Because it’s not just you know, ‘oh, you’re pretty, I wanna take your photo now’. Phil’s just like, ‘Ooh!’, like it really catches his eye. Cause he’s very specific. So if you look at Phil’s photos, initially there was less chaos, but now he really embraces the chaos. And that’s what he thrives on, right?
LGF: The chaos is great. The chaos and composition, Phil?
PO: Yeah. You know you press the button enough times one of them is bound to be right.
JCU: This is Phil.
TT: He has a signature about what, [and] how he shoots. If you see a busted-ass face in the side of a corner of his photo, you’re like, ‘oh, that’s a Phil photo’.
LGF: Someone giving side eye.
TT: He’s capturing the realistic chaos of fashion week.
PO: Well, you know, we take thousands of photos every season. I want to try to make the pictures as memorable, or as funny, or as interesting as possible. Otherwise it’s just, ‘oh, here’s another great outfit’. I try to make it as interesting as I can just for my own personal—
JCU: You gotta keep yourself interested.
LGF: It’s your eye. That’s what we want from people.
PO: Like Tommy said, Tommy, you know, grew up being an enthusiast. He’s an encyclopedia of fashion. Whereas me, having zero background or interest really in fashion, it was all a learning process that I picked up over the years.
LGF: And there’s value in both things. And that’s important for people to know as well, that you can discover things as you go along and that the “untrained eye” is still valuable and important and brings something unique.
JCU: Yeah, and there’s something very interesting about this sort of like very encyclopedic approach to fashion and being like, ‘oh, I want to photograph that because that’s a really like iconic piece’. Or looking at something and just being like, ‘that’s a really cool outfit’, or ‘that’s an interesting photo’, or ‘that’s an interesting person’, which you both do because you do that too, Tommy. You’re also attracted to like interesting people or the way people [are] put together.
TT: Yeah. I’m very specific, like if, if someone’s at least two blocks away and I’ve realized I missed the moment, I’ll still run after them. Whereas Phil will strategically be standing there and be like, ‘oh, there’s some shirtless guy jogging right now, and he’s all sweaty. I’m gonna wait until you’ve crossed paths with…’ well, I don’t wanna say who. But he’s very strategic, like he’s waiting for a specific moment where he wants to frame this really funny, candid moment. Whereas I’m like, oh no, no, no. I need to shoot this Celine shoe against this backdrop. And it may seem boring to some, but like that’s just the contrast of having a different point of view to Phil.
