A Florida photographer is calling out Kirk Franklin’s team for running off with an artistic concept that he says was uniquely his own.
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On Friday, Kirk announced his new album, “I Am What I Am,” which will be released on October 30. In the album artwork, Kirk is dressed in a red leather jacket, surrounded by a group of individuals in black and white who are slightly blurred. This is where Trenton Butler comes into play. The photographer, known largely online as MindOfJr, has amassed over 23,000 followers on Instagram and gone viral numerous times for his work. In a nearly 7-minute-long Instagram video, which has attracted over 100,000 views, Trenton spoke out about a creative injustice that began back in August. According to Trenton, Kirk’s Def Jam representative reached out to him, praising his work and sharing that they wanted to work with Trenton on Kirk’s upcoming project.
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“So they really wanted to play into the juxtaposition of him, you know, who he is, being that bridge between gospel and hip hop for so many years. So immediately, boom, light bulb went off in my brain. I had this idea that I’ve been sitting on for a long time, and I actually pitched it to another artist, but it never came to fruition,” he explained. “In my mind, I’m like, this is just God, you know, waiting for a big opportunity for me to use this idea.”
Trenton explained the concept and pitched the idea to the representative.
“The idea that I had was to have Kirk standing outside of a church. Pastor, hands in the sky, Mama with a baby in her arms, homie throwing her gang signs. You got grandma, in her Sunday’s best. You got everything that makes the idea of come as you are,” Trenton expounded on the concept. “And I really wanted everybody, motion blurred out.”
Eventually, Kirk’s team requested a way to merge Trenton’s concept with a concept of their own, which would produce a collaboration that was a bit more “safe.” From there, the agreed-upon workload would be for Trenton to shoot the album cover and all of the press images rooted in his original concept. However, Kirk’s team allegedly came up with the idea for him to just shoot the album cover while his team would handle the remaining portions of the concept. Trenton says it was at this point that he felt “uncomfortable.”
“You want somebody else to come do the idea that came from my brain when I’m a photographer, and you reached out to me for photography,” he recalled feeling.
From there, Trenton began discussing rates and photo shoot dates with Kirk’s team. While he believed the project was moving forward, Trenton was shocked to learn that he was not awarded the job. While disappointed, he stated that he understood how bidding works in the industry, though his concern was that the team would grant the project to someone else. According to the creator, this is exactly what happened.
Speaking with Baller Alert, Trenton shared that he spoke with the photographer tasked with shooting the newly unveiled album cover. Despite ongoing conversations, Trenton confirmed that as of Monday morning, “I haven’t gotten an update or resolved anything.”
Kirk Franklin has not responded to these accusations, and Trenton is not directly accusing him of any wrongdoing. Still, fans have begun flooding the comments section of the album announcement, urging him to make things right with Trenton.
