A Conversation With Matt Williams and His Protégé, Myles Hall

As the fashion industry continually moves at an increasingly rapid pace, we’re always discovering a new generation of creatives breaking through in the industry and adding something new to the culture. One such individual is Myles Hall. The 17-year-old has been gaining attention with his photography, and his ability to capture the rare candid moments of your favorite artists and designers showcases a skill that a lot of photographers find difficulty in achieving. Aside from his work as a photographer, Myles started interning for Matt Williams and his ALYX label since the age of 14, learning how the industry works on both a creative as well as a business level. Furthermore, the talented creative just started producing his own line of apparel that features a captivating print of Sky Ferreira.

We took the opportunity to speak to both Myles and Matt on everything from photography to working in the creative industry and graphic prints. Read on below and check out Myles’s LIFEINADIARY site for more of his work, as well as to purchase his first product, the “RED SKY” t-shirt.

“I didn’t know he was 14 until he already got the job.”

How did you two meet originally?

Matt: I met Myles around three years ago. He just emailed me and asked to start interning and he was just really punctual and hard-working and I could tell he had a really good eye and had good style so he kinda just started showing up everyday and doing whatever needed to be done.

Was it for ALYX that Myles started interning for?

Matt: It was just for me personally, working on photoshoots and any projects that I was doing for ‘Ye or for Outside Projects. He was working with me before he started Alyx.

So Myles, how old were you at that time?

Myles: I was 14.

Was that your first internship then?

Myles: No, actually before that I was an intern, just typical, at my local sneaker store. In my head I had no knowledge of it so I had no preconception that I couldn’t get it. I just tried, I guess. I had no one to tell me, ‘no.’

Matt, did that stick out to you?

Matt: He’s also 6’ 4”, so he doesn’t look like he’s 14. I didn’t know he was 14 until he already got the job. He’s also home-schooled and is really a go-getter and pushes himself. Any program or editing, or you know how he got into photography, he just started researching and working with me and whenever there was something we needed, he would be really proactive and figure it out. So he’s really like a city kid that so he can come and work at like noon if he does too, he doesn’t have school.

Did you always have the intention of working for Matt?

Myles: Matt was one of the first creatives I was really aware of. As a 13/14-year-old, the first guy you hear of isn’t Nick Knight. It’s the person who’s working with the most popular artist or brands that are culturally influential. I heard about Matt through his work with Kanye and Lady Gaga, at the time he had a lot of influence. Working with Matt has shaped everything I wanna do. He’s not just one thing he’s everything, he’s an overall creative. I think in the same way, I think in all of those mediums.

“The most beautiful images come when you allow something random to happen in front of the camera — getting rid of the variables so the subject feels free and comfortable as if the camera is not even there.”

You picked up a camera at 15, what made you decide to go into that?

Myles: I think it was just through a lot of research. Being around Matt, even when I wasn’t directly working on photoshoots or wasn’t close with Matt at the beginning, I would hear bits and pieces, like ‘Reference these images, I want it to look like this’ and even if it wasn’t for me I’d go home and research them. So even before I knew I wanted to get into photography I had this past knowledge of all these photographers because I knew they were very important. I think it hit me one day that photographers as image-makers and have the most power because everything goes through them. If your a photographer you can have a lot of influence in the world and it’s a great way to collaborate with the best people in the work. If you’re a great image-maker you’ll probably work with great musicians and great models.

Did you encourage Myles to go into it?

Matt: I started with him plugging in battery packs and setting up lights. You can see a great photograph and then to take it a step further and understand how that photograph was produced, like where the light is coming from and how soft or hard it is. Once he was on a few shoots for a year or so, he could start determining what the proper tools are to make the image that he wants. I sent him to retouching school to become really proficient in Photoshop and what kind of tools are used to make really beautiful images. I don’t want to speak for you Myles, but his work right now is documenting his life and the people he’s around and the music he’s inspired by. Your tool at the moment is the Yashica T4, where you don’t need the set up and you can document a really honest moment.

Myles: That’s why I like using the really small cameras. You told me this before, the most beautiful images come when you allow something random to happen in front of the camera — getting rid of the variables so the subject feels free and comfortable as if the camera is not even there. Beautiful randomness can occur in front of the camera. When I bought the camera I wasn’t thinking about that but I realized that that’s the reason I like it so much. There isn’t a 6-inch lens between you and the subject, it’s like the same size as my phone, my iPhone.

What’s the first camera you got?

Myles: It’s the one I’m still using. Yashica T4, point-and-shoot. It’s super reliable, never had any issues with it. It was also one of Matt’s favorite cameras too.

Matt: But you know the camera is just a tool, a barrier between creating an image that’s in your mind and then reality. The goal is to have that barrier become smaller and smaller. I think a lot of people get tied down by what they’re using technically as a photographer. There was a whole time period when the big lighting setups and the studio and expensive camera made a photographer so they could charge you a shitload of money to shoot them and hide behind their toolbox rather than actually doing anything creative. Now, for me, I use whatever camera is right for the idea. It might be an iPhone or a point-and-shoot or a Hasselblad. Myles has worked with all those things but it’s good to not get hung up on the technicalities and just focus on the imagery.

A lot of kids are starting to use point-and-shoot cameras. It’s more convenient and less imposing.

Myles: At the time when I bought a point-and-shoot, I realized that I don’t need the $100,000 Hasselblad setup; I just needed something to capture an image. There are a lot of respected photographers like Terry Richardson or Juergen Teller that were also using these smaller cameras. It’s not up on a pedestal, it’s 150 bucks on eBay — I could just save up for it in a month.

Matt: It’s intimidating at the beginning, like what camera to use, or what film. At some point with film you have to be like alright, I’m going to stick with this recipe and this will become my paint stroke.

Myles: You see all these people with 5Ds and as soon as they take picture they look down at their screen. As soon as you looked down at your screen, the beautiful moment just happened. It’s super distracting. Like what I was saying before, it’s about removing variables. I tell people all the time I don’t think I’ve ever taken a photo on my camera and thought ‘that’s terrible,’ just because of the way film is. Even if it’s out of focus, I still like the colors and the textures.

“As an image-obsessed teenager, I know the photos that exist of him, and I knew how to fill in the gaps.”

I saw your website, there’s Travis and Virgil and everyone.

Myles: It’s kind of a mix, since I’ve been taking photos I’ve had a mental list at the back of my head of people I want to shoot. I believe if you put a thought into the universe, it’ll help you achieve it. I was 14 listening to Travis Scott thinking that one day I wanted to be around him. A friend of mine that I met through Matt, Dozie, a longtime friend of Travis. I met him over a year ago now, but after persistence, before I had a website or huge portfolio, he just believed in me to be able to be in that situation and handle it correctly. He knew the photos would be good so he hooked me up with a press pass and put me backstage. I can look at these people from the perspective of a fan without acting like one. Even shooting Travis against a white wall. You might not know what his neck tattoo says or what his chain is, or what watch he has on — super personal details you know as soon as you see the photos show that this is a personal moment between two people. As an image-obsessed teenager, I know the photos that exist of him, and I knew how to fill in the gaps.

The tees you’re making, are those prints you made as well?

Myles: Those tees, I realized I could just make one-off tees for myself. Being in New York I just found a print shop that was cheap. I could send one email with one photo and pick it up the next day. I started making tees for myself. There were like a bunch of ‘90s models. I still wear those shirts everyday, the ones I made six months ago. One day I came across this image of Sky Ferreira and I thought she was super cool and at the time I really loved photos with colored lighting — vibrant color on skin. So I put the image on a shirt. The image is so graphic that it’s not even like a photograph. When you print it, you have all the detail there, but the colors are boosted so much that you can’t even tell who it is; it’s almost abstract. So I made that one shirt and realized that was the one. I made it for a few friends and it kept rolling.

Did Matt help you with that or was it your own project?

Myles: It was just me at the beginning. I would make three, give one of my friends one, keep one for myself, and give one to Matt. He’s always been approving of it. I just decided a month or two ago that I might start selling them. It’s nice to have it paired with all the photos I take because there’s two sides to every photographer. There’s the photos that you take that you represent yourself with but every photographer also has their reference folder, like screenshots on their camera roll that’s their favorite images. Most of the time you’ll never see a photographer’s favorite found images. I saw that one day scrolling through Tumblr; the idea is very natural. I like this photo, I’m just going to wear it.

“If you give people too many options they don’t appreciate them all.”

I’m curious with prints, especially when you can’t figure out what it is on first glance. Kind of like the ALYX print, the photo print of the female with her eyes blacked out.

Matt: That’s funny, it’s from a photography book showing how not to light a photo. We used that, etched on it with death metal make-up. I love the idea of a photographer that’s shooting a book on how to shoot photography, shooting a photo with intentionally bad lighting.

What drew you to this particular image?

Matt: If I do 100 graphics, people don’t appreciate the collection or the one graphic. It’s weird, if you give people too many options they don’t appreciate them all. When I had my first pair of Air Maxes, I wore those every day for a year, you didn’t have new sneakers all the time like kids do now. It’s always a delicate balance; you have so many ideas you want to get out, but it’s all about the timing.

Myles, is making clothes something you’re gonna carry on doing in the future?

Myles: Yes, I’ve done some one-off custom pieces for myself, like a pair of Levi’s with a MA-1 pocket on the side and things that I would randomly think of and I’ll have a tailor in midtown do it for 10 bucks. Once you realize you’re in New York City you can get a tailor to do anything, you can just make your own clothes. It’s a revelation I had a year ago when I started printing T-shirts. I would make a big oversized bomber jacket with bondage straps on the sleeves that you could pull. Me and Matt went half on those bombers that Raf used in 2001, that were made by an American company but are only sold in Switzerland. You have to email these Swiss customer service people to be able to make an order; it’s a two-month process. My good friend Gabe of Uzi has one, my friend Mike The Ruler has one of those jackets with a big print of Sky Ferreira on the back, which I haven’t made more of. There are two images of Sky Ferreira I have used – a red one and a blue one, so they’re polar opposites of each other.

Matt: What I like about what Myles is doing is that the youth should make clothes for the youth. I’m fucking old now. I’m not young anymore. I love that feeling, it reminds me of when I first fell in love with clothes and art, when you have a passion to make something but you haven’t been taught how to do it by a professional but you go and do it because you like it and it doesn’t matter that it looks like something else that came before it. It doesn’t need to be sold, you make shit that you like and what you can do with the money in your pocket and it’s not that serious. It’s just fun.