A group of photographers was given a challenge — to capture the spirit of Adidas NMD shoes with the city of Los Angeles as their playground.
Acclaimed shutterbug Estevan Oriol curated an immersive exhibition on Saturday, held in downtown L.A., where the sportswear brand’s new releases for the NMD R2 and CS2 styles and streetwear culture merged in a photographic series.
The presentation highlighted NMD’s narrative of the nomad and urban exploration. A companion event will take place in New York City at the end of the month.
Oriol told Footwear News that after chronicling L.A.’s everyday urban dwellers for 25 years, he believes fashion and photography have evolved in tandem.
“Sneaker culture is what’s trending on websites, and without that, you won’t be able to see anything, if not for the imagery,” Oriol explained. “There are a lot more photographers out there — they are all trying to outdo each other, but I think they brought me in because I’m old school and I represent L.A. worldwide.”
Along with photographers Brian Willette and Cole Younger, Oriol set 15 snappers loose on the streets on the day-long mission.
“When I first started doing photography we had cameras that only shot film, and we had beepers back then; now you can shoot and do it wirelessly and edit on Photoshop from your phone,” he recalled. “There’s so much competition because of social media — everyone’s trying to show their best work.”
