Myles Loftin aspires to create a visual archive of his queer community

How do your works usually develop? How much is left to chance and how much is planned?
It really depends. For this project in particular it kind of came about mostly organically. I was shooting for my thesis project ‘In The Life’ and I was introduced to the Miami chapter of The House of LaBeija through one of my subjects. From there I ended up joining the house in 2020 and then I came up with the idea to do this project, but it wasn’t until 2022 that I ended up shooting it.

Does photography teach you something about yourself? Has it allowed you to get to know new sides of your personality?
I’m typically a shy introverted person, but I think that photography has allowed me to explore a more outspoken side of my personality. When I’m photographing someone I feel okay to step outside of my comfort zone and be a bit vulnerable because oftentimes the subjects I’m working with are also feeling the same. There is a certain amount of comfortability involved in making an honest portrait of someone, especially if they’re not a model, and finding ways to bring my subjects to that point of comfort has brought out qualities in me that I didn’t think I had.

Looking back, how would you define the path you have taken so far? And what do you hope for in your future?
Amazingly, the path that I’ve taken is exactly what I intended to do when I first decided that I wanted to be a photographer. It’s been amazing so far and has taken me to incredible places and introduced me to plenty of wonderful people. I’m extremely grateful to be doing the thing that I love. I hope that in the future I continue to expand upon the work I’ve created. I want to do more fashion and fine art work and eventually release a book. There’s a lot I have planned.

What role has PhotoVogue played in your professional growth? Now that the platform has gone global, what do you expect about its impact on supporting the image-makers of the future?
PhotoVogue has given me the opportunity to showcase my work internationally as they have published several works of mine. I think that the platform going global will only diversify the sorts of images we’re seeing and create even more opportunities for overlooked artists to have their work supported.