Eric Gabriel
Soul Capture
I can’t remember life before Eric Gabriel. Whilst we didn’t grow up together in the sense of grade school and turbulent teens, we came together in our twenties on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in the eighties—and that’s its own form of growing up.
Eric did hair then; he was one of the Oribe Boys. They were all so beautiful and elegantly cool. They worked all the top shows with the top models and the top photographers: Steven Meisel, Bruce Weber, Kurt Marcus, Richard Avedon, Irving Penn, to name a few. In between transforming Christy Turlington’s and Naomi Campbell’s eighties big hair into his signature fucked-up punk style, Eric would chat with these legends.
Steven Meisel taught him how to look at the big picture rather than just one aspect (the way hair stylists, makeup artists, and clothing stylists are trained to do); to look for what’s wrong not what’s right. And then fix it. From Kurt Markus, he learned to capture someone’s soul: to have meaningful conversations before and during the shoot that allow the external to breakdown and the internal to push through.
This soul-capturing push through is evident in Eric’s own work. Achingly beautiful, his photos are somehow old-school and thoroughly modern; intimate, quiet, and yet daring. He seeks to capture what hasn’t been captured before; to reveal a person in a manner they’re not usually perceived.
In the early aughts Eric traded in hair for photography and left New York City for Los Angeles where he currently lives with his longtime partner and their dog, Bambi. He shoots worldwide editorial, fashion, and beauty campaigns.
In addition to being a gifted photographer, Eric is relentlessly optimistic and has buoyed me through many a dark time. I hope this glimpse into his work buoys you! If so, you can follow him on Instagram.
love this... =D