Ashley Sebok

Photographer Ashley Sebok will be documenting Kilo Kish's tour this August. It's hard not to be mesmerised by her work, plus we like her because she really loves her Mum. Dazed Digital caught up with Sebok, who hails from Miami and is based in New York, to learn more about her photography. 

Every time I go home to Miami to visit I spend a lot of my time filming my mother. I've started to put together a short documentary film about her consisting of candid footage as well as interviews. I'm learning things about her I never knew!

Dazed Digital: What's the most exciting thing you've been up to?
Ashley Sebok: Recently my best friend and I have been learning to DJ, we're called Wash & Set so stay tuned! It’s exciting because I've always wished I could somehow be involved in music besides photographing shows but unfortunately I can't play a musical instrument or sing so this is the next best thing.

DD: What do you look for when you take a picture?
Ashley Sebok: Whether it be light, subject, or the environment, it's different aspects put together that make a pattern of experience and somehow I try to come up with a pattern that is evident but that has simplicity to it. It's about recognizing a promising compositional opportunity, but I think that's just a matter of intuition and practice. When it all works, it feels wonderful. When, in addition to it being a good photo in itself, it expresses something that personally moves me, I feel, in some way, worthwhile. 

DD: How do the other subjects you study influence your photography?
Ashley Sebok: Along with photography I am also studying anthropology and film. Learning about the behavioural patterns and cultural contexts behind it all helps me conceive and compose my images. This past school year I took a documentary film making class. A lot of my photography is purely a documentation of my surroundings and it's interesting transcending that into a moving image.

DD: What projects have you been working on?
Ashley Sebok: Every time I go home to Miami to visit I spend a lot of my time filming my mother. I've started to put together a short documentary film about her consisting of candid footage as well as interviews. I'm learning things about her I never knew! I've also been photographing rising songwriter/singer Kilo Kish from her first live show up till now. I'm excited to be going on tour with her in early August.

DD: What's beautiful?
Ashley Sebok: Again, I think it is patterns, rhythms, and interactions. These make up the 'music' of an experience. That music may be fast or slow, joyous or sad. If the patterns come together in a way to strike a chord of recognition that we perceive as truth, we are rewarded with the pleasurable sensation that we call beauty.