Luzena Adams's mother had her own darkroom and she began experimenting with Black and White photography when  she was fourteen.  When she began she did a lot of self-portraits and mostly black and white.  Slowly she began taking images in a more documentary style of her travels, life and her friends. Luzena completed her degree at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in 2004, receiving the Olympus Award for best final year folio.  She came to NYC in 2007 and this experience has given her a huge insight into the industry. She works in the Fashion world but has recently begun working on more personal work for Exhibition. During this Summer she exhibited a series at Les Nuits De Pierre Evert, a Photography Festival in France and is currently working on her first Solo exhibition.

Greatest inspirations or influences?

• As well as my family being an inspiration I have a true love for the work of Helmut Newton. His work was generally of women, usually naked, empowered and sexually charged.  I like the combination.
• I am also really inspired by human nature and the human psyche. We are such multi faceted beings with many complexities.

Challenges of what you do?

Being an emerging photographer I find myself with less budgets than I would like to have. I look forward to being able to realize many of my ideas and being funded to do so. I am talking Big budgets. I’m talking being given the artistic freedom to do a commercial job the way I want to and for it to be funded – fully.

This for me is the Ultimate. To be recognized and respected enough to be given artistic license.

Most interesting shoot you have done so far ?

Most of my shoots are interesting.  Although it can be quite stressful I am a big fan of working on location.  I have had some wonderful adventures in my time.

What would be a dream project for you?

A Fashion Editorial in Cuba would be pretty fantastic . . . Or I would love to do an advertising campaign for a clothing or Lingerie company, shot on location in a beautiful old hotel.  Something with a narrative, nostalgia and beautiful scenery. Something risqué.

What makes NY so special in your opinion?

Like most people I have a soft spot for New York City because It’s a melting pot of people from everywhere, all with a dream and a purpose.

I love the energy on the streets and the openness of people.  We always have days that we wake up feeling flat and sometimes depressed, but there is always

something about New York City that changes your perspective. Whether it be people dancing in the street or a random encounter that takes you somewhere unexpected.