Charlie Engman met New York-based handbag designer Hillary Taymour when he interned for her company, Collina Strada, looking to try something new. He wanted to learn how to sew and make patterns, he says, but it was immediately obvious they were on the same page when it came to art and design, so he started working on her lookbooks and branding instead. “So much for sewing!” he laughs.

He has now photographed two seasons for the designer, Spring/Summer 2011 and Autumn/Winter 2011 (shown here), working closely with Taymour on the shoots. “She does all the hair and make-up and the styling as well,” says Engman. “She is nothing if not opinionated and will definitely let everyone know if there is something she wants. But give or take a little bickering – it is fashion after all – we work very symbiotically. Because we have such similar taste, the shoots I do for her come about very organically, and there is no need for anything like a brief.”

The pair deliberately avoided using lighting and elaborate setups, which they find a hindrance on location, and took two models to the Hamptons for this shoot. Both are friends of Taymour, and neither are professional models, but Engman says they were perfect, adding “both had great haircuts”. He shot all the bags in the Autumn/Winter collection, and 18 of his photographs have been used in one way or another, along with shots by another photographer “who has a helpfully different approach and an infectiously positive mood. The lookbook would never work without him”.

Engman, who currently lives in New York, studied Fine Art, Japanese and Korean, and says photography snuck up on him. Not studying it paradoxically brought him to it, he says, and he’s already carving out a successful career in commercial, editorial and art photography just a couple of years after graduating. “I have always had a graphic and poetic – as opposed to historic or referential – interest in art and photography,” he says. “So in order to create successful images, I feel that I need to have an understanding of ‘non art’, life that ostensibly operates outside of art’s canonised boundaries.”

Visit www.charlieengman.com.

Image © Charlie Engman.

Image © Charlie Engman.