Various Editorials

Apr 2026

In this evocative editorial series for Contact High, photographer Fran Gomez de Villaboa captures poet and artist James Massiah through a lens that feels both intimate and intensely experimental. Moving away from traditional portraiture, the collection leans into a cinematic aesthetic, utilizing a low-key chiaroscuro lighting technique that carves Massiah out of the surrounding darkness with surgical precision. The project expertly balances raw, professional editorial quality with abstract conceptual framing, at times obscuring the subject behind layers of translucent plastic or framing him against bold, color-blocked backgrounds that demand immediate attention. This stylistic layering transforms a standard portrait shoot into a multi-dimensional narrative, where tactile elements like crinkled film and handwritten text serve as portals into the artist's psyche. By focusing on the interplay between stark shadows and soft natural light, Gomez de Villaboa creates an atmosphere of quiet intensity that feels right at home in the digital media and entertainment landscape. The images strip back the artifice of celebrity, offering instead a series of deliberate, moody encounters that prioritize texture and structure over simplicity. Through clever composition and an uncompromising eye for light, the work reads as a sophisticated dialogue between subject and medium, solidifying Massiah’s presence as a figure defined as much by his visual gravitas as by his celebrated creative output.

Editorial, Vertical, Cinematic, Vertical, Cinematic

Natural light, Low-key / chiaroscuro, Low-key / chiaroscuro

Digital Media & Publishers, Digital Media & Publishers, Media & Entertainment, Media & Entertainment