Young & Hungry

JESSICA PETTWAY

by MATTHEW JAMES-WILSON

Jessica Pettway is a photographer and designer with a vision and wisdom far beyond her years. Since graduating the School of Visual Arts, Jessica has produced inventive work for editorial giants like the New York Times Magazine, Time, and Bloomberg Buissnessweek, while maintaining a fulfilling personal practice. Throughout her work Jessica makes light of discomfort, creating harmony with contrasting colors and textures and finding the humor in awkward scenarios. Jessica is committed to being as ambitious as she is playful with her work, and by doing so she’s contributed to a refreshing change of pace in an otherwise stuffy corporate industry. Jessica has a bright future ahead of her, and I’m so thrill to have the opportunity to take a closer look at her work this early on in her photo career.

Where are you from and where do you live currently?I’m from New Jersey and I’m currently living in Brooklyn, New York.

What was your experience like growing up in New Jersey? What about where you grew up left an impression on you?

New Jersey was super quiet and typically suburban. Boring. There weren’t too many students around me that were super passionate about creating art or creating a career out of art, so that definitely led me to look for a community like that outside of Jersey. I was also surrounded by a ton of trees and farms and I think I’m used to being around that. Every now and then the city is a lot and I crave that quiet.

When did you first get interested in photography? What were the first types of cameras you learned to shoot on?

I got into photography in high school and I started taking photos on my dad’s old 35mm Yashica. I didn’t know anyone really into photography at school and my school didn’t offer a class for it so I spent a lot of time trying to learn from the internet. I made a tumblr and learned about Lomography and Holgas and thought that was like the coolest thing ever. I had a phase where I spent some time experimenting with the Holga and forcing my local Target to “cross process” my film (ugh). After a while that got old and I went back to the Yashica and then eventually a digital slr.

You mentioned getting your start on Flickr. How was that site helpful to your development early on and who were some other photographers on there who you met or admired?

Flickr was a way to feel like I was sharing my photos and getting feedback on things–even though I had like no followers lol. But it was more of a way to learn about what I could do with photography and see people doing things that I wanted to do. At the time I was really into the heavily photoshopped images of people floating and surreal or fake shadows. I had one art

teacher that I was really close with in high school and he basically built in a little photo curriculum for me outside of what we were doing in class where he would give me a bunch of photographers to look up. A lot of it was geared more towards photo history which was awesome, and then Flickr supplemented that by showing me what people my age were doing.

When did you know you wanted to study photography in college? How did you choose School of VIsual Arts?

Around my third year of high school I knew I liked painting and drawing, but I definitely liked photography the most and wanted to focus on that. I was super lucky and my parents were super supportive. My dad reminded me that he went to SVA and so I started to seriously look into it. I looked at other programs and SVA was pretty much the only program that didn’t require you to complete a foundation year of painting, drawing, ceramics, etc… before you could even touch a camera. I was super decisive—or maybe stubborn—and refused to leave high school only to go on to spend more time learning about things that weren’t directly related to what I wanted to do.

What was your experience like in SVA’s photo department? What was the attitude of the rest of your student body?

It was really cool to finally take photo classes and start out knowing almost nothing about photography and end up learning so much in the first semester! Like any program, it’s definitely what you make of it. It felt like the department was pretty open to a lot of things, as long as you spoke up and asked–and I asked for a lot

What were some of your favorite projects you did while in school?

I looooved my digital sculpture class! It was super cool to learn something totally outside of my lane and then work it into my practice. That class helped me laser cut my wiggly frames and I definitely want to make more work like that!

What was your experience like when you were finishing your last year? Were you nervous at all about entering the professional world?

It was super weird. For most of my last year I was either super nervous and anxious or like really delusional and super confident that I was going to be able to survive independently solely by freelancing, haha! In my last month of school I got a full time offer from a place that I interned at the previous summer and felt super lucky and relieved!

What was your experience like working full time at that photo studio? What do you feel like you took away from it?

One of the biggest things I learned was to mockup pretty much EVERYTHING. Sometimes it can be overkill, but I do think anytime you start describing a color, shape, texture, or anytime you’re making motions with your hands it’s better to communicate it with some type of mockup or even a shitty scribble so everyone can be on the same page.

What were some of the first few freelance jobs you did after graduating? How did you go about finding clients?

My first big girl job was at the beginning of my second semester shooting for Sweet–Hearst’s snapchat platform. I think they found my work through my SVA Behance page? I didn’t spend too much time looking for clients right after graduating because I didn’t know I wanted to be a freelance photographer and was just more focused on finding a regular j-o-b and paying NYC r-e-n-t.

You have a very distinctive way of taking your still lifes where you incorporate a wide range of odd colors and textures. How did you develop your style of taking still lifes?

I get a lot of inspiration from at a lot of art books, cartoons, movies, reality tv and furniture. Sometimes I’ll see a texture or color combination in a show or on a piece of furniture and decide to commit to it and try to work it into one of my photos.

What equipment do you like to use when you shoot now?

I shoot on anything that takes a digital photo. Sometimes a PhaseOne, sometimes an iPhone, mostly Canon cameras–whatever works in the moment. I’m not really a gearhead. I honestly think one of the most important things for a good shoot is good snacks so everyone is fed and happily munching.

What themes and topics do you notice yourself gravitating towards in your personal work?

I gravitate towards the things I’m interested in in my personal life–flowers, nature, cartoons, cheese, Youtube hair videos, and food.

Already you’ve worked for such a wide range of clients, each with varying amounts of resources at your disposal. Do you try to approach high budget shoot and low budget shoots differently? What have you learned from doing each?

I start each project trying to figure out what would I shoot and what props and resources I would use if I could have everything I wanted and if there were no obstacles whatsoever. Then I come back to the real world and take things like budget and time into account to figure out what is realistic. Then from there I try to figure out other solutions to still get everything I want ;)

Who have been some of your favorite clients to work for? What have been some of your most memorable shoots?

VICE is definitely one of my favorite clients to work for. I really like that they let me experiment and develop in my work for them and most of the time that work directly becomes a part of a personal project I have or it starts a new tangent for me.

I’m approaching them in a strategic way–being considerate of their time and really doing my research. But even still at the end of the day, all you can do is close your eyes and hit send. If it doesn’t work out, keep developing and making personal work and try again.

How do you feel your photography has changed since you first started? What direction do you see it going in the future?

I think I’m way more confident in trying out different concepts and shooting things just to see them for myself. I think working this way will give me a lot of photos that I’ll hide and never show anyone, and a few photo that could be a start to a fun project.

We talked a little bit about it in the past but, how have you seen a shift in the cultural/ ethnic/gender representation in photography?

I think people (gatekeepers) are finally starting to listen to black people and other marginalized groups and starting to understand our power to create and influence culture as well as our buying power. They are finally starting to realize that we need to see ourselves in imagery and that they produce.

What problems do you see existing in the photo world right now, and how do you try to avoid or fight them in your own work?

I think the photo world is still super white and male dominated. All I can do is try to use my voice and my art where possible. I mostly work on all women sets and use diverse models when I’m not just shooting objects.

What projects are you working on at the moment that you can talk about? What do you hope to work on in the next year?

I’m always trying to create more personal work. I think its super important. A lot of client work I do is still super fun and in line with my interests and it can sometimes become a part of a personal project as well. But I think it’s super important to give yourself your own projects and problems to solve. It’s super important to think about what you would do if you could do anything.

What hurdles do you still see ahead of yourself? What do you feel like you still struggle with in your work?

TAXES. What is this. Why does the government want my coins? I’m late to the game and still learning. Can I write off going to a strip club? I still have a lot of questions. I think I’ve been learning the business side of things by reaching around in the dark and making a lot of mistakes.

Are there any projects you’d like to embark on that you just don’t have the time or money for at the moment?

I’m obsessed with mini golf and I’d love the chance to make a mini golf course soon!