Interview with Fashion Photographer Sivan Miller

Sivan Miller is cool, and laid back. I walk past three tatted hipsters to find him in Cape Town’s hip epicentre Yours Truly cafe and find him in the back of the coffee shop chatting to his friend, up and coming rapper Evil-boy, for whom Sivan also happens to be an agent. He is wearing his usual get up of all black, and hides his white blonde hair underneath a black Nike cap and wears black sunglasses, with his long board next to him on the bench.

He’s just gotten back from a trip to New York, and has spent the past two months working in the city, shooting, learning and hustling to find an agent. He casually describes this ‘little’ trip as a whirlwind of opportunity that led him to taking behind-the-scenes photographs at New York Fashion Week. There he met Gigi Hadid and Jaden Smith and was even invited to attend the Oscars. But he brushes this off, playing down the enviable success of his little Big Apple sojourn.

But before red carpets and selfies with models, a then 16-year-old Sivan picked up the camera his mother bought him on an overseas trip and so began his then hobby of snapping everything and anything. He created a flickr site and uploaded the breath-taking landscape photographs he took of Cape Town and developed a sizable online following.

This online presence and a little serendipity led a contributor to O, The Oprah Magazine to his stunning digital archive. So impressed with his work they were that they asked permission to use one of his landscapes for a double page spread in their magazine. After receiving the email Sivan recalls, “I called my parents to my room! I didn’t really know what to do”, and after them sending off emails in response, Sivan (thankfully) first considered photography as a viable professional pursuit.

Despite this early still-photograph success his creative interests took a little turn and he instead decided to pursue a course in 3D animation at college. It’s clear that Sivan’s career success has been a combination of hard work, risk taking and fortuitous opportunities. Despite being firmly on the path to animation success after being headhunted by a top local animation company, one day, after seeing a profile on a photographer for Sports Illustrated on TV, he decided that that too could be him.

Sivan moved away from landscapes to photographing people he “spent time looking through magazines and seeing what they do”, and practiced by shooting his sister. After building up an impressive portfolio of work, Sivan began doing more and more works for commercial brands and top South African fashion designers and leapt into doing photography full-time.

In another instance of unsolicited headhunting, he was then contacted by Vogue Italia who requested to feature one of his photos on their photographers’ page. Sivan described the moment he saw the Vogue Italia logo on his photograph as a high of his career so far. When asked if this opened many doors for him here in Cape Town, he despondently replied that “the better you do, they hate you more and close doors.” The exclusive and sometimes clammy nature of Cape Town’s creative industry left no space for Sivan’s burgeoning career, and he then decided to get himself to New York City to find his space.

So, he packed up his things and flew to New York City for as long as his savings would allow him. He woke up every morning and went out to find an agent and work. After almost two months of rejection and hearing the word “no”, the doggedly persistent South African finally had success and found an agent the day before his flight was booked to return home.

The agent he signed to in New York, who also happens to be the manager of Candice Swanepoole, invited him to fashion shows and events and presented him with the chance to shoot at the cutting edge of the New York scene. Sivan jokes that before leaving for New York, he decided to make it his mission to find the self-lacing Nike sneakers worn by Jaden Smith, yet ended up meeting Jaden himself. Can the man be any luckier? He also saw the sneakers, cased in a glass box in a Nike store, but left empty handed once learning that a pair cost $720, a stretch even for the nascent fashion photographer.

Although Sivan has clearly been exposed to more than most twenty-eight-year-old South African photographers could ever dream of, he is decidedly humble and very down-to-earth. Behind the cool exterior; I get a glimpse at Sivan’s true nature. A kind soul and a dreamer, unafraid of hard work and risks and most importantly filled with steadfast determination to reach the creative level of his photographic icons. So after his little stopover in and around Manhattan the young Capetonian is now set up to spend six months of every year in New York chasing that dream of shooting for top brands and magazines. A far cry from moody shots of Lion’s Head in the mist.

Check out Sivan's photography out here: http://www.sivanmiller.com/#/

Follow him on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sivan_miller/


Previous
Previous

Fashionus Maximus

Next
Next

The Outfit I Will Never Wear Again