COVER: David Agbodji / Spashion / Volume 2

PHOTOGRAPH BY CLIFF WATTS

David Agbodji has been taking the fashion world by storm since landing a contract with Calvin Klein in 2010. The French born model talks to Spashion about how it all started, keeping fit and his latest venture into photography.

Excerpt:

Obviously you’re doing really well in the world of modeling – was that what you always wanted to do or did you have other plans?

I was planning to become some kind of artist. Modeling was essentially to make some extra cash. I always go through different stages and media, so I wasn’t very clear on which kind of artist I would become at the end (still not sure). When modeling took off, I was getting into photography.

So, photography and art have always been passions of yours?

I grew up sketching and painting a lot but I honestly hated photography. I just didn’t really consider it as higher art; I felt like it was cheating even. I accidentally fell in love with it when I went through a period of making images of my girl. At first they were paintings and drawings, and then just to be quicker I started to shooting her, but with the intention of painting over it or something. Long story short, I got sucked in and got more curious. I especially got curious to figure out why it took photographers I worked with as a model so long to shoot a damn pic. I’m not very different from them now.

Who or what has been your biggest inspiration?

I don’t have any single inspiration. It’s a combination of many, many amazing people and the color red.

Pick up a copy of Spashion Volume 2 on newsstands now or read complete story here.

View images by David Agbodji here.