This is a weekly series where we feature our incredibly talented Adolescent members and their work! Sign up here to join the Adolescent Membership and be part of the @ family!

This week’s Adolescent Member Crush is none other than photographer Equis Eme. Born in Valencia as “Xavier,” this photographer moved to Madrid two years ago to pursue his professional and academic dreams. Now, he’s a cinematography student whose work has been featured in Vogue Italia! Keep reading to learn why Equis’ work has shifted from music to fashion, what the creative scene in Spain is really like, and why he just had to change his name.

Adolescent Content: Your birth name is Xavier—did you change it for creative purposes?

Equis Eme: Yes! I never liked the idea of keeping my birth name as an artistic name, but I wanted to keep it somehow. Equis Eme is how [my birth name is] written in Spanish—Equis stands for the “X” in Xavier, and Eme is for the “M” my surname starts with.

Adolescent: Tell me about the creative scene in Spain!

Equis: I really love it! There are [so many incredible] photographers, creatives, and musicians—Paco Poyato, Adrián Cuerdo, Ana Sotillo, Recycled J, Blackpanda, Koratge, Carlota Guerrero, Monica Llop, Alba García, Rubén Almonacid, and Marie Gardez are some of my favorites. I think art is changing here; it’s becoming more common. Years back people were always like, “You can’t live as an artist here in Spain. Find a real job!”

Adolescent: Your photography used to have an emphasis on music festivals and bands, but more recently you’ve started focusing on fashion. Why did you make that shift?

Equis: I love music and it’s a part of my day-to-day life, but when it comes to creativity, I feel more comfortable doing fashion. [I’ve also been shooting film for a year and a half, which is difficult for festivals because it’s expensive and they want everything quickly for socials.] 

Adolescent: You’re studying to get a degree in cinematography right now. How is that informing your photo work?

Equis: It’s really weird, but I don’t think it affects my photography at all. When an idea comes to me, it comes as either a picture or a video, so I never doubt which format I want to use.

Adolescent: What was it like to be featured in Vogue Italia?

Equis: One of my dreams has always been to work for Vogue, and this was like a step toward that. I’d sent lots of pictures to them before without success, so when I saw that they accepted those two pictures I was so happy and excited I could’ve died. The boy that you can see in the photos used to be my flatmate, and I had a really good friendship with him. He always liked the idea of modeling, so he was my muse for everything. We were a good team. We really loved the photos, and I sent them without telling him! We were so damn excited when we saw that we got featured. We received lots of texts from our friends when they found out!