Meet @YasmineKTrent the Photographer Bridging The Gap between Social media and The Commercial World

Sitting in the Livity Offices in Brixton South London, I’m meeting up with Yasmine Trent the twenty one year old up & coming Photographer and Model Scout making waves in the creative industries.

Best known for her Portrait Shots, Yasmine has become infamous for her intimate photography that not only looks incredible but also sets a tone that not only makes the visual experience mesmerising but makes the viewer envision the atmosphere the moment the photograph was taken in. People don’t understand the technicality that goes into photography. From understanding your lighting and camera settings, to developing the skills and knowledge to edit pictures, it’s a process that’s under stated and timely.

“Bridging the gap between Social media and the Commercial world”

Yasmine greets me with a welcoming smile and introduces me to a few of the guys that work down at Livity. Before our Sit down I observe Yasmine and her business Partner take some photographs of a male model for a casting she’s doing for Topshop. It happens to be one of those rare hot days in London. Where there’s not a cloud in sight and the mini shoot raps up pretty quickly.

If your an Instagram user then you are bound to have seen her work unknowingly on your explore page and maybe even liked a few.

She has documented some of the hottest artists in the scene including Asap Rocky, Wstrn , Abra Cadabra , J Hus , Suspect and more to name a few. Yasmine has made a name for herself by developing her social media presence and ensuring that she documents some of the most pivotal moments in the UK music scene.

I sat down with Miss Trent to discuss how she got into photography and what it’s like being a female in a male dominated industry.

What is it about photography that you love?
Well i’ve been doing photography for five years now, I started off just documenting close friends and family members. I liked creating archives of memories and capturing moments.

How did you get into photography ? 

I started in year 10, I use to go to a place in central called Trocadero. A lot of people use to dance there, I met a few skaters there, that’s where I met my good friend Josh. He was one of the first people I approached to take photos of and then from there we built a friendship which is how we started our business, making clothes. We made our first blog capturing our close friends.

What camera do you use , or do you use various different cameras?

For the past five years everything you see on my Instagram was with a Canon 1100D with a 50mm lense and only recently , like for the past three weeks I’ve been using a Canon 5D Mark 2.

Instagram has become a substantial part of a lot of up and coming businesses, and for a lot of individuals who want to make their passion a profession, how did you create your following on Instagram? 

I started off through Tumblr, it was my key platform where I developed all my followers. Like a month into having tumblr I had 6000 followers. I was networking with a lot of people in America and Paris. Suddenly everyone jumped on to Instagram. It took a while to get my followers from Tumblr onto Instagram but its paid off in the end.

Has the Instagram platform helped with exposure of your work? 

Yeah I would say it has, only this past year or so there’s been a lot of interest in my work. It’s only recently I’ve been contacted by established companies and stylists wanting to collaborate with me.

What is your favourite thing to capture ? 

When people see my work the first thing they say is ‘portraits’ I always get recommended for portraits. On the side I do events and editorials.

So is portraits something that you want to be established for ?

yeah

Who would be your dream person to photograph and why ?

hmm, Artist wise it would be the likes of Chris Brown or Rihanna. In terms of Chris brown it’s because he’s influenced me a lot in terms of his music and how creative he is. Rihanna because of her being a female and what she’s managed to accomplish.

You have a new venture launching this year could you tell us a little bit more about it ? 

NAM Stands for Not A Magazine, we couldn’t think of a name for ages and in the back of my head I envisioned it as a coffee table book. I don’t want it to be a magazine. It will be about documenting youth culture in London. It won’t just be restricted to UK creatives, it will focus on people who travel to the UK. Documenting intimate portraits and exclusive content.

If people want to Collaborate with you how can they contact you? 

I’m very active on Instagram, i’m always making posts looking for models and other creatives. Instagram normally is the best way to get through to me. I do prefer emails over DMS.

Do you think that black photographers are under represented in commercial photography ?

100%  I know a lot of black male photographers who are very under rated, and then there’s the difficulty of being a female photographer your not taken seriously. The fashion side of things is hard but it’s  especially hard working within music. That side of the industry judge you on your looks. I’ve been put in a lot of situations that have surprised me. Sometimes people don’t act professional.

Check out Yasmine’s work on her Instagram page @yasminektrent