Clementine: What is your job description/title?
Jonny: ON1 swiss army knife. I've been employed at ON1 Software, a local photography software company, for ten years now. My role started as technical support and through the years morphed into one of many hats including, sales, webinar training, quality assurance software testing, as well as creative content creation; creating stylized film looks for our products based on my many years in the photography industry. But really, I'm just a photographer who still shoots with old film and Polaroid cameras giving away prints to complete strangers.
Clementine: What is it that lead you to this career?
Jonny: Dumb Luck? I was a kid who was not going to graduate high school, and meeting with my counselor at the time, she told me I got one elective, and to choose it wisely. I enrolled in the photography class, only because I'd had the teacher before. His one rule was, if you show up, you pass. I figured, well at least I'll pass...little did I know I'd squeak by high school with a 1.88GPA! (and find my life calling in the process). I landed my first job right out of high school at a photo lab in the mall. I've been all over the photo industry working in a variety of roles, as well as having owned a custom darkroom business and a photography gallery. There was no career game plan other than 'photography'... and I've just meandered my way through life with the intention of making photographs.
Clementine: What kind of clients do you work with?
Jonny: Now, I don't really have much of a client base, working with a software company. Everything that has ever come my way has been word of mouth or someone who has seen my work. The old adage: it's not what you know, its who you know, has really rung true for myself, my work, the shows, and opportunities that have come my way.
(pictured above are my parents from one of our little home shoots)
Clementine: What formal education do you have or think is beneficial to thrive in the industry?
Jonny: I really have no formal training in anything that applies to my career and life in photography. Self-educated, the school of hard knocks. I was a terrible student and it took me a decade to get through college...I was an English major. I personally believe the best education one can get for creative arts is to assist or get an internship in the area of specialty you want to pursue. If you want to be a wedding photographer, go seek out wedding photographers that interest you and go say you'll work for free. I think to really thrive in photography, great work is good, but being business savvy is key. I'd advise the creative to really learn business skills if you want to do this for a living. The sooner one realizes that being a photographer is 90% the other stuff and 10% making photographs. Learning those businesss and social skills will help set you up for better long term success.
Clementine: What is your ultimate career goal?
Jonny: I've never been goal driven. I've lived a creative life under the photography umbrella, doing things I never would have imagined. I guess my 'goal' would be to keep making photographs until the day I die and continue to push positivity into the world through my passion for photography.
Clementine: What does a typical shoot look like? How do you plan/prepare for it?
Jonny: There is no typical shoot for me. Most of the work I've done through the years has been personal/artistic, which ultimately manifests itself through dreams, feelings, or an idea that pops into my head. When I did commercial work, the biggest part of successful execution was asking a lot of questions and managing expectations. Being very clear about what the client wants and what you can/will deliver.
Clementine: Do you work mostly independently or do you work with a team?
Jonny: Well, I work with a team of individuals at our office on a daily basis. But creatively, I work independently...I'm a lone wolf of sorts when it comes to producing creative work. My office job requires people skills, while my creative work is solely created alone.
Clementine: What is your favorite thing about your job?
Jonny: Turning people onto the art of photography. Whether that's through my company or me on the street taking polaroids of strangers, or posting something on IG and having a total stranger halfway around the world tell me I inspire them. It's truly humbling. And the travel I've done working for ON1, its always great to be able to see and experience new places.
Clementine: What is your least favorite part, or what causes the most stress?
Jonny: The daily grind. Answering lots of emails. Doing things you don't nececarily like doing but need to be done. Film scanning! Film developing!
Clementine: What are the biggest changes you have seen in the industry since you started your career?
Jonny: The advent of digital photography and the internet. When I started my career, there was no digital. There was no internet, no facebook, youtube, Instagram, Twitter, or websites. It was a film based world...I saw digital coming to life in the 90s and recognized that this new emerging technology would change how images were created, delivered, and proliferated...and then the iPhone. When I started, very few people were 'photographers', now everyone who has a phone is a photographer. It's both good and bad. It's good because its democratized photography to the masses, now anyone with an iPhone or a digital camera can pretty much take a good picture. It's bad because now there are 'good enough' photographers everywhere that people are willing to give away.
Clementine: What changes do you think have benefited or disrupted the industry?
Jonny: From where the industry sits today, I'd say the iPhone has single-handedly disrupted the industry on photography and making an image. You now have billion dollar software/app companies changing the way we create and consume images, with the flick or double tap of one finger. Careers are now based on the number of followers someone has, not necessarily the best work.
Clementine: What advice would you give to someone breaking into this field?
Jonny: Believe in yourself. Don't be afraid to fail, because you will. Failure is the greatest learning experience because now you've learned: well that didn't work, now I need to figure out why it didn't. Trust your gut, your instinct, your intuition...and follow your heart, using your brain. It may sound cliche, but I firmly believe this to be the foundation of any success you can achieve.
Clementine: What is your favorite project you have worked on?
Jonny: Probably being a closing speaker on Creative Live's Photo Week. Sharing my passion with a live audience and viewers around the globe to the magic of instant/polaroid photography. It was both the most gratifying as well as the most difficult time preparing, as my best friend was diagnosed with cancer exactly one week before the gig (he's okay now). But looking back on it, it reminds me how difficult life can be, but you have to stay strong and keep moving on as tough as life gets sometimes. It's really through these tough experiences that we grow and find out who we are. And I'm always looking ahead, I think that will be my most favorite, the stuff that hasn't happened yet!
No comments:
Post a Comment