This is a new 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!

Adolescent, meet Rose Catherine Hohl—a portrait photographer and our newest Member Crush. Having been based in Detroit for her whole life, the backdrop of Rose’s work often has an industrial quality to it indicative of modernity and grit. Still, though, Rose’s photos are boldly feminine and frequently pastel. Read below to learn more about Rose’s affinity for nature and why she’s mostly shot with female models!

Adolescent Content: A whole section of your website is dedicated to “Colorful Humans.” What attracted you to color as a driving force behind your work?

Rose Catherine Hohl: Color is so wonderful and evokes so much emotion [in me] personally. It’s a difficult thing, to explain why you are drawn to something visually—it’s a feeling and it’s sort of primal. But I think I love the juxtaposition of colors the most.

Adolescent: How has being based in Detroit impacted your photography?

Rose: I don’t know how to answer that because I’ve [never lived anywhere else]. I can’t really compare it to being anywhere else. There’s an industrial aspect that I think is very present, and a lot of times I like to use that as an abstract setting. You can’t usually tell that I’m in an industrial park or a car lot or an empty garage, but those spaces are so useful and easily accessible.

Adolescent: You’ve said that your aesthetic combines nature and femininity. How did you stumble upon that visual intersection?

Rose: I’ve actually changed that narrative recently! Now, my work is about capturing the human form through a female gaze. But I’ve always loved incorporating nature in some way, [be it through] flowers, shadows from the trees, plants, sunlight on skin, or the blue sky.

Adolescent: Do you ever shoot male models?

Rose: Rarely, and not for any specific reason other than I love the way women look and there’s comfort in shooting women because we just get each other. There’s a sisterhood there, and I very much embrace that. I would love to shoot more [men] in the future, though, as it would be a new adventure.

Adolescent: In your eyes, what are a photographer’s responsibilities?

Rose: I think that’s defined by the artist. I don’t think there have to be responsibilities—it can just be.