Whenever we have our picture taken, some of us fuss over how we look. We hope for a good hair day or think a certain angle is our best. Now imagine seeing your picture and thinking that outward appearance doesn’t match who you are inside. It’s a reality for a lot of trans women and trans men, but Orlando-based photographer Harry Aaron hopes to empower them through the truID Project. “I’ll be helping both masc and fem presenting transgender individuals both in Florida and beyond get portraits taken that really reflect their true ID, their true identity,” Aaron said. On a Saturday in early June, he transformed a local studio to feel like a Hollywood photo shoot with all the lighting, equipment, makeup artists and hair stylists one would expect to see at a big-budget shoot. “My background is a combination of sports, portrait, advertising,” Aaron said. “I’ve been fortunate to work with companies like WeWork, Peloton, WWE, body armor the Drink company.”He said that knowledge has helped him better serve the people whose pictures he’s photographing. “It’s brought me a wealth of experience behind the camera and getting a better understanding of how to make people feel comfortable in front of it,” Aaron said. Even though the trans men and women who participated in the truID Project got to feel like stars, they didn’t have to pay thousands of dollars to get their pictures taken.”truID Project is a pay-what-you-can portrait event series,” he said. “If you’ve got two bucks in your pocket, I’ll still send you off with a professional portrait.”Jaz is one of the people who had Aaron take her portrait.“It enlightened me. Brought me back to good times in my past life,” Jaz said.Even though her curiosity brought her to the photo shoot, she has a keepsake from the day to hold on to.“Just admire them. And show some associates from my peer support group or something like that,” she said. “I’m really impressed. It’s like, it’s so cool.”Aaron’s inspiration for the project stemmed from the recent news stories affecting LGBTQ+ people.“Seeing the barrage of negativity that’s been directed toward the trans and LGBTQ community overall, especially in Florida, I wanted to try and do something for those in my community, direct action, that could help people even on a 1-to-1 level,” Aaron said. And he received help from volunteers like Tiffany Borroso, the owner of Orlando Bridal Makeup. Tiffany said she didn’t think twice about volunteering her services to help.“I think it’s just so important for somebody to feel like they can represent who they are without hiding it or feeling scared or feeling like they can’t afford to do something like this,” Borroso said. “For me, I didn’t even think about not being paid or whatever being here on a Saturday, I don’t care what day it was. For me, it was important to be here and show up for the community in such a special way.”“I want this to be a situation whether you’re using it for LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, whatever it may be- emailing it to friends and family that you haven’t seen in a while, I want to send folks off with a photo where they can say this right here is who I am,” Aaron said.
Whenever we have our picture taken, some of us fuss over how we look. We hope for a good hair day or think a certain angle is our best. Now imagine seeing your picture and thinking that outward appearance doesn’t match who you are inside. It’s a reality for a lot of trans women and trans men, but Orlando-based photographer Harry Aaron hopes to empower them through the truID Project.
“I’ll be helping both masc[uline] and fem[inine] presenting transgender individuals both in Florida and beyond get portraits taken that really reflect their true ID, their true identity,” Aaron said.
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On a Saturday in early June, he transformed a local studio to feel like a Hollywood photo shoot with all the lighting, equipment, makeup artists and hair stylists one would expect to see at a big-budget shoot.
“My background is a combination of sports, portrait, advertising,” Aaron said. “I’ve been fortunate to work with companies like WeWork, Peloton, WWE, body armor the Drink company.”
He said that knowledge has helped him better serve the people whose pictures he’s photographing.
“It’s brought me a wealth of experience behind the camera and getting a better understanding of how to make people feel comfortable in front of it,” Aaron said.
Even though the trans men and women who participated in the truID Project got to feel like stars, they didn’t have to pay thousands of dollars to get their pictures taken.
“truID Project is a pay-what-you-can portrait event series,” he said. “If you’ve got two bucks in your pocket, I’ll still send you off with a professional portrait.”
Jaz is one of the people who had Aaron take her portrait.
“It enlightened me. Brought me back to good times in my past life,” Jaz said.
Even though her curiosity brought her to the photo shoot, she has a keepsake from the day to hold on to.
“Just admire them. And show some associates from my peer support group or something like that,” she said. “I’m really impressed. It’s like, it’s so cool.”
Aaron’s inspiration for the project stemmed from the recent news stories affecting LGBTQ+ people.
“Seeing the barrage of negativity that’s been directed toward the trans and LGBTQ community overall, especially in Florida, I wanted to try and do something for those in my community, direct action, that could help people even on a 1-to-1 level,” Aaron said.
And he received help from volunteers like Tiffany Borroso, the owner of Orlando Bridal Makeup.
Tiffany said she didn’t think twice about volunteering her services to help.
“I think it’s just so important for somebody to feel like they can represent who they are without hiding it or feeling scared or feeling like they can’t afford to do something like this,” Borroso said. “For me, I didn’t even think about not being paid or whatever being here on a Saturday, I don’t care what day it was. For me, it was important to be here and show up for the community in such a special way.”
“I want this to be a situation whether you’re using it for LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, whatever it may be- emailing it to friends and family that you haven’t seen in a while, I want to send folks off with a photo where they can say this right here is who I am,” Aaron said.
