A 21-year-old from the United States is British Vogue’s youngest-ever cover photographer — and she got to shoot Queen Bey.
Kennedi Carter is a student at the University of North Carolina and has been listening to Beyonce since she was 3, according to the magazine’s profile of her released yesterday, Oct. 31.
It was Beyonce herself who requested a woman of color to do the shoot for the publication’s December issue. She and Vogue’s Edward Enninful — the first black editor-in-chief of the magazine — selected Carter for her work that features the “overlooked beauties of the Black experience.”
One photo featured Beyonce kicking her leg up while in a Mugler sheer bodysuit. Another cover was an overhead shot of the singer in a neon bodysuit and organza, and a third showed her in a black silk evening jacket with heart sleeves.
The photo shoot took place in a studio and the “Formation” singer’s Hamptons home over two days in August. After meeting the pop icon, Carter said she went home and slept. “It felt like it didn’t happen.”
“I thought I wouldn’t be able to do something at this level unless I was older, with many years in the game,” Carter said. “This is for people at the pinnacle of their careers.”
“It’s really amazing that she’s using her influence to be able to give young artists this experience, and allowing their voices to be heard,” she said of her idol. “She’s opening the door for others.”
She takes the title as the magazine’s youngest cover photographer from David Bailey, who was 23 when he shot the February 1961 cover with Enid Boulting. Niña V. Guno/JB
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