Florida photographer offers gender affirming portraits to trans community

A Florida-based photographer is supporting the trans community in a Pay-What-You-Can portrait project. The initiative is part of the TruID portrait project that photographer Harry Aaron started in 2020. This time he is tackling gender affirmation and working with the LGBTQIA community.

The project will take place in Orlando, Miami, and Tampa in early June. Aaron is inviting subjects to pay-what-they-can in order to reach people who wouldn’t ordinarily be able to afford professional portraits.

Aaron completed the first project of this kind in 2020 after the pandemic decimated many people’s sources of income. He wanted to help, so set up the TruID initiative, starting with unemployed workers.

“I started shooting for mutual-aid purposes in the middle of 2020, offering pay-what-you-can headshots for unemployed workers in 10 cities,” Aaron tells DIYP. “I met people from so many different fields. A cheesecake chef, models, burlesque performers, singers, professional wrestlers, all who work independently and benefitted from getting new images to take into the next step of their careers.”

Aaron later worked with low-income high school graduates who deserved commemorative portraits. This next instalment, Harry says, is merely the next chapter of the project.

“Living in Florida for the better part of a decade now, I’m well aware of the disconnect between the culture wars of local politics and the actual concerns of local communities.”

“The goal of these Photoshoots is to provide an outlet of emotional support in a time of severe turbulence for the LGBTQIA community in Florida and beyond,” Aaron adds.

The portraits will include services by hair stylists, makeup artists and barbers, all working on a donation basis. To ensure the security of those participating, the exact location of each shoot will not be shared publicly. Instead, it will be provided to those who RSVP on the website 24 hours before each event.