For those of you who frequently associate the word ‘hunger’ with a craving for soulful nourishment, Hermann Deza aka Hermosdef, the Paris-born photographer with roots in Africa’s Ivory Coast brings a uniquely fresh visual aesthetic to the table. Imagine being hit by the smell of roasting spices, and burning charcoal after you’ve been starved for days. Yeah… that’s the kind of soul food he’s offering you. With rich tones and striking intensity, his fashion and music photography will no doubt feed your lust for something new. There is an unmistakably intimate quality to Hermosdef’s portraits, which clearly draw their power from his deep familiarity with the world his subjects live in. As one of the members of French Hip-hop crew, Jazzeffiq, he’s in fact an integral part of the world he documents.

Photographers working with living subjects must keep their awareness in the absolute moment. They have to be ready to take a slice out of a streaming sense of reality, a frozen image of life, that will be powerful enough to make a lasting trace on our memory. To be able to capture the most open and vulnerable moments of human expression, takes someone who is finely attuned to the subtle realm of emotions and has a deep love for his subjects. Hermosdef has clearly got what it takes. His portraits are fragments of many souls - raw and beautiful. Check’em at his website.