LOS ANGELES — Veteran photographer Dave Naz told XBIZ he has completed his latest round of interviews for a project called “Trans,” which will be a documentary and photo book about adult industry and other professionals who identify as transgender females.
Naz embarked on the “Trans” project a year ago and already has interviewed and photographed about 20 models.
“It’s interesting hearing everyone’s stories,” Naz said. “For me the whole project has been a learning experience. I didn’t know a lot about different gender identities before this.”
The L.A. native Naz got his start in adult in 2002 shooting for Leg World and Hustler’s Barely Legal magazine. In describing “Trans” on his website, he says the models he is spotlighting “hold positions within their communities as activists, porn stars, and public figures.”
With “Trans,” Naz is setting out “to raise awareness and tolerance within diverse gender expressions and queer communities.”
Some of the models in his most recent round of interviews include Kelli Lox, Stefani Special, Jenny Elizabeth, Jamie French, Mandy Mitchell, Evie Eliot, Wendy Summers, Foxxy, Eva Cassini and Tiffany Starr.
Naz also has interviewed performers such as 2014 XBIZ Transsexual Performer of the Year Venus Lux, the 2013 XBIZ winner Eva Lin and 2011 winner Mia Isabella.
“I’ve been shooting and interviewing some well-known people in the adult industry and hopefully you’ll get to see a different side to them that you haven’t seen before,” Naz said. “To have everybody participating and believing in this project means a lot to me.”
In her interview that is previewed at DaveNaz.org, Wendy Summers said, “Before I transitioned, I would get up in the morning and go into my walk-in closet and the one side was all my male clothes and the other side was all my female clothes. And I started getting dressed for the day and I just had this moment of realization like, I’m putting on a costume.”
Summers continued, “I hid a lot of myself before coming out. And yet when the transition happened and I started going through that—all those kind of veneers I had to put on to fit in—being able to let go of that, being able to just be, was liberating.”
Meanwhile, Foxxy told Naz, “I think just being complete as a person and knowing who I am now and accepting myself and just being accepted by the closest people to me, which are my very close friends and of course my family. That makes me happy because I don’t have to pretend or hide or be someone that I’m not.”
Naz said that established adult stars such as Jiz Lee and Buck Angel have been instrumental in helping him with consultation and referrals for “Trans.”
A published photographer since 2000, Naz still regularly contributes to Barely Legal and Taboo, shooting a new layout every month for both magazines. In the past 12 years he has published seven photo books, with an eighth—“Gender Queer and other Gender Identities”—on the way in October.
Goliath Press has published five of his books, including “Lust Circus” (2002), “Panties” (2003), “Legs” (2004), “Fresh: Girls Of Seduction” (2006) and “L.A. Bondage” (2007). His work has also appeared in GQ, Maxim, Stern.de, and Salon, among other publications.
Even though he made significant progress on “Trans” during the past year, Naz plans to interview and photograph numerous more models before considering the project complete.
“This is something that I’ve been focusing a lot of time on. It’s a lot of work, asking someone that you don’t know to become a part of this project,” Naz continued. “But now that there are enough interviews on the site I think people can get an idea of what I’m trying to do. It’s tough to get people’s time, but I appreciate it and it’s a good feeling when people respect your work and are willing to give you their time to be a part of something like this.”
Transgender female models interested in being a part of "Trans" may contact dave@davenaz.com or click here.
Pictured: Eva Lin.
