A moment is frozen in time. The beauty of youth captured. A soft approach with a tender touch. An unquestionable femme gaze. Flowers, low angle shots. Images close to nostalgia reminiscent of the MySpace era. Vibrancy. Colour tones of yellow, blues and pinks. A blown-out kiss.
Daria Kobayashi Ritch has become well known in photography, fashion and pop culture circles for her documentation of L.A.’s coolest. With more shoots and editorials of young celebrities being crafted by her lens her creative portfolio is blossoming to include names such as Willow Smith, Solange and Garage Magazine.
In an interview with INDIE Daria expresses that her photographic inclination was inspired during her adolescence when she and her friends got dressed up and took profile pictures for their MySpace accounts. Later in her life, she went on to study Fine Art at UCLA which she rounded off by attending art college.
Her mission with her work is to combine an intimate take on the people she photographs with the romantic mood of fashion. Daria is inspired by youth culture and subcultural movements that relate to the indie music scene. Taking this as a point of departure she sees an unexplored depth in these individuals that she visually unravels in her arresting imagery.
Daria acknowledges the difficulty of being a photographer, one that is not articulated enough. As a photographer, one has to establish an intimate relationship with your model in a matter of minutes. More frequent than not, people you don’t know and only just met on the day of the shoot.
The artist’s balancing act at present is between her artistic visualizations for herself and the fast world of fashion. Keep yourself up to date with new developments in her work here.