For episode 54 of HB•R, photographer, creative director and maybe more truthfully, documentarian, Lougè Delcy — better know as Dapper Lou — stopped by our office to chop it up on a hot August afternoon in New York City. A longtime collaborator of HYPEBEAST, it’s been a minute since we caught up on his latest projects, outlook on the fashion industry and newfound aspirations.

After we acknowledge the brutal humidity outside our doors, we dive right in to Lou’s recent travels. If you follow him on Instagram, then you’ve surely seen his latest stream of photos capturing Kenya’s beautiful culture and people. “I was working with a non-profit, Giants of Africa, and what they do is basically build basketball courts throughout Africa,” Lou tell us. ”This particular project is like the hometown of [Barack] Obama, so we were able to actually shoot him. Basically, his sister has these facilities to help kids in that neighborhood get access to things like schools, or classrooms, or just art, everything we take for granted.” As Lou continues, he briefly touches on a topic that weaves throughout our entire conversation, the importance of travel and documenting your experiences not for social media likes but for the goal of educating those you can’t, and even oneself. “That was a really interesting project to work on because of the certain things I was way unaware of, well at least I was aware of, but not to that extent.”

Throughout our near-45-minute conversation, Lou talks about his Haitian heritage and having to “figure things out” on his own, documenting indigenous people who’ve unknowingly influenced far-off fashion trends, transitioning from a stylist to a photographer as a means to control his vision, and honing in on his craft without a traditional education. We also dive into his time covering the various fashion weeks, how Haiti influences his aesthetic, serendipitously shooting the great Lauren Hill, his budding creative community at Dapper Studios, and a photographer’s love-hate relationship with social media.

Enjoy the episode, then go follow Dapper Lou on Instagram. Also, be sure to like and subscribe to HYPEBEAST Radio and HB•R on Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Stitcher, Overcast or wherever else podcasts are found, and please, don’t forget to leave a review.