Q&A

MCINTOSH

with

DEJAH

Interview and introduction by
Kiki Kaschock

VIDEO FOOTAGE COURTESY OF JAYLA WASHINGTON

THIS IS DEJAH.

Dejah McIntosh is a graduate of Paul Robeson High School and an alum of Writers Room and its TRIPOD program. She is currently working on a book that explores issues of connection, and you can occasionally catch her out in town singing. Her photographs are notable for their range and the personality she elicits from her subjects. Her astute insights about human relationships manifest in all her work—no matter what the genre.

Where are you at right now? What are you doing?

Freelance photography, writing, some modeling. Oh! And I’ve been in the studio—working on music.

A renaissance woman. I like it. How did you get into photography originally?

I was a junior in Paul Robeson High School. I saw that my friend Kaliyah was working with Lauren Lowe (from Writers Room). She was using me as a model at one point--and I was intrigued by the whole photography thing. And then the next year I met Jasmine and Rebecca (ArtistYear fellows), and I decided to join Writers Room.

Behind the

SCENES

BTS IMAGES (LEFT TO RIGHT): DEJAH MCINTOSH, JAYLA WASHINGTON, JAYLA WASHINGTON, ANDREA WALLS, ANDREA WALLS

You’ve done some amazing portraits here. Do you like the form? Why do you?

Why? I love catching people in their moments. Especially when they’re easy to... well... let’s say some people are not as photogenic... and that’s fine! I just have to work extra hard to get their personality out.

How do you do that?

I just try to be myself, make conversation about their day, things they might like, or any topic that catches their interest. Having other people around can help, making them laugh or talk. Their friends or mine—I’ve done both. Either works.

Is there a particular photo in your career that stands out to you?

There’s this one picture (right) I took of Jazz (Jasmine) early on – I don’t remember much about the process. I don’t think I’d taken a profile shot before, and I never know how good a portrait is going to be until it’s printed. This one was a shot of her from the side, a little shadowy. It was a strong image—when I saw it, I was like: wow.

JASMINE JAMES BY DEJAH MCINTOSH

How was this particular process for you—doing the fellow shots?

Everyone (working on the shoot) kind of stood back and gave me free reign... like “this is your time.” But also, everyone helped. It went well. I was freaking out at first because the lighting situation was... hectic. We decided to go outside, which was a good option, and then when we came back in the lights were fixed. Everything eventually came together—all it takes is editing.

Is that a big part of your process?

Oh yes.

You do many different types of art, and so many of them so well. Can you speak to that?

With everything I do, I always try to show more than I can say. It’s not so much that I’m a private person, it’s more I just try to make people *think*—with my poetry, my photography, my songs. Like—a photograph can be very simple, I don’t have to try to make a statement with it. It comes out of the subject. Before this shoot, I hadn’t really done black and white shots, and I was happy with how they came out... like the picture of Norman, he’s not doing the most... but something’s there.