Photo: Mariano – www.marianophoto.com

One Naked Egg (what Ivy had for breakfast on 1 January 1990) is an agency that represents 11 photographers and one makeup artist, and its client list is a thing of beauty: Nike, VH-1, Sony, Cover Girl, Vogue, Rolling Stone, Harper’s Bazaar, Wieden & Kennedy, Revlon, Estee Lauder, Interview, Sleaze Nation, Foot Locker, Universal Music, Bergdorf Goodman, Macy’s, Surface Magazine, OfficeMax, Altoids, and others.

The agency prides itself on keeping its toes out of the homogenous whitewater rapid of the mainstream, and prefers to wade in the cool (albeit smaller) trickle of creative tidepools on the periphery. Ivy explains “I don’t rep catalog or white background work, which puts me out of a certain commercial market.” And expounding on the concept of “white background work,” Ivy sighs, and says “when someone thinks about being a photographer, I can’t imagine they think of shooting someone against a white background without the top of their head,” referring to the tight-head-cropping trend she regards as one particular to American magazines. It’s a concept that clearly bugs her. “You pick up a camera to frame the way you see things and that’s an extension of the way you see on the inside as well. So I work with people who are like me, and see like me, and think like me. And that is a little out of the box. I’ve been 20 years out of the box. I don’t know many people who fit in boxes.”

“What if the tops of their heads are cut off?” I ask. “Exactly!” she responds.