For the first time in its 126-year history, Vogue magazine reportedly commissioned a black photographer to shoot the iconic September issue. Tyler Mitchell, a photographer from Atlanta, was reportedly hand-picked to capture images for the September cover shoot by Beyoncé, who received full control over the cover from the fashion magazine's Editor-in-Chief Anna Wintour, HuffPost reported Monday.
Mitchell, a 23-year-old graduate from the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University, became known for his work after self-publishing a book of photos titled, El Paquete, inspired by Cuban skate culture and architecture in 2015. The book—comprised of 108 photos Mitchell shot as part of a documentary photography program—sold out its initial run at Dashwood Books, the New York Times reported.
The photographer was featured in the 2017 run of the Times' Up Next editorial, which highlights up-and-coming talent. Speaking on his debut book, Mitchell credited his ability to capture an "honest gaze" for his burgeoning success. "I depict black people and people of color in a really real and pure way," he explained.
While he shares his photography with his more than 61,000 Instagram followers regularly, as of late Mitchell has been focusing on shooting for print publications like The Fader and Office Magazine. He was also tapped to capture images for Teen Vogue's March for Our Lives feature in March and photographed school shooting survivors Sarah Chadwick, Jaclyn Corin and Nza-Ari Khepra and several others for the website's #NeverAgain project profiling young gun control advocates.
Mitchell already has experience working in fashion as well. Along with directing film projects for brands like Marc Jacobs and Ray-Ban, Mitchell also directed and starred in an autobiographical short film for American Eagle in February 2017.
Beyoncé hasn't appeared on a Vogue cover since the 2015 September issue, which she also managed to make headlines for after deciding not to participate in an interview for the magazine. The singer is similarly slated to only appear in photos for the magazine's upcoming September issue. In addition to choosing her cover photographer, Beyoncé reportedly picked the images to be included inside of the magazine and wrote long-form captions to appear beside them.
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