Maya Spangler Wants To Build Worlds With Her Photography, Ones Where Girls Are Unflinching

AGE: 24
BASED IN: Los Angeles/New York 
NOMINATED BY: Richard Kern

I try to shoot as impulsively as I can without inhibition. I’m really inspired by music—artists like Cat Power, Stina Nordenstam, Cindy Lee, I could go on. But I appreciate how their music feels like an entire world for a few minutes.

I always want my photo series to feel like a world you can peer into. I just want to capture something real. When I’m shooting for myself, I’m usually not going in with any intention or direction. I’m playing off the girl I’m with, and this happens mostly with non-models—when I’m just in their room hanging out, and we’re talking shit and having fun, and dressing up in our own clothes.

I use the absolute bare minimum equipment. I can work my camera like a third hand because I’ve learned exactly how it likes to work. I like to shoot girls I feel connected to, girls I can see myself in, who are unfiltered and rough around the edges, but also girls who have something I don’t. Girls who can look straight into the camera without flinching and are unconcerned with what they look like.