The kids are alright.
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In bedrooms and bathrooms, Jeff Hahn’s nearly naked muses are caught on candid camera between the sheets of his self-published book, The Next Best Thing to Loving You. Eight pages and sixteen shots of boyish girls and pretty boys make up a perfectly collated collection of images by the photography whizz-kid. Reality and romanticism go head to head as Mr Hahn makes fate and fakes fate, finding beauty in the banal from behind the lens and using his camera to create moments that might never have happened. With a youthful enthusiasm, this smart 22-year old has just stepped out of London College of Communication and is headed straight for the fashion pack, shooting for clients from Vice to Versace.
Here, Jeff Hahn tells i-D online about beds, baths and the next best thing to loving you.
How old are you? 22. Do you take your camera with you everywhere? I always carry at least a point and shoot with me because I’m obsessed with capturing every moment that means something. If it doesn’t exist in a picture it doesn’t exist to me! Looking through your series, The Next Best Thing to Loving You, beds and baths seem to be favourite locations of yours, what is it about these personal places that inspires you? I guess they are places of comfort and intimacy, where people relax. There’s something transcendent about being invited to people’s personal spaces and documenting them in their most fragile, vulnerable states. This series is all about capturing moments that might never have existed, is this a theme that leads on from your belief in destiny? It’s interrelated, I suppose… I do believe in destiny but I don’t think we should be controlled or condemned by it. I’m fascinated at our ability to steer it, by creating moments that never could have existed, you are sending ripples of possibilities before you and paving the way for new destinies. You’ve started making bespoke accessories, is this something you want to pursue further? Definitely – it’s so amazing being part of an image in a completely different way. So far I’ve worked mostly with Patti Wilson making metallic accessories and headpieces for Italian Vogue and Numéro, but I want to focus on creating a proper collection. I have so many ideas that I want to explore, the possibilities of sheet metal are endless! Why did you leave Hong Kong for London? My horoscope at the time said “Change, Growth, Movement”. Do you remember the first photograph you took? I think it was a backlit picture of a red alcopop that I was too young to drink. What’s your favourite camera to use? I’m at my happiest with a large format camera and a polaroid back. Nothing like training yourself to plan, compose and expose a photograph properly. If you could photograph anyone, dead or alive, who would it be? It would have to be the flawless Liu Wen, she is a goddess! What’s the best piece of advice you’ve been given? “You can sleep when you die”. What’s next for you? I’ll let you know once I get through the nine shoots I have to retouch.
Text: Felicity Kinsella
Photography: Jeff Hahn
