A recent New York to London transplant Shaniqwa Jarvis has racked up an impressive portfolio shooting Damien Hirst and Malcolm McLaren for Supreme, Liberty and MTV alongside Paper, Vibe, Trace and Teen Vogue magazines. Here she shares with Dazed her creative portfolio.

Dazed Digital: Hey Shaniqwa, introductions?
Shaniqwa Jarvis: I’m a native New Yorker, and live between LA and London, and am always on my bike in both places. My favourite photographers are Guy Bourdin, Bruce Davidson, and William Eggleston. I am always really drawn to the hyper real quality of Guy’s work in particular and it has definitely had a massive influence on mine. Music is a constant in my life as well. It’s something I never like to limit myself with, the more varied the better. Right now I'm listening to Baby Dayliner, Lykke Li, the new Camron - hot fire! TV On The Radio, Maxwell, ESG, The Knife and these great mixes from my friend DJ Young Chris out of New York.

DD: What was the first photo you took?
SJ: The first photo I took was of a Raggedy Ann vase with a star lily in it. I was about 5-years-old. I was obsessed with it.

DD: What was the last photo you took?
SJ: The last photo I took was of my friend Hanni el Khatib for a project I’m working on with him. He’s a pretty amazing dude. He makes music, art, skates, he is totally worth Googling.

DD: When did you decide that photography was what you wanted to do?
SJ: I’ve always loved photography. I took a year off of college and worked for Paper Magazine. It was there I realized I wanted to be a photographer. I spoke with (founders) Kim (Hastreiter) and David (Hershkovits) about it. They suggested I take a class, which I did. My teacher then suggested I go to Parsons School of Design, which I did. From that point I immersed myself in photography - mainly working as a photo editor for a few years. When I moved to Los Angeles I began shooting full time.

DD: Has your aesthetic and eye changed over the years?
SJ: In the beginning I wasn’t confident about directing my subjects so I would let them do whatever they wanted. I would get really good shots that way, but wasn’t sticking to the image I had in my head. In recent years I’ve grown more vocal and confident.

DD: Shaniqwa loves LA because…
SJ: You have space to create anything you want. The Mexican food is brilliant - taco trucks for days. And the weather will make you believe everything is okay.

DD: Shaniqwa loves NYC because…
SJ: It’s where I’m from. My favourite people, restaurants, bars and memories are here.

DD: What’s the story with Supreme?
SJ: I’ve been involved with them for a while now and have been able to shot some fun things for them. I’ve got a few projects on the way that I’m pretty excited about. It’s family and of course cute boys.

DD: What’s your most commonly used set up?
SJ: Not until my current personal project did I commit to one set up. I usually shoot with some sort of 35mm camera and I always bring my comedic skills and a tripod.

DD: Can you talk about your favourite clients and jobs?
SJ: My favourite shoots have been with people who make me laugh. Like Mike Epps, Romany Malco and Anthony Anderson. Those guys really brought their A game to set, Anthony got naked for me and wore a scarf around his crotch. It was really hard to keep a straight face.

DD: Are your photos… more escapism, realism, romantic-ism…
SJ: I guess I would say I’m a real romantic escapist, I try to work out all of the mania in my head through my photography. The last show I had in NY was based on the turmoil of emotions that I and the girl Joanna Berryman (who models in it) were feeling at that moment, it was an expression of my aimlessness as well as a raw feeling of emancipation. My current project is documenting my relationship with a few select men in London and LA. Experiences and people have been the biggest influences on my work so I want to depict that in a narrative format.