Format is excited to partner with Black Women Photographers (BWP). The aim of this partnership is to create visibility for the talents of BWP members while augmenting their businesses with accessible portfolio tools, a free webinar, and supporting the community through grants and prizes funded by Format.
What is Black Women Photographers?
Schwarze Fotografinnen disrupts the notion that it is difficult to discover and commission Black creatives. Established in July 2020 by Polly Irungu, BWP is a global community, directory, and hub of over 2,100 Black women and non-binary identifying photographers, spanning over 60+ countries and 35+ U.S. states.
The community is a home for Black women to receive proper recognition and–most importantly–get hired. Dedicated to providing a resource for the industry’s gatekeepers, BWP supports its members through promoting their work in an active database distributed to brands, photo editors, directors, curators, and art buyers.
Get Inspired by Photographers in the BWP Community
Six photographers from the BWP community share their work, inspiration, and portfolios.
Karene-Isabelle Jean-Baptiste
https://www.instagram.com/kareneisabelle
Montreal area photographer Karene-Isabelle Jean-Baptiste is interested in capturing and recording the world around her through her lens and telling the stories of the people she meets. Karene-Isabelle worked as an engineer for many years before delving into the world of photography full time and part of her need for change was based in wanting to feel as though she was meeting her true purpose. Her work is both introspective and emotional as she looks for elusive moments of magic that can appear and disappear in an instant within a scene or a human face. Her aim is to have those moments endure and express the depth of feeling that, at times, go unnoticed.
Damola Akintunde
https://www.instagram.com/damolaakintunde
Damola Akintunde is a Nigerian American photographer and visual storyteller based in Durham, North Carolina. Her practice explores the self by constantly asking; “Who are we without the background noise?” Through photography, she documents her narrative as a Black woman and lends her eye as a tool for others to align their self-perception with their physical presentation through portraiture of herself and others. Akintunde’s training in psychology and medical anthropology at UNC-Chapel Hill expanded her understanding of the human desire to be seen and influences her artistry to this day.
Her work has been featured in exhibitions across North Carolina, including The North Carolina Museum of Art und The Center for Visual Artists. She has also been published in Die New York Times. As a proud member of The Beautiful Project, Schwarze Fotografinnen, und Diversify Photo, she prioritizes collaborating and connecting with other communities that uplift the experiences of marginalized artists.
Edölia Stroud
https://www.instagram.com/edoliastroud
Edölia Stroud is a creative director and photographer from Brooklyn, New York. Working in the mediums of both photography and collage, her work explores themes of female identity. Her narrative fine art work weaves images together telling emotional stories through portraiture, still life and documentary, while her fashion work exudes playfulness with a focus on color. Stroud has a bright and funny personality which translates through her vibrant imagery. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Vogue, Teen Vogue, und Vogue Italia. She has also collaborated with other brands and publications such as Hanifa, Puma, Nylon and ELLE.
J. Pamela Stills
https://www.instagram.com/jpamelastills
J. Pamela, a freelance photographer located in the Washington, DC metro (DMV) area, has been intentionally varied in her photography; creating a library of images held in a wide-ranging portfolio. Every day there is something or someone that calls to the camera–her camera is a tool to see the world she lives in. J. Pamela has photographed sporting events to include softball, baseball, basketball, soccer, tennis, and most recently rugby. She has photographed corporate events, community events, and conferences, and provided portraits for 50+ high school graduating seniors. She has also done portraiture for personal and business branding, at times creating images showcasing an active lifestyle or brand-conscious content.
J. Pamela strives to create imagery that conveys a mood, a desire, a feeling. She describes photography as the way a mood, a desire, a feeling, an emotion–life–is captured in a blink of an eye. She uses photography to take clients on a journey to live, love, learn and sometimes to heal.
Jessica Bethel
https://www.instagram.com/4eyedcameragirl
Jessica Bethel is a Jamaican-American fine art and portrait photographer based in Los Angeles. She received her BA in Art with a minor in Art History and a concentration in photography from Florida International University. Raised in Delray Beach, Florida, her upbringing has fueled how she views the world and the Black experience. Jessica centers her work around community and culture, documenting and curating authentic experiences about what it means to be Black and how being Black looks and feels in different forms.
Eno Inyangete
https://www.instagram.com/enoinyangete
Eno Inyangete is a Tanzanian and Nigerian photographer specializing in film photography. Based in Berlin, Germany, she currently works between Berlin, New York, and Dar es Salaam. Her photography serves as an archive of all that exists in her world, and ranges from portraits of loved ones and strangers to patterns of light on the street to a campaign in response to the murder of Michael Brown Jr. Her aim is to shed light on the people, places, and narratives that often go unnoticed.
Eno credits the strong presence of photographs in her childhood home–from the stunning portraits of her parents on their wedding day to the awkward passport photos of herself and her sister–for the way she learned to value images; not just as memories but as archives and proof of existence.
“The process of selecting and curating my best work has been a really important skill in continuing to refine my eye, and I think that’s important for any artist. I’m challenging myself to constantly see my work, not just as individual photographs, but as a more cohesive body of work that I’ll continue to build over time.” – Eno
Visit their website to learn more and apply to join the community for free.
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