The eponymous photographer known for their colorful and mesmerizing photographs talks about the queerness of their creative process and what it means to be true to oneself in a world where people want to box you in.

PHOTOGRAPHY Cru Camara
Unlike their loud and hue-searing photographs, Cru Camara is a soft and quiet soul. But don&rsquo;t be fooled, during their time as a young lensman, they found themselves at the heart of Manila&rsquo;s raves. &ldquo;I used to be quite active in the nightlife scene, so I would shoot a lot of events, and these would mainly be events with a lot of queer people and queer culture,&rdquo; Cru tells L&rsquo;Officiel. You can say that this exposure to the vibrant party scene led them to bring that dynamism into their work &ndash; whether that be portraiture, still-life imagery, or mundane day-to-day snaps.&nbsp;
&ldquo;I feel like there's just a lot of different people who look at my photos from different backgrounds, so it's nice to show sort of where I'm coming from in terms of my community and the people I meet and the people I find interesting as well,&rdquo; Cru shares. Identifying as non-binary, the 30-year-old photographer can bring out a unique quality to their subjects once captured on camera under their interesting mix of colorful gel lights. Their post-process involves a lot of color treatment, and the end result might be a little different. But that&rsquo;s the magic when you&rsquo;ve been photographed by Cru.&nbsp;

For Pride Month, Cru and their partner are keen on attending the big march on June 22, which is a culminating celebration for the community. &ldquo;Pride is a time for reflecting. So, a lot of that is time spent with my partner and also with just celebrating and being with friends who understand what it means to be queer.&rdquo; True enough, despite it being 2024, the Philippines is still behind when it comes to fully understanding LGBTQIA+ community and granting equal rights just like cisgender hetero individuals, making this year&rsquo;s Pride even more important.&nbsp;
In this interview with L&rsquo;Officiel, we ask the photographer how queerness factors into her work, what steps should be made for the betterment of quality and acceptance for the community, and what they&rsquo;d like to share with young queer creatives.&nbsp;
Hi Cru Let&rsquo;s start with your work. How did your signature photography style come about?&nbsp;
My signature style would be a lot of colors and playing with light. I enjoy the concept of light, and I love seeing that in my photographs. So, every time I sort of set up a photograph, I'm generally just always thinking about the qualities of light that I can add to a photograph and the colors also tie into it as well. But mainly, more than color, it's about light. And the color just makes it even more interesting to me.&nbsp;
How is your work a reflection of your identity as a photographer?
In general, I&rsquo;m all about exploring the body within a space. I'm very interested in looking at the body or exploring what the body is in terms of being in nature and how that interacts with a place. And I think that ties into sort of me exploring also my gender identity and my own body as well.

So, do you strive to insert a queer identity into your work, or do you believe that it just comes naturally as part of your process?&nbsp;
I think it comes pretty naturally, actually. I find that the stuff that I'm drawn to are things that I feel are most similar to me, even subconsciously. So, yeah, I don't think about it too much.
Did you ever experience discrimination in the industry because of your identity?&nbsp;
Outwardly, no. I feel like, actually, the [fashion and art]&nbsp; industry that we're in, there's so many queer people. So, for me, at least on my part, I haven't faced any discrimination, which I feel lucky to have had. I would maybe think that it would sometimes come down to branding yourself as a creative and stuff. I would feel that maybe sometimes, more cisgender people do have a bit more opportunity than us. I'm sort of masculine-presenting, but I'm biologically female. So I feel like [that type of queerness] is still a bit of a subculture within the industry.&nbsp;
What do you like to see improve or change in the industry when it comes to the treatment of the LGBTQIA+ community?
I just generally think that it would be nice to see even more diversity. I know it's already diverse, but it would be cool to see especially more successful creatives that have a bigger platform. It would be cool to have them, you know, be like non-binary or trans or more of that within the industry. Because some of us are given very, very big platforms, and it's still cool because it's still queer. But, yeah, I feel like there's a much bigger spectrum to be explored within the industry, actually, and many more perspectives that could be shown as well.

So how can someone be a good ally to the community?&nbsp;
I think from a small scale point of view, like if a good ally would be even just like being there for your queer friends and also taking the time to understand them, you know, like in terms of pronouns. It's not that hard to learn someone's pronouns. And so, even just learning that and learning even just a little bit about gender identity and things like that, they go a long way for a queer person.&nbsp;
Lastly, what's your advice to young queer creatives who want to make it as a photographer like you?
This is very cliche, but I would really suggest that you figure out who you are and then build on that. Because I think what's more important now, especially because there are so many of us, is to have a specific point of view and to have something specific to say to be able to stand out. And I think, aside from that being beneficial for your career, I think it also enriches your soul and also helps you understand yourself as a creative and as a person.

CREATIVE DIRECTION Maura Rodriguez
PRODUCERS Loris Pe&ntilde;a and Maura Rodriguez&nbsp;
 MAKEUP Ria Aquino 
HAIR Johnglen Aquino
PHOTOGRAPHER'S ASSISTANT Lucille Raterta
VIDEO DIRECTOR Kevin Redder
INTERNS Red Binay, Andrei Santos, and Hannah Teng

Cru Camara: Lensing Pride and Creativity

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