Kent Andreasen's globetrotting adventures documented through nuanced observations

These latest images from South African photographer Kent Andreasen were taken on a trip that took him from South Africa to New York, Kenya to Sumatra and then finally China. A compilation of the moments he observed while travelling, there was “no set parameter” as Kent shot, allowing him to openly capture whatever presented itself to him. “I try to keep an open mind when I shoot. It’s kind of a reflex or at least now I feel like I’m settling into the type of images I know I want to produce,” he explains. “It’s like sneezing or having a muscle twitch. I know what I like as soon as I see it and go from there. It’s never a drawn out process.”

We last featured Kent for his beautifully serene shots of Casablanca, and he’s retained his “simple, to the point” style while still working on finding an approach he’s comfortable with. “People notice I shoot a variety of images. I’m trying to gear my work to a more refined style. It’s hard not to sound like Eggleston when discussing this topic but I don’t want to be the ‘portrait guy’ or the ‘landscape guy’. I just want to be known for interesting images whether it be a pile of leaves or an interesting face.”

Kent’s snapshots mix sunlit portraits with more abstract still lifes and tightly cropped landscapes. This multitude of shots provides both context and ambiguity by simply alluding to the places he’s visited as opposed to separating the images into location. What ties the series together is Kent’s use of colour, using a soft palette intersected with brighter hues. “I think being able to travel like I do has really enabled me to encounter so many different spaces to make imagery in to the point where I think the colour aspect of my work is just a by-product of the places I’ve been,” he says.

With a growing list of clients including The Guardian, Vice, Levi, The British Council and New York Magazine among others, Kent tries to maintain a balance between his personal and commercial work by making sure he stays true to himself in both. “I try not to let it differ too much because I shoot images in a certain way and have a certain process I follow. So for me to change it would be both detrimental for myself and the client,” says Kent. “I’ve been very fortunate to shoot jobs where the client understands what I do and gives me freedom to go out and shoot the project as I see it.”