Kwaku
Alston
"When you come to New
York City broke, you have nowhere to go but up," says Kwaku Alston
'94. "I literally lived on someone's hardwood floor for months
until I found enough work to support myself."
Alston is a celebrity
portrait photographer and works for film companies and magazines.
His portfolio includes the famous and near famous, faces that
appear in the most recent movies and television programs. (Try
Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Will Smith or any other names you might
notice on the opening credits of your favorite movie.) He also
teaches a photography class at the School of Visual Arts in
Manhattan.
Alston says: "I
have never wanted to follow the rules. Photography is creative;
it's all about concepts. Some of these celebrities are very
hard to deal with. I have to get inside their heads and find
out what they're all about, then use it somehow in the photograph."
A few famous
faces photographed by Kwaku Alston:
Rachael Leigh Cook, the "geeky" girl from She's All That
Samuel L. Jackson, star of almost every movie made in the last
five years, including Star Wars: Episode I, The Red Violin,
Eve's Bayou, Jackie Brown, Die Hard: With a Vengeance, Pulp
Fiction
Will Smith, star of the Wild, Wild West, Men In Black, Independence
Day and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air TV Series
Richard Belzer, comedian and star of television's Homicide:
Life on the Street
