Trevor Traynor
BIOGRAPHY
Trevor Traynor is a photographer, director, and visual explorer. He is an avid traveler known for his extensive range of subject matter and seamless ability to blur the lines between fine art and commercial photography.
His work has been featured in Contact High: A Visual History of Hip-Hop, Financial Times, Hamburger Eyes and All-American by Bruce Weber. He has won several awards including American Photography, PDN Annual, and the International Photography Awards. His photographs have been exhibited globally and featured at The Getty Center, The Grammy Museum, and Photoville NY.
In 2016 he flew with NASA on an operation IceBridge mission over Antartica alongside artist Zaria Forman.
In 2018 he founded Memoryscape, a full service production boutique based in Los Angeles.
In 2020 his work was selected as part of a new permanent polar art exhibit aboard the National Geographic Endurance.
In 2022 his project NEWSSTANDS was minted on the blockchain as a sold out collection of 100, 1/1 NFT's. NEWSSTANDS.XYZ
AWARDS
American Photography 31, 35, 36, 37, 38
PDN Photo Annual 2011, 2016, 2019
Int'l Photography Awards 2003, 2009, 2018
Select Clients
Adobe / Adult Swim / Amazon / Baptiste Institute / Billboard / Casper / Celadon Books / Chile Turismo / Christie’s / Documentary+ / Dr. Squatch Soap Co. / Guitar Center / Guinness World Records / GRIN / House of Marley / I Heart Media / Lelo / Lindblad Expeditions / Mass Appeal / NASA / Oath / Promax / Research Mag | GSU / Ryot / SceneFour / Singularity University / Skyscape Gardens / Thesis Agency / Thrive Mag | ASU / Tribeca Film / Vibe / Visit Greenland / Volkswagen / WePower / Western Digital / World of Greenland / XPRIZE Foundation / XTR Films / Zeal Experiential
Editorial
Mass Appeal / VIBE / Research Magazine / RIME / THRIVE / XXL / Billboard Magazine / Hollywood Reporter / Respect Magazine
Solo Exhibitions
2023. Made You Look pt. 1 NFT collection presented by Focus Bloc x 96 Studios, SuperRare.
2022. NEWSSTANDS, IRL NFT Installation, Hot Shot Muffler, Los Angeles, CA.
2011. Low Life, Peek Gallery, San Francisco, CA.
2011. Low Life, Cukui, San Jose, CA.
2009. I Shoot People, Artifacts, Sacramento, CA.
2009. I Shoot People, Powerhouse Arena, Brooklyn, NY.
2009. I Shoot People, Hot Pop, Milwaukee, WI.
2009. I Shoot People, Tradition, Westlake Village, CA.
2009. I Shoot People, D-Structure, San Francisco, CA.
2008. Cold Soldiers. Oxenrose. San Francisco, CA.
2007. Cold Soldiers. InvisibleNYC. NY, NY.
2007. My Piermont, Piermont Library Gallery, NY.
2005. Choromcore, Corner Shop. NY, NY.
2005. Chromocore, Laila Lounge. Brooklyn, NY.
16 Hip-Hop portraits by photographer Trevor Traynor featuring an additional Lost Archive image by Barry Sutton.
NWA, The Last Frames
Barry Sutton
During the late 80's to early 90's Barry extensively documented the rise of the west coast hip hop scene. His studio on Pico Blvd near Fairfax was next door to Crains Records, an indy shop that specialized in Soul, R&B, Reggae and Hip Hop. All the artists came through Crains on their PR tours and he would often shoot portraits of them in his studio. Tragically, his entire archive of photographs and negatives from this era was destroyed by USPS in 2015 en route to NY. Only a few images remain. This image was shot in 1987 at Audio Achievements Studio, just outside Compton during the recording of Straight Outta Compton, the group's debut studio album, which went on to define West Coast Gangsta' Rap and sell over 1 million copies. As told by Barry, “They had just arrived from a gun shop with these firearms, still in the boxes, and asked me if they could brandish them for the shot. I complied.” Pictured L-R: Eazy-E, DOC, Dr. Dre, Arabian Prince, DJ Yella.
