Press Here

Acts of Devotion is a photo series exploring people’s relationship to their craft and the dedication, discipline, and intimacy behind it. Each session focuses on how creative work shapes someone’s identity and how devotion to a practice can become a form of growth, healing, and self-expression.

For this session, the goal was to lean into what she shared about using acting to process raw emotion and navigate her inner world. I wanted to document how her devotion to performance has shaped her identity, helped her confront herself, and given her a sense of hope, resilience, and purpose.

Keneisha has been acting and performing for over ten years. When we spoke, she shared how acting has been her way of processing raw emotion, confronting herself, and staying connected to her inner world. She talked about how vulnerable and grounding the process is for her, and how it has helped her navigate depression, identity, and resilience. For this session, I wanted to focus on that relationship to emotion and capture how deeply her craft is tied to her sense of self.

The concept centered on exploring emotional range in an editorial, elevated way. We focused especially on the more vulnerable and devastating emotions, while keeping everything honest and refined.

Visually, we kept things very minimal. Light makeup. Simple styling. No distractions. The goal was for the focus to stay on her face, her expressions, and the physical language of emotion. This shoot functioned like a case study of feeling. How do we recognize anger, sadness, confidence, or softness through subtle facial cues and body language?

A checklist of emotions guided the session, ensuring each one was explored with intention. The process remained collaborative and fluid. We constantly exchanged ideas and built off each other’s energy. The environment felt safe and open, which made it easier to access vulnerability. We were able to hit every emotion we planned, and the session felt both creatively fulfilling and emotionally honest.

Photography by Lola LaChapelle