Finding Comfort in your own skin

Photographs by Rojan Maguyon

Portrait photographer Rojan Maguyon discusses why he finds beauty in imperfections, not owning a camera, and his upcoming project, “House Chore Series”.

Manila, Philippines

What is your history as a photographer?

I started shooting when I was in 12th grade, I’m 18 during that time year 2018. To be honest, I am a photographer by accident. In the beginning, I didn’t know about Instagram and didn’t know what to post. Since I’m a portrait artist as well; so instead of posting my selfies, I took pictures of flowers and other things using my mobile phone and very flattered with the feedback.

Since you don’t own a camera, how do you shoot? Is organizing photo shoots difficult?

At first it was quite difficult but after a long time of practicing and building my portfolio, I got used to it and things flow smoothly according to my desired plan. I ask people online or some of my friends to have a shoot with me and to convince them I usually send my sample pictures as a proof.

What makes your work stand out from other photographers? What story are you trying to tell?

It’s my choice of models: I love capturing people with skin imperfections, people with genetic disorders and women of color. The reason why I like them is because of my own skin insecurity of my acne. I’m tired of seeing white and spotless models. I want to break stereotypes in models because I believe that we are all beautiful in our own unique ways and modelling is for all kinds of beauty.

What is the art scene like where you are from? How does it inspire you ?

I grew up seeing Chinese movies on television and I’m happy that I was able to use them as my inspiration in my photoshoots. I just love how colors of old films are being used to tell a story, it helps me to execute the mood of the photo.

Tell the story behind one of your favorite photographs.

My favorite photo is the girl with freckles. Since I was looking for people with rare skin features, my friend tagged me on her photo. I was amazed by her looks and sent her a direct message on facebook. I didn’t expect that she will accept my invite after almost one week of waiting. Her photos online went viral, and that time I was so happy to inspire people to be confident with their own skin.

You are currently working on a project called, “House Chore Series”. What’s this project about ? Why is it important to you?

It is a personal project of mine that shows the different house chores in a high fashion way. I just got this concept when my auntie scolded me when I was wearing a nice shirt while doing my laundry saying, “you’re just doing the laundry and you are still wearing nice clothes!”

Actually I just love doing concepts in a very exaggerated yet artistic way.