Zoe Ghertner on the Importance of Connection in a Fast World

• Ghertner had a very imaginative childhood, where she learned the importance of positive, clear messaging.
• Ghertner has partnered with Fee Steinvorth to create neoNutritions, a new vision of wellness rooted in spirituality and connection, with more of an interconnected focus on education compared to other health and beauty regimes.
• She sees what’s contemporary now as a sense of connectedness that resonates despite a modern overabundance of images.
• Saying that photography and consumerism go hand in hand, Ghertner speaks to the struggle to achieve and sustain commercial success while also holding to the values deeply rooted in her work, such as unwavering attention to her subjects.
• Despite working with digital imagery and print media across personal projects and commercial collaborations, Ghertner says each effort informs another and that she’s a natural multihyphenate creator.
• Her first shooting of model Małgosia Bela was a breakthrough in “being able to work with someone with skills and ability.” She went through a phase of digging deeply into her subjects before garnering enough experience to represent that research and those conversations in the final imagery.
• The support of women in the industry—such as Phoebe Philo, Miuccia Prada, Grace Wales Bonner, and Gabriella Hearst—has “allow[ed] me to grow and step into their worlds, which expands what my picture is about as well.”
• Speaking to how images can traumatize or trigger elements of culture as a whole, Ghertner says her reaction to the male gaze and mental health advocacy are “a big part of the what and the why of how I’m making the pictures I make.”
• Having moved to warm and sunny California to experience a better quality of life, Ghertner experienced a shift in perspective akin to experiencing motherhood for the first time and creating a new body of work—and a new book.

‍Notable Quotes:

• “When I started making pictures, I almost set off with a set of rules. Some unwritten rules, like, and I couldn’t even tell you what they are, but I knew what boundaries I wouldn’t cross, and I don’t mean on set with how I treat people. I mean, yes, I aim to treat people well and comfortable and in a kind environment, but more what my picture says and what makes my image my image.” —Zoe Ghertner
• “This industry has been through quite a bit of change in the past many years, and I’ve been pushing through a lot of things that I felt needed to be seen in a different way.”
• “So yes, I might be selling handbags and sunglasses, but I get an opportunity to put my work out there to show people in a different light and express something that I feel is important.” —Zoe Ghertner
• “I see that I’m really supported by a lot of women in this industry; that to me means quite a lot.” —Zoe Ghertner
• “It’s scary sometimes, I think, for the people in front of the camera to let go of their traditional skill set of image making and give in a little bit. But when it does work and when it does connect and gets out there in the world, then I think that it’s beneficial for the viewers to be able to see these beautiful people as real and not perfect and find that beauty in these moments of imperfection and these moments of just being.” —Zoe Ghertner
• “I think part of my picture-making process is working through what I’ve seen before. And not as a reaction so clearly, but as a response to how that felt and feels in my body physically, of seeing the male gaze and the woman so sexualized and put in such a box of perfection for so long in the fashion industry.” —Zoe Ghertner
• “I think there’s still a way to break through the quantity of images out there with that connectiveness.” —Zoe Ghertner
• “There was a new way of seeing that I could feel I was looking for, and I just didn’t know how to find it. I couldn’t find it in the process of working that I was in, and on becoming a mother, I think I started to find that quite quickly. My whole perspective shifted on how I saw the world, and that informed this shift in my work and this new perspective on image making that has shifted my practice entirely.” —Zoe Ghertner
• “I’ve really very much enjoyed having my pictures sitting in, I guess you could say a, really democratic, high-volume places.” —Zoe Ghertner
• “My pictures are about connection.” —Zoe Ghertner
• “There’s so much disconnect in the world right now. And there’s so much heavy, dark things happening that I really feel people are hungry for a deeper understanding of who they are, how to be present, and how to care for the world and the people around them from a more global perspective and not just in the immediate.” —Zoe Ghertner
• “I think what we’re offering is a little bit more of a partnership in people’s pathways towards who they want to be and who they want to become. We’re not offering just a product and here you go, take this once a day. Here’s a little bit of information and move on.” —Zoe Ghertner
• “I think it’s important to remember that you have control over what you want to be supporting.” —Zoe Ghertner