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126: Diversity in the Photography Industry with Ike & Tash

October 14, 2020

diversity-in-the-photography-industry-ike-and-tash

Setting Boundaries and Diversity in the Photography Industry

Ike & Tash are Seattle photographers who reserve weekdays for seniors, but keep weekends for families and weddings.  It’s great to have boundaries.  Even when you have free time, set your boundaries and remember to say no.  Ike and Tash rebranded in 2013, and things took off for them.  At the time, there were not many African American couples in photography.

  • When there’s a space for diversity and representation, jump in!
  • There are benefits to standing out in a homogenized industry.
  • Living in Seattle has allowed Ike & Tash to gain a very diverse clientele.
  • “It’s weird because in a lot of ways, I feel like our career fast tracked.  But, in so many ways, we’re so behind the curve in comparison to our counterparts, too.  And so, there were a lot of advantages of being who we were as black husband and wife photographers, but there was a lot of rooms that we could walk into, but tables we couldn’t eat at.”
  • Ike and Tash don’t want to be tokenized.  Since the amplify melanated voices movement, they’ve noticed so many people who’ve known who they are for years asking them to be on their podcasts or speak.
  • Black people are not your marketing.  Although we need to see more diversity in the photography industry, there has to be a balance of intentionality.
  • You have to be intentional about finding people of color until it becomes second hand nature.
  • A lot of what we are seeing is performative ally-ship, which is important.  We are always going to try to be on the right side of what’s happening, but it will take time to see if racism is truly improving.  A lot has to be un-learned and un-done.

 

Connect with Ike & Tash

Instagram: @ikeandtash

www.ikeandtash.com

 

Links

Join The Bearded Tog Facebook group

Patreon

The Bearded Tog Website

Follow @thebeardedtog on Instagram

Follow Adam on Instagram @masonphotography

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