Developing From a Negative

My Hat

Last Tuesday I was asked what my pronouns were for the first time. I’ve been striving for a more androgynous appearance over the last year or so; the fact that someone could not tell my gender means I achieved my goal. My hat is truly the piece to thank for it.

I’ve wanted to be a hat person for a while now, but I could not find a style that fit my normal aesthetic. For years I figured I would find my way to a bowler but instead I’ve integrated the hat in my headshot into my daily outfit.

I purchased it to piece together a low effort Albert Mason costume for the Denver Pop Culture Con this past summer. For those who are unfamiliar, Albert Mason is a non-playable character from the video game Red Dead Redemption 2 who specializes in large format wildlife photography and offers the player a handful of side missions. Sadly, I was unable to complete the outfit in time, but I still had the hat.

When I invested into it, I was already wearing my signature fitted pants, t-shirt, a pair of white suspenders, and oxford shoes. The retro style of this hat blended with my style as if I had this planned from the beginning and at some point, it became odd to see me without my hat.

I enjoy that it sets me apart from the rest of the crowd. It works with the fact that as I advance in my photography career, I would like to bring historic processes back to the main stream. If my photographs look like they were captured over a hundred years ago, then it only makes sense that my aesthetic matches that.