First, to start, please tell us who you are, where you are from and where are you currently based at?

Shit! now is when i decide to go all existential or not, ah well, I think my brain is too fried from editing to be clever.

I’m Misha, I am a photographer,and I’m South African. I was raised in Los Angeles, and have most recently been based in Paris.

How did you get into photography and was this something that you always knew you were destined to do?

My father is a photographer/director, so its always been something quite accessible to me. I always wonder if my dad was a lawyer if I would have been a lawyer?

This thought is usually cut short by me remembering how much I hate being told what to do, and what to wear. was i destined? I mean I am doing it, so I suppose that answers that.

Do you have any short or long term goals with your photography?

I think we all have fantasies, but realistically photography is more of an addiction, so just one day at a time. I think this helps, keep the intension behind the picture in the right place.

I like the idea of trying to take a beautiful picture for the sake of the photograph rather than for the hope that it may make me look cool, or  make me famous.

Is there any model or any specific influential figure or artist you been wanting to shoot?

I try to fall in love with what is in front of my lens, rather than play the game of grass is greener. Of course being South African, Mandela is the person I would most want to meet, I suppose they go hand in hand.

Do you prefer using natural light or studio settings?

I love natural light, but I also know the value in being able to create my own.

The biggest question I have is shooting female models. They say photographers must fall in love with their models in order to create the best photos. Do you find this true and do you find it hard to shoot female models while holding a relationship more than it is to shoot male models, if the falling in love aspect is true?

The climax of  lust when taking pictures is the picture itself, so I think I tend to  fall in love with my subject as a means of foreplay and seduction leading up to that moment. Of course the lines blur at times as that sort of excitement isn’t something you can turn on and off at will. 

What has been your most profound experience with photography?

Once someone thought that I was heath ledger, and asked to take a picture with me. …true story!

In what ways do you push to raise the bar with your photography every season? What are the crucial aspects of your work that you tend to focus on to better every year?

I don’t think its seasonal at all, I think its something that I look for constantly, I tend to be the hardest person to please, so I suppose that’s what I am looking for; a little self acknowledgment.

I think growing as an artist is really interesting, you see your own tastes changing at times. I think the hardest thing  about the job and the thing I tend to  want to work on is admitting when something is good….. or bad

Last and most important, what do you want this industry but more this world who sees your work to remember about Misha Taylor?

At the risk of sounding rather cliche, I would like to look back at my own body of work and be able to see something that really resonates with the life that I lived.

I think if I can do this, others will follow. and if the pictures are amazing then my life would have been amazing.