Tom Hoops

There is something a bit scary about Tom Hoops photography. Fear is the perfect addition to the frames of beautiful faces and figures. Tom Hoops, a self-taught English photographer whose clients include Vogue Italia and Lab magazine, mixes magnetic blackness with serene light in many of his photographs. His subjects are an array of stunning models, yet they seem almost like phantoms cutting into his light, dark palette.

The facial expressions that Hoops captures are subtle: an upward glance seemingly in motion to return back into the head, a chin tilted just slightly too far back. These marginal imperfections make his work intriguing, and show his extraordinary talent for portraiture. There is an eeriness present in each frame, but not one that you want to walk away from, like a compelling stranger smiling in the corner.

Tom Hoops understands people. He knows that a single facial expression can encapsulate an entire personality. He reveals his subject’s micro histories in each frame but he maintains a balance. His subjects are simultaneously distant, but naked for all to see–a satiating mixture for any viewer.