This June, Iowa City filmmaker Jason Smith invited photographers Sandra L. Dyas, Dawn Frary, Tonya Kehoe and Barry Phipps to produce portraits in the studio of Sayuri Sasaki Hemann. Models Emily Mueller, Gwendolyn Rose, Caroline Louise, Jessie Lou, Tim Conroy, Bobby Jett and Anna Bria worked with stylists JoAnn LS, Latisha Knight, Jensina Endressen and Tonya Kehoe to craft characters inspired by the surroundings, with beautiful and surreal results.

Liz Munger Photo Club is an ongoing effort by Smith to document the work of photographers currently working in Iowa City. For disambiguation purposes, Iowa City artist Liz Munger is credited with inspiring Smith to pursue the project, but otherwise isn’t directly involved. The first in what could be a series of Liz Munger Photo Club short documentaries was released this winter, with a focus on Barry Phipps.

Sayuri’s World images courtesy of Sayuri’s World and The Weaver House. Video by Jason Smith.

Photo by Sandy Dyas
Photo by Sandy Dyas

Photo by Dawn Frary
Photo by Dawn Frary

Photo by Tonya Kehoe
Photo by Tonya Kehoe

Photo by Barry Phipps
Photo by Barry Phipps

Matthew Steele is publisher of Little Village, YogaIowa, and the forthcoming skill-career journal, Iowa Blueprint. Reach him at Publisher@LittleVillageMag.com.

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