers in difficult situations. Of course, it’s not possible to feel this way all the time, but I think we put pressure on ourselves to “keep it together” and to be there for those we love. Sometimes this can feel easy and natural. At other times, it is an immense challenge. As with any other type of stress, it can make us stronger, but living through it can be hard. It can strain our health, our relationships, and our sense of well-being.
My personal experience of the last year or so has been transformative. For as long as I can remember, my identity has been wrapped up with my work. Who I am and what I do have been inseparably intertwined. As a commercial artist, I’ve spent my life creating photos, videos, and music for other people. At the onset of the global pandemic, most of this work disappeared overnight. Many planned projects were scuttled or put into hibernation. A big piece of myself seemed suddenly locked away from me, out of reach. If not for the work I was doing with my remarkable partner Laura Hollick, I would have had nothing to do. And even the things she and I created together were different from what we had made in the past; the changes in the world compelled changes in our art, and for me, changes in who I was.
The pandemic created a fundamental identity shift for me. All at once, I felt I needed to mourn the death of my previous self, while being called to reinvent myself from the ground up. This process is ongoing. It can feel sad, scary, overwhelming, hopeful, and exciting all at the same time.
Some things won’t change though. I will always want to be the person who grounds the visions of my clients. I will always want to use my skills and talents to bring their ideas from the ethers to Earth and make them visible and tangible. That’s what I want to communicate with my Tears & Taffeta image: I am an artist who brings visions to reality.
About Kevin…
Kevin Thom is an award-winning photographer who specializes in commercial, promotional and headshot photography for artists and business people. He is based out of his studio in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
Kevin takes an art-centred approach to all of his photography. A hallmark of his style is a distinct focus on visual communication. This tendency comes from the ongoing development of his conceptual series called “Elemental.” This series distills its subject matter to its most essential element, whether that be a shape, texture, color, attitude or emotion. Kevin then highlights this element using dramatic and unorthodox lighting, angles, perspective and composition.
Kevin’s work has appeared in numerous magazines, on book covers, and in other publications around the world. He has exhibited his artistic and conceptual photography in Canada and the US, as well as overseas.
Kevin is heavily influenced by the dramatic cinematic lighting style used in Hollywood movies. Some of his early influences include George Hurrell, who pioneered that style of lighting, and Yousuf Karsh. Kevin also admires the work of Erwin Olaf, Platon, and Annie Liebowitz.