For acclaimed photographer Alysse Gafkjen, success wasn’t a single flashbulb moment — it was a series of small steps, each one leading her closer to a life behind the lens. From assisting on commercial photo shoots during college to her first Rolling Stone publication, and eventually to photographing icons like Robert Plant, Reba McEntire, and The Black Keys, Gafkjen has built her career one relationship, one frame, one moment at a time.
Her photography style is as timeless as it is intimate: “Simple, soulful, classic on black and white film,” she says. Influenced by the likes of Diane Arbus, Sally Mann, and Richard Avedon, her images carry a quiet weight, evoking both the raw humanity of her subjects and the unspoken stories beneath their surfaces.
She’s been capturing those stories for nearly two decades, beginning as a second shooter at weddings while studying photography at the Columbus College of Art & Design. Her passion was sparked early by documentary photography and the art of portraiture. That curiosity has since led her to some of music’s most legendary rooms — including a surreal afternoon at SXSW with Jimmy Cliff and Robert Plant, and an impromptu portrait session at a Nashville White Castle with Billy Gibbons, fries and all.
We sat down with Gafkjen for an exclusive interview, part of which was published in our inaugural print volume, "Heritage Reclaimed." Here, we offer the full interview, with her candid "takes" on living life as a creative, motherhood, and her favorite career moments.
