[music]
MARIA: Hey, Malike! It's Marie from B&H MALIKE: Hey Maria, how are you?
MARIA: Good! I heard you were here at the Salt Studio,
and I wanted to ask you 21 questions.
Sounds good! MARIA: Perfect. All right, I'm going to get right into it.
Yeah MARIA: Tell the audience: what do you do for a living?
I'm a photographer.
I'm mainly focused in fashion, portraiture and documentary.
MARIA: Great! And, what are you doing right now?
Um, right now I'm just setting up this studio to do some test shot.
Um, I like to keep myself busy when I don't have much to do
to kind of experiment with lighting and, um, yeah.
MARIA: That's awesome! MALIKE: Yeah
MARIA: And, I know you've been pretty busy during this pandemic,
capturing everything that's been going on.
MALIKE: Yeah MARIA: How has been that experience?
Um, I mean, it's been overwhelming, you know. And, um,
it's been a lot of learning experience
because originally, I'm not really a documentary photographer,
so I feel like, for me, mainly I just been learning a lot
and trying to find ways to use my skills
in photography to contribute.
MARIA: That's amazing! MALIKE: Yeah.
MARIA: And what got you started in photography?
Um, it's actually a funny story. Um, I was born and raised in West Africa.
My dad came to visit me one time from America,
and he had, like, this portable camera
that he used when he's traveling to take photos,
and he just showed it to me. That was the first camera I ever held in my hand.
It was like the one of those Olympic film cameras.
And from there, it just started sparking my interest in photography.
But at the time I didn't really know that's what I wanted to do
until I moved here into the states. Um, that's when I found my passion for photography.
So, that's how I got exposed to it! [laughs]
MARIA: That's awesome! That was going to take me to my next question, which was
what was your first camera?
Um, the first camera I ever bought with my own money was a Nikon 5100.
Um, yeah it was my first DSLR, and I still have it to this day.
MARIA: Wow! Yeah.
And, what's your go-to camera and lens now?
MALIKE: Well, my go-to camera and lens right now is this bad boy right here.
the Nikon Z 7.
I just started working with this camera this, um, last year because we're in 2021 now. [Maria laughs]
Um, last year around January.
Um, but before then, the Nikon D850 was my main go-to camera.
But I like this one mainly because it's lighter,
and I could take it with me everywhere, especially during the protest photos,
and it does the same thing that my 850 does, so.
MARIA: Absolutely! MALIKE: Yeah
MARIA: So, what drew you to portrait photography?
Um, I feel like it's because of, like, my experience.
Um, as I said earlier, I was born in West Africa,
and moving here and coming to America,
it made me realize how many different kind of people are there in the world.
Um, when I moved here, I was 13 years old, so I didn't really have that much experience in life,
but being here I got to meet a lot of--I went to an international high school--
so being here, I got to meet a lot of kids from different parts of the world,
from like Nepal, Japan.
and it was very interesting learning about their culture,
and the things that they like to do,
and their similarities and their culture for wherever they come from to mine.
So that kind of sparked my interest in documenting people,
and telling their stories.
MARIA: Wow! And your photography, I've noticed, really embraces color.
How do you decide the different ways to use color?
Um, I'm very, like, I'm inspired by color a lot.
Um, I don't really think it's, like, an intentional thing.
Most of them is just, like, you know, it's just what I see,
and the colors that I feel like relates to my mood
when I'm shooting, or like to my subject.
My work is all around telling a story of whoever I'm photographing,
and by doing that, I also want to tell my own story,
so I use my experience and from traveling
and meeting all these people from around the world
and try to somehow use that
and translate that and find colors that relate to that, if that makes sense.
MARIA: Of course! MALIKE: Yeah [laughs]
MARIA: And, when you take on a project-- MALIKE: Yeah
MARIA: and you kind of already answered this--but what's your main goal or message
that you want to portray?
Um, my work, personally, in photography,
my goal is to always portray freedom of expression.
Um, so no matter what work I'm doing, I always want to portray that idea.
The idea of having freedom and doing whatever you want to do. Yeah.
MARIA: That's amazing!
And honestly, my favorite thing from just kind of researching your work
MALIKE: Yeah
MARIA: Is the way you highlight all the different genders and different races
MALIKE: Yeah
MARIA: and why do you think it's important
that we show all those different faces in the industry?
Um, well first like the reason why I even pay attention to that
just like I said earlier, where I come from,
and being exposed to so many people from different parts of the world
and that naturally just, like, makes you an open-minded person.
It makes you curious. It makes you want to explore different things and different people.
And you want to photograph different people, so I feel like
that's what got me into that,
and the importance of that I think is very important
because when I was in Africa, I didn't really know what kids in New York were like
I didn't really know what kids in Japan were like.
What are the things that they're into?
I wasn't exposed to kids who are into different things.
So, like, being exposed to that and being so curious about that story,
I feel like it's only right that I have inclusivity in my work.
You know, and I don't really think it's like a conscious thing.
It's not really something that I really think about.
but it just naturally happened because those are the people that are around me.
MARIA: Yeah, and so do you have any projects coming up?
Um, right now I've been doing a lot of assignments.
That's been keeping me busy, um for my personal project.
Um, over the years, I worked on a lot of personal projects.
It's what kept me being creative.
So, whenever I have free time, stuff like this,
I always set things up and shoot on my own.
And right now I've been focusing on doing a lot of FaceTime series.
I started that in the beginning of quarantine last year.
And, as I've been doing it, I've been finding new ways to do and new ways to explore and new lighting styles.
So right now, I'm trying to master that,
and then use that to work on my personal project with my friends all around the world
that unfortunately can't be here because of Covid and quarantine.
And then, January 22nd, I'm going to be in this panel called the Branding of Photography,
um with Maurice, I'm pretty excited about that.
MARIA: No, that's awesome! MALIKE: Mhmm
MARIA: All right, switching it up a little bit. MALIKE: Yeah.
MARIE: What are some tips for somebody who wants to get into fine art portraits like you?
Um, wow that's a very good question.
because I feel like I got into it not really like, "oh, this is what I really want to do!"
But, it's just me exploring things that I'm into.
Things that I like to photograph.
So, my first tip to whoever wants to do fine art photography,
make sure that that's really what you want to do.
make sure you have a passion for it because at the end of the day,
you could be really good at something,
and if you don't really have the passion for it, it won't really make you happy.
The reason why I get up every day and set shoots up for myself,
even if I'm not getting paid for it,
or reaching out my friends, pretty much blowing up their phones,
like, "Hey, clear your schedule. Let's shoot," and things like that
is because I have a passion for it. Like I love doing it.
And as long as you love doing it, you won't ever work a day in your life.
You just feel like clicking buttons, so.
My tip will be just find something that you love.
it doesn't really even have to be fine art photography.
It could be anything; it could be landscape. As long as you enjoy it,
and it gives you that rush, then that's all you need.
MARIA: That's great advice! MALIKE: Yeah.
MARIA: All right, favorite color!
MALIKE: Favorite color... Damn! [both laugh]
It's so funny. I saw that question but like, I'm like [inaudible]
I don't really have a favorite color. I feel like I'm really into anything.
Um, for a while, I thought red was my favorite color,
And then, before that though, green was my favorite color,
[Maria laughs] even though I'm wearing green right now,
it's not really my favorite color anymore, so I don't know.
Right now, I'm really into darker shades.
So like, it doesn't really matter what color it is.
Like dark pink, or like, I don't know dark green, or something like that.
I don't know, but I like a little bit of everything [both laugh]
MARIA: And so, what has been the most impactful shoot you've ever been on?
Um, the most impactful shoot.
It's funny because 2020 has been a very interesting year.
Really I feel like every shoot I did in 2020 has been really impactful
because we are getting adjusted to this new reality,
to these new ways of working.
We're all used to meeting with people and photographing,
not really worrying about a pandemic,
and now we have to adjust with everything.
So, from my FaceTime series to my journalism,
I feel like all of them are important because, um,
they're all somehow contributing to making a better world,
to finding new ways of exploring and being curious.
But, if I were to pick one to say that was my favorite,
I would say pretty much all the journalism that I did this year.
I felt like that played a big part of me knowing what I want to do with my skills
and knowing what I want to do to contribute to society.
So, I feel like the documentary works I've been doing over the last few months
has been the most important jobs that I've done since I started photography.
MARIA: For sure. And what has been the most challenging shoot you've ever done?
The most challenging shoot I've ever done?
Okay, this is a story! [Maria laughs]
Um, so in 2018, I think this was like my second assignment ever...
Um, before I even get into that, I want to say thank you to Clinton Cargill.
Um, at the time, he was a editor at Bloomberg Business Week.
Um, I think now he's with New York Times, but he gave me my first assignment ever.
And then, my second assignment ever that he gave me was to photograph Dwyane Wade the basketball player.
And that day, I woke up super early.
At the time, I lived in the Bronx.
Packed literally all my camera gear, just in case if something goes wrong,
I have a backup. I had my hard drive, extra hard drives, all my memory cards, my laptop
and literally everything that I own in photography at the time.
Um, got in the cab in the Bronx, just stopped it on the street,
On my way to the shoot,
I went to drop off my little brother at school early in the morning.
And then, as I got out of the cab-- MARIA: Oh no...
--to make sure that my little brother is off the street,
the driver drove off with my, um, with all my equipment.
MARIA: Oh no! I think it was about, like, $45,000 worth of camera equipment.
Literally an hour before a shoot with Dwyane Wade, one of the biggest assignments I had at the time.
Um, so you could say I was freaking out.
I was super scared. MARIA: Oh my gosh!
Um, I think that must have been the most challenging shoot because...
I had never experienced anything like that,
and I don't think I will ever experience anything like that again, hopefully.
Um, but, I had to keep myself calm during the shoot,
and not really think about my equipment.
I was lucky; I had an assistant who were picking up the lighting equipment,
so I just called them right away.
I'm like, "Hey, rent a camera, two lenses and some memory cards."
"We're gonna get this shoot done still."
Um, even though I gotta file a police report and all that, so.
I went and did the shoot and right after the shoot,
I gave all the stuff to my assistant to go drop it off,
and then just went to look for my camera equipment.
But, luckily, I found them two months later, thanks to B&H.
Um, the guy who took 'em tried to go sell it at B&H.
And, um, you guys have been working with me a lot,
so you have all the information, all the serial numbers to my cameras and my photo equipment.
So, once he tried to go sell it I just got a call.
Like, "Hey, we got the guy who tried to sell your cameras."
Thanks shout out to Gabe! Okay [both laughing]
He made that happen, so.
MARIA: Wow! MALIKE: Yeah
MALIKE: That was... MARIA: That's unbelievable!
MALIKE: Yeah... [laughs]
MARIA: Oh my goodness. All right, well, now next question after that story.
[both laugh]
MARIA: So, do you have a favorite shoot where you got to be super creative?
Um, yes. One of my favorite shoes that I actually
really, really love to this day--well it was, like, five months ago.
It was for the Nikon Z 6 II campaign
They reached out to me, and they're like, "hey, we're coming out with these new cameras."
So, I got to use them before anybody got to use them, which is really fun.
They were like, "we're coming up with this camera,"
"and we love your work, so we want you to take the camera,"
"go somewhere and have fun."
Pretty much that's what they told me. So I hired few of my friends as models,
and then we found some locate--we went location scouting in upstate New York.
And we went there for two days and just shot pretty much the whole two days.
and it was really fun because when I was starting out in photography,
when I didn't have money to book studios to get, like, the lightings that I wanted,
my friends are what pretty much kept me together and helped me learn what I learned today
because I'll reach out to them either to model, like,
"Hey I got my camera. Let's go shoot."
So doing that shoot for Nikon kind of brought back those feelings
being around the same friends that I started photographing
when I first became a photographer.
Um, we were just there up for two days and just being creative,
doing anything that comes to our mind, and some of the pictures I got there are my most favorite.
MARIA: Wow, that's great!
MARIA: And so maybe a tough question here-- MALIKE: Yeah
--if you could only use one lens forever, which one would it be?
Oh, that's not a tough question at all! [Maria laughs]
That's the 24-70mm Nikon lens
I have the f/4 right now, but ideally I would like a 24-70 f/2.
Um, 2.4, sorry. Yeah.
MARIA: And, if you weren't a photographer, what would you be?
If I wasn't a photographer...
Oh God, I don't know! [Maria laughs]
I'll probably be a chef because I love to eat.
[both laugh]
Yeah, I'll probably be a chef.
I mean, before photography, I was a menswear designer.
That's what I thought I had a passion for,
and I took classes at like FIT down the street.
And then, I realized I don't really like making clothes
as much as I like to photograph them. [Maria laughs]
So, I would either be a stylist or a chef,
which is totally different from each other!
[both laugh] MARIA: Cool
MARIA: And, what's the best piece of advice you've ever received?
The best piece of advice...
Um...
One of my mentors, Rudy Roy, he's a journalist... [stumbles over words] photojournalist.
First that I ever met him, it was actually in this studio here. I saw...
I think this was back in 2015 or 2014.
Um, mind you, I had never met him.
I met him through Alicia. He was like--
I showed him my work and all of that,
but he was like, "Look, there's one thing in photography, right?"
"You're going to meet clients. They're going to tell you what they want you to photograph."
"They want you to do this, they want you to do that."
"As a photographer, it's your job to get those,"
"but also, as a photographer, it doesn't matter what shoot you're doing,"
"what is it for, don't walk away from the set"
"if you don't have at least one picture that you personally feel like you like."
So I keep that advice with me every time I'm shooting.
It just automatically is just behind my head.
I don't care what I'm shooting for. I'll get what the client wants, I will get that, though.
But, at the end of the day, I have to get at least one photograph that I personally like.
"Okay, cool. I'll see myself in this photograph. I like this photograph."
That's when I feel like I've done a successful shoot.
It could be that only one shot that's the best shot out of all of them,
but as long as I get at least one that I'm like, "I could happily walk away with this,"
Um, so yeah just that's I guess my piece of advice. [laughs]
MARIA: That's great advice! MALIKE: Yeah
MARIA: And, aside from your camera, what's your favorite piece of gear?
Aside from my camera, my favorite piece of gear.
I always carry all my favorite piece of gear.
This iPad right here. [Maria laughs]
It has saved me a lot, especially during the protest
when I was--during last year during the Black Lives Matter protestss
and the police brutality protests,
I carry this in my backpack with this camera everywhere I go, and my card reader
because sometimes I will photograph what's going on,
and I need to get it out to the magazine right away.
And I'll just find a corner, edit them on my iPad, I'll upload them.
So, thanks to Lightroom, thanks to Apple and thanks to Nikon
for making these tools that make it very easy for photographers
to use and get their work done while they're on the go.
So, this is my other piece of gear.
MARIA: Absolutely!
And, if there were to be a movie about your life, who would play you?
Wow... [laughs]
I don't know I think I would like to play myself [Maria laughs]
I feel like I have a very, very interesting life,
and I'm a very interesting character.
And I can't really think of anyone that will play me better than me.
[Malike laughs] MARIA: Wow that's a first! Nobody's ever said themselves.
[both laugh]
MALIKE: Yeah...
MARIA: And, last question, who should we interview next?
MALIKE: Who should you interview next?
Damn, this is a...
Hm...
So, this is, like, super random,
but I have a friend of mine, um,
this is like one of my--we're not really close friends,
but we're known each other for a really long time.
He's an artist. He's a painter.
He draws and paints.
I'm currently planning on doing a collaboration with him,
but I think he'll be a very interesting person to interview
because of what he does and the work that he creates.
And I think he's like two years younger than me,
but his work always blows me away,
And I look forward to working--his name is Jordan.
Um, it's short, as in j-r-r-d-a-n
And that's his Instagram, but I think you should interview Jordan.
MARIA: Absolutely, we'll call him right up!
MALIKE: [laughing] Okay MARIA: Alright, so I'll let you get back to it.
MALIKE: Awesome! MARIA: Thank you so much--
MALIKE: Thank you MARIA: for taking the time!
MALIKE: Appreciate it! MARIA: Alrighty!
MALIKE: Have a good one! MARIA: You too!