Heather Braden is an image maker, story teller, and adventure seeker. Her unconventional journey includes a modeling career that began after running away from home and assisting a director and photographer who she later discovered was a relative. A photographer who uses little to no photoshopping, Heather owns a distinct style of raw, clean photography. Her photography skills are proving to be a bridge that leads to other creative endeavors, including working on her first feature film that documents her trip to Turkey where she accidentally found herself amongst international criminals.
AD: How did your career in photography begin?
HB: I have had an unusual beginning and life. I ran away from home at age 15 and began modeling in my home town of Portland, OR. By chance, I had good photogenic bone structure and had the height. I was very interested in stories, film, and images from an early age, so this of course was my natural door into that world, using modeling to have access to being around creative visual artists and story tellers. Interestingly, I recently found out my cousins via my grandmother’s family are super model Elisa Sednaoui and director photographer Stephane Sednaoui, who I even assisted in NYC many years before knowing we were second cousins. What is strange is that we have similar interests, backgrounds, careers and are related. Our great-grandparents were fashion department store owners and a well-known family from Egypt.
I used modeling as my way to convince people to allow me to become an assistant, and then I worked VERY hard to prove myself. I later enrolled in FIT in Manhattan and managed for a while, but as I was just 20 and supporting myself it was difficult; and I found if I dropped out and assisted top people I could also get paid at some point, instead of owing many thousands of dollars.
AD: Did you receive any formal training/education?
HB: I did not. I spent hours and hours with photographers and film makers and we would collaborate and have fun and “make movies” and home photo shoots in Portland. I met and collaborated with artists and filmmakers the Pander Brothers (Arnold and Jacob Pander) and worked on films by director Gus Van Sant (also from Portland) since I was in a local artist scene from an early age. When I ran away again to Los Angeles after small bit parts in film, I was lucky enough to find myself modeling for the Art Center of Pasadena classes, with legends Bruce Webber and Paul Jasmin, and was able to convince them as a runaway and model to allow me into classes for photography since I couldn’t afford school and I had no diploma.
AD: How do you develop your fashion stories or are they given to you?
HB: I rarely have had stories given to me; most the time I am also the creative director or art director. Often something will inspire me, anything from a true story [to a] historic story. I love fashion imitating art or reflecting the times. I love street style; [for example,] British street style history like Mods and rockers. I [also] love cinematic style stories utilizing fashion.
AD: How much collaboration goes into each shoot?
HB: I LOVE to collaborate, with creatives that have a deep sense of storytelling and depth in a broad vision to collaborate.
AD: How do you typically prepare for a shoot?
HB: I like to story board and plan out each and every location shot. I actually love being on location more than studio, although there are days I am VERY happy to have the stable and steady comforts of AC and sofas.
AD: What equipment can you not live without?
HB: I love vintage pocket cameras, Polaroids and anything old or unusual to snap shots. I love a paparazzi flash and Kinos for portraits.
AD: Who are some of your artistic influences?
HB: I would say assisting Ruven Afanador for a long time was an incredible experience. He is one of the true artists and [an] incredibly visionary photographer. I grew up with, and was able to meet in Paris, Henri Cartier Bresson, and was deeply influenced by his images. Ruth Orkin was also another that greatly impressed me, as did Edward S. Curtis’ Native American portraits. Of course, fashion greats like Richard Avedon [and] Irvine Penn were very important to me, and I was lucky to begin in analog and assist in the industry while there were also working in the same circles.
AD: I read you do little to no photoshopping. What prompted that decision?
HB: I have always had an adversity to photoshop, as much as I do love the ease and fun of it. I believe fashion should be part fantasy and part reality. I have used less and less photoshop and now I use as little as possible and often none. Great fashion photography or any photography begins with great lighting after a great subject, so with that one should be able to master near perfection with practice. Of course, great skin helps, and naturally photogenic subjects. I don’t mind cleaning up blemishes as needed but I love the art of realism in fashion photography. For a LONG time it’s been overly retouched, overly glossed up and overly “fake” verses fantasy.
AD: What is one of your most memorable photoshoots and why?
HB: I think a most memorable [one] was many years ago on a first test of my own, for a magazine with Versace clothing a young stylist borrowed to test with. We had to walk with mountains of gear across East Village Manhattan—maybe 1-2 miles to get to a park along the river under the bridges, with a model. Once there, we had to prep everything and after a couple hours, sweat and lots of work we shot one look as a huge unusual storm hit. We were far from cover, and it was actually a TORNADO in NYC! We had to protect the model and the VERY expensive clothing and although we didn’t get many shots we did get four, shooting through most of the storm! We were dedicated. [Laughs]
AD: What future projects are you working on?
HB: Today I am morphing towards video stories, curated content creation, as well as writing a book called Fat Model, a memoir about being called fat my whole life as a model since age 13 and size 0 and though becoming a photographer and continuing again as a “plus” sized model and mom.
I have also just returned to model agencies and acting and just signed with L.A. agencies. [I] hope to continue to be part of storytelling one way or another with scripts and show concepts I am working on, including a true story of a trip I took some years back during the Gulf War to Turkey and ended up by accident in the hands of international criminals and photographing and documenting them. I was unable to talk about it for a long time under threats, but time has passed and it’s a dark comedy story about two friends abroad and cultural clashes. It’s called Guest of Honor, and I hope to produce that next year—my first feature film.
