Lady LUX

Making it as a photographer in New York City is one competitive endeavor. The outlets for business are many—editorial, advertising, runway, even test shoots—but masses of talented individuals are trying to break in as well, vying for the cover of Vogue or for a great celebrity shot that will put them on the map. Those who reach the top can have a flourishing career, both artistically and professionally, but the road to getting there can be selective, to be sure.

The fashion photographer Tomaas is one to watch though. His decision to pursue his craft didn’t come until later in life, in his mid-Thirties. It was just two and a half years ago that Tomaas made the switch from a sales position in finance to the world of high fashion. And he hasn’t regretted one moment of it.

His latest work, “Eco-Beauty” was shown last Saturday, May 8 at the ICO Gallery in New York City’s Chelsea, a result of having done a show with the same creator at a space in Soho last year. When the curator contacted him again, Tomaas-who likes to go by the singular moniker-jumped at the chance. “I had just finished a story for sublimemagazine.com, so thought I would put these on the wall,” he tells of his work, beauty shots coordinated with a team of stylists. “I liked the space and it’s a great gallery,” he reports, clearly pleased with the throngs of artistic followers who flocked to the group show from 4:00 p.m. in the afternoon until that same time in the morning. A DJ set up in the main space to keep the party going, and cocktails were served to keep viewers happy as well.

But it was the art that sufficed. Having wrapped a show in January at the Taylor MacKenzie Gallery, also in Chelsea, and the biggest show he has had yet, Tomaas was all too pleased to be asked to display recent work in New York’s hottest art district—and with competing shows going on up and down the street.

Tomaas started with photography when he was 16, playing with the idea of going into the fashion end of it. His hesitation though drew him instead to university where he studied communication and political science, followed by public relations for his masters. Still, he kept being drawn back into the preoccupation of those pubescent years. “My friends and I always went out and took photos; the more we did it, the more I tried to figure out if I could make a living at it,” he says. After taking a break when he came to New York-in 1995-he knew that it was his ultimate calling: “I just picked up a camera and thought. ‘I should do this again.’”

Although he attributes the possibility of his creative urge to his mother, who worked as a furrier, Tomaas can’t point to any other source of direct creative stimulation, as none of his siblings, nor his father, are involved in the creative disciplines. He says, rather, it was his travels.

“I started traveling,” he tells, mostly due to a sales job that demanded such. When he took a class in Fashion Photography though, at Manhattan’s International Center of Photography (ICP), a portfolio full of travel images—particularly those of Vietnam—revealed that the location was first, with great shot following from there. “Sometimes locations for me are the point where everything starts,” Tomaas says.

Tomaas’ use of color is what you notice first, something he didn’t realize he tends toward. Rich jewel tones indulge everything he does, set apart from the black and white that populates the photographic realm. For the series, “Nomad’s Land”, Tomaas scouted the location (he likes to scout his own)—grimy downtown Manhattan, to really make the images pop. “Field Of Dreams” shows models prancing about rolling green hills. “The Tale Of Ginger” shows a fierce girl with red hair—Ginger?—running around a cityscape. “Welcome To Wonderland” has a model cavorting around Coney Island, mile-high shoes taking her to carnivalesque heights. The images are no less than stunning.

Now Tomaas plans to focus on editorial, but knows that making great images is work. “I think everyone’s done everything!” he jokes, when speaking about the challenge of originality. His inspirations are many though. “You collect inspiration left, right, and center, and feed off that.”

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