Essien Akan is a photographer whose work focuses on fashion, beauty, and portraiture. He dove into photography in January 2016. “Before that, I was a fashion blogger, and I had a DSLR camera for that,” he explains. “A friend of mine showed me a professional photographer’s work, and I was inspired immediately. Photography became an obsession from that point on.”
After Essien began using studio lighting equipment and his images started to take on his own distinct look, he was hooked. He even brushed up on his skills by watching online tutorials and studying some of his favorite photographers.
As evident by his style, Essien does more than photograph. He creates images by enhancing them. “I look to clean up distractions and polish the image to [make it] stand out and to look a certain way that is unique to me.”
Essien is inspired by drawings and paintings and uses Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom to create visual stories for people and brands. He’s also “influenced by other big photographers putting out great content, like Erik Almas, Aaron Nace, Josh Rossi, Zhang Jingna, [and] Julia Kuzmenko.”
Essien stays busy, always working with his team to develop new and fresh concepts. He has a Christmas-themed project coming out soon.
