Posted by Foto Care | Posted in Foto Care Interviews
Posted on November 10, 2011
Foto Care is pleased to share an exclusive interview with Brooklyn based photographer Jason Gardner, an award-winning portrait, music and event photographer, specializing in creating images and telling stories for magazine, corporate, and non-profits. He is currently documenting traditional musicians and culture in Brazil’s Northeast states.
Tell us about yourself and how you got into this field?
While I had always dreamed of being a photographer, it was only after returning from a two-year trip around the world did I dedicate myself to image making as a career. After a while, I realized that I don’t just shoot pictures. I practice visual anthropology, telling image-based stories based on a framework of culture, tradition, and practices usually behind the public’s view. I do this in my work documenting Carnival around the world, a marketing campaign for a business, or when I photograph a musician for their promo kit.
Visual anthropology means learning as much as possible about what to shoot before I shoot it. It means listening to my inner voice, and potentially photographing things that would not normally be captured — a symbol on a wall; a backyard shrine; certain tattoos or markings; maybe a kind of costume or how it is being made; or one aspect of a ceremony.
What was your break out job that helped launch your career?
One break out job was photographing the band Antibalas. They have many musicians in their collective, so the opportunity to have them together was limited. In a short time, we shot some outdoor, conceptual work, some studio work, and I added a serendipitous shot to the range of images. While moving to another planned location, the band was walking in a V formation and I captured that. It was a long and hectic day but the band members still tell me they’ve never had group shots quite like the ones from that day. This was a breakout because they are a major band and the shoot was for the cover of a national music magazine and the band licensed them for promotion. The label distributed my photos widely. Even now, years later, they’re still using a few of those images.
What has been your favorite assignment to date?
My favorite project has been my multiple visits to Pernambuco, the state in the northeast of Brazil, because it has been the most significant toward forming my point of view of being a visual anthropologist. I started by documenting one traditional music group by taking photos of their preparation for and performance during Carnaval. As I gained their trust, they started to invite me to their sacred spaces to photograph the private rituals and shrines that were intertwined with their identity and their involvement in the culture. Then I continued with other traditional music groups and movements in the area.
I strive to place my photos of culture, music, dance, and ritual in a larger framework. Carnaval is more than just the popular conception of a wild party, especially in Pernambuco, where it’s widely recognized as an authentic, folkloric blend of color and tradition, as well as having a democratic and populist nature, being largely free and in the streets.
This work has resulted in photos published in Rolling Stone Brazil, articles in the world music magazine Global Rhythm, an assignment with the Associated Press, a photo license contract with Putumayo Records, publication in Revista Magazine of Harvard University, and exhibits sponsored by the Brazilian Consulate in New York in 2007 and San Francisco in 2010.
What do you do to marketing you services?
I publish a monthly newsletter informing my database of updated projects and images. I do a lot of networking in the creative and general business community. I also co-produce a networking event for people in the creative industry, called Toasted Almonds. Last event had over 150 attendees! Since I do not have a traditional formal education in photography, I’ve had to rely on the power of word of mouth and marketing to drive my business. I always recommend to other photographers to visit events outside of their normal circle of contacts. Pick an alumni association, church group, or any kind of gathering where there is a shared affiliation to tell your story in a group setting.
Do you use Social Media as part of your marketing mix? Do you think it is effective?
Yes, I use social media, and I’ve seen results from it. I used Facebook, Twitter and Linked In to promote an exhibition I had in San Francisco last year. I only knew a few people in the city before I installed the show, yet by tweeting every day to promote the exhibition, and promoting a FB event invitation, more than 200 people came to the opening. It was amazing! One FB friend invited 1500 of his friends. I sold books and prints that night
Where is your work heading next? Where do you see yourself in the future?
I’m aiming my work toward multimedia and video space, especially as I work on documenting more culture, music, and events that require audio and visual components. I see myself doing longer, larger projects, perhaps working with cultural foundations and universities to not only document culture but also to travel and teach, showing the importance of culture as a dynamic force in our modern lives.
Do you work with Video? Have you stepped into the Hybrid Video market at all?
I’m experimenting with video, and learning about the technical and creative aspects of storyboarding, shooting, and editing, using all assets available to me to tell a story — video, audio, still and archival footage.
I’m finishing a video I shot in New Orleans earlier this year, interviewing a Big Chief of the Mardi Gras Indian tribes, and interweaving that with live footage and still photos. I’m showing another side to New Orleans Mardi Gras — the societal influences. Hopefully my work will allow viewers to develop a richer understanding of the world around them. For me, culture reveals the universal ways humans communicate their most profound thoughts and beliefs.
When did you first hear about Foto Care?
I’ve known about Fotocare since the beginning of my career. In the beginning, when I assisted photographers, and when I was doing tests, their rental department was phenomenal, patiently explaining the ins and outs of certain equipment setups. They’ve been always supportive of emerging photographers. Their service is among the best, and photographers know that and keep returning.
To learn more about Jason Gardner check out his website: Jason Gardner Photography
Based in Brooklyn, NY, his photography has been published by The New York Times, Rolling Stone, Photo District News, Time Out New York, New York Magazine, The Washington Post, The New York Daily News, SPIN Magazine, Harvard University’s Revista Magazine, Relix Magazine, and Global Rhythm Magazine.
He has completed assignments for Stern Magazine, Gourmet Magazine, Epitaph Records, Putumayo Records, AFS International, Adelphi University, and various corporations, nonprofits, and design companies. Jason was the official photographer for Celebrate Brooklyn’s 2008 season, shooting over 25 performances in one summer.
