Fashion and portrait photographer Lia Clay Miller’s work sees her make a personal connection with her subjects in a way that feels palpable to the viewer. Often shot in black and white, with the odd pop of colour, there’s an element of quiet theatre in Miller’s photography. This is created through a series of contrasts, with dynamic poses and sometimes flamboyant styling, being offset by the locations her images are shot in, typically on the street in places Miller passes every day. “For me, my work isn’t about subverting the normative, rather creating a realm of beauty beyond subversion,” she tells me.Based in Brooklyn, New York, Miller’s work has appeared in The New York Times, Out Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, i-D and Teen Vogue, and she’s captured the portrait of many famous faces including Hilary Clinton, Billie Porter, Fran Leibovitz and Indya Moore. Even when photographing these well-known celebrities, Miller draws out the soul of her subjects in subtle ways, presenting us with images laced with vulnerability and candidness.As a trans woman, Miller’s personal identity has often been conflated with the work she’s creating, but she has now found a balance between wanting to tell the stories of her community and ensuring her identity doesn’t overshadow her work. Instead, she puts her energy into getting the voices of those at the back pushed to the front. “I think people underestimate the power of who is behind the lens,” she says. “There needs to be just as much representation there as in front of the camera.”