Sharon Hazel

About Sharon's Shoot

Meet the enigmatic Sharon Hazel of Sharon Hazel Township.

When speaking to Sharon about her shoot, it was clear that rather than evoking imagery from the themes of her music, this shoot needed to be about the multiple facets of the artist herself.  Sharon knows that she doesn't fit neatly into any of the multiple roles that society would assign her. As a gay, black woman who "doesn't sound like you expect me to sound," Sharon is used to people being unsure how to label her. I'm pretty sure she enjoys defying classification.

I met with Sharon and her fiancée Sam at a South City coffeeshop, and we chatted together about public perception, honesty, breaking molds, the importance of family and what it's like to be a California transplant to a midwestern city. (Not as bad as you'd imagine, surprisingly.)

For the theme of this project we chose to highlight three distinct aspects of Sharon's personality: the cocky California skater, the serious sports and fitness buff, and the soulful musician.

Each of the images  in the sequence brings us physically and emotionally closer to Sharon, breaking through her barriers until we get to the intimacy of the final shot of her playing guitar. Sharon has a beautiful smile that's she's not necessarily willing to share with you—but with a guitar in her hands, she was the most relaxed and the most content, as you can see in the rapt expression on her face. 

Model: Sharon Hazel

Costume(s): Model's own

See more of this series here.


See a video of Sharon performing this year at the Lo-Fi Cherokee event, here