I’ve always loved fashion, even if I’m not what most would call fashionable.
Not in the trendsetting, always-put-together sense. I’ve never chased the latest look or followed rules printed in the pages of a magazine. But I’ve always been drawn to what fashion can do. Not just how it looks, but how it feels when someone wears it like a second skin. Early on, I noticed it wasn’t the clothes that left an impression. It was the person inside them. The energy they carried, the confidence or quiet they brought, the way they turned fabric into something personal and real.
That realization became the lens through which I see every photoshoot I collaborate on.
Fashion is the foundation. It’s the shape, the texture, the concept imagined by a designer. But on its own, it’s incomplete.
Style is fashion made personal. It comes to life when someone wears it with intention. When they add their rhythm, mood, or contradiction. Whether it’s a defiant silhouette or a gentle drape that barely holds its place, style begins with presence. It’s the person inside the look that gives it meaning.
But even then, something more is needed.
When that personal style is placed in a setting with tension, atmosphere, and purpose, something deeper begins to unfold.
That’s where storytelling lives.
And that’s where my photography finds its voice.
What draws me in most is the intersection of fashion, style, and story. It’s the moment the image stops being just a lookbook and starts asking questions. Why this place? Why this light? What is the subject expressing? Is it about identity, memory, resilience, or freedom?
Storytelling is style made meaningful.
This belief has shaped the way I shoot. Whether I’m working in the shifting lights of San Francisco’s streets or the quiet elegance of a villa in Bali, I’m always searching for that convergence. Where the person in front of the camera isn’t just styled. They are seen. And when that happens, the photograph becomes more than a visual statement. It becomes an emotional imprint.
Over time, these moments began to gather.
Each shoot left its own mark. A conversation, a glance, a location I can still hear in my mind. Slowly, a larger narrative started to take shape. One not bound by geography or trend, but by intention. That was the beginning of something new.
Now feels like the right time to share what’s been taking shape.
What began as individual collaborations has become a single, collective journey. One that unfolds across a series of visual stories told through fashion and emotion. Each one is grounded in place and shaped by the people who brought it to life.
That journey is just beginning to take shape as a photo book:
Fashion and Editorial Photography: 16 Tales from Around the World.
Sixteen stories.
Eight cities.
Four continents.
All connected by a shared desire to create something real.
From the quiet boldness of Le Palais Royal in Paris to the spirited textures of Bà Thiên Hậu Pagoda in Ho Chi Minh City. From Mission San Juan Capistrano to New York Fashion Week. Each chapter captures a different mood, a different dialogue between person, place, and garment.
But across every image, one truth holds:
The subject shaped the story.
They weren’t styled into a scene.
They became the scene.
What they brought to the moment, their lived experience, their energy, their vulnerability, is what made the frame come alive.
And that’s what this photo book is about.
It’s not just for photographers. It’s for brands, designers, stylists, models, and dreamers. For anyone who believes that clothing can be language. That image can be emotion. That story can begin with a look, but end somewhere far deeper.
I can’t wait to share these 16 tales with you.
In the end, this photo book isn’t about choosing between fashion or storytelling. It’s not a fork in the road. It’s a crossroad, where fashion and storytelling come together, not in opposition, but in partnership. At that intersection, people are the constant. Every story in these pages will be shaped not just by what someone wears or where they stand, but by who they are and what they bring.
That’s where meaning lives.
That’s the heart of this work.
That’s what this journey is really about.
© Paul Tocatlian. All Rights Reserved.
Kisau Photography 