le magazine noir: Jarrod Anderson

Dear Pennies & Pens,

As with Bene`, I also discovered Jarrod Anderson in the Minorities in Media Slack group. And I’m so happy I did because Jarrod’s photography is amazing! It is real yet artistic. I love when artists create work that makes me think and is relatable.

It makes their art more accessible. Based in NY, Jarrod is a self taught photographer. In the interview below, Jarrod talks about his creative process, how he became a photographer, and why he likes to keep upcoming projects on the low low.

I absolutely adored Jared’s thoughtful interview responses and I hope you do too! So with no further adieu, I present to you le magazine noir: Jarrod Anderson.

Where are you from?

I’m from all over. My parents are separated so I was raised back and forth. Spent time in NY, GA and FL. I call Florida home though because I spent most of my prominent years there.

What school did you go to?

I graduated from the University of South Florida in Tampa, FL. #GoBulls

How has being black influenced you as a photographer?

Being black is one of the key reasons I even shoot. Growing up, I always felt that when publications depicted blacks that weren’t athletes, they were typically used for representing failure, negativity, + poverty. I knew and still know other wise so I want to paint an accurate description for those that are misinformed.

Do you depict what it is like to be young and black in your photography? Why or why not?

I do. It’s the subject matter I know most about so it’s easiest for me to represent that in my photos, so I try to in all of my photos if possible.

Which you rather be known as…a young artist or a young black artist? Why?

Being black is something I’m proud of so I wear it as a badge of honor in anything I do and accomplish in life.

What inspires you to take photos?

I’ve always felt the need to create. I use to write, make websites, design graphics, but photography just came the easiest to me so I decided to stick with that. I love the feeling of people appreciating something that I took the time to create. No greater feeling than someone reaching out to me and telling me a photo I shot inspired them or touched them some type of way.

What made you decide to pursue photography?

Picked it up just to get some side money. I had my camera for a while before I came to NY but never shot with it. When I got up here I was conversing with a friend telling them I wanted to make more money and she suggested I took photos. So I first started just shooting random stuff, street signs + buildings.

Then I started to go to events with my camera and people asked me to take their photos. The first few events, photos came out terrible but after a while I got the hang of it. Started shooting my friends and posting them up and eventually people started asking me to take photos of them.

Tell me more about your creative process as far as how you shoot? Do you put together a shot list or mood board? Also, do you stage most of your shoots or freestyle them?

I can get inspiration from any and everywhere. I will take pieces from all over and place them all together to get a feel for what I want. I’ll make a moodboard on google drive with a bunch of concept shots from pinterest and tumblr.

I use this to get look and poses ideas so my models can replicate that. I try to have everything laid out ahead time so the models, stylist, makeup artist and anyone else involved knows their role and responsibilities. The smoother the process the higher quality the work everyone can produce.

Which of your photos or photoshoots is your favorite and why?

It’s really tough to rank my own work because I love it all but I guess I would say Black Angels because I think it was my first real shoot when people actually took me serious as a photographer.

Before it was a lot of candid shots of my friends or us in the backyard chilling but once people saw that I started to get different vibes from people. Like they really could see I was taking it serious at that point. I liked that feeling.

Who would you love to collaborate with? (dead or alive)

Actually shooting them, I ‘d love to work with Travis Scott because that’s my favorite artist right now. Wiz Khalifa because he lowkey had a huge influence in my life coming up, plus his personality just seems dope so that would be cool to have on the resume. It would be crazy to tell people I worked with one of the g.o.a.t. like Tyra Banks or Naomi Campbell too.

Now work with as far as just learn from them and see their creative process? I recently discovered Alessio Albi. I think his work is crazy and is a pretty accurate description of how I would one day want my photography to look like.

What advice would you give to emerging photographers?

Just keep shooting. It sounds basic but honestly that’s all it is. Keep shooting, keep training your eye. First few months or so you should shoot everything. Just have your camera on you. Take a picture of your food, of your friends, of some random street signs. Figure out what you like shooting and what you don’t like.

Everybody isn’t meant to take architecture photos, some people specialize in food photography or portraits. But keep shooting until you know and once you do know, just fine tune your skills. Google editing tutorials, watch youtube videos and read books on photography. All the info you could every need is available. But most important of all just enjoy the process of it all.

Tell me about upcoming projects that you are working on?

I’m real secretive with my projects to be honest. My friends say I be tripping sometimes but I like to keep all my projects hush hush until it drops. I don’t do any social media “behind the scenes or anything until after it’s out.  I want everything people see to be like “wow that’s amazing” the first time they see it, not “oh I saw this on his snapchat, this is what that was”.

Just ask yourself, W.W.B.D? What Would Beyonce Do? You don’t see any album trailers or hints saying the album coming soon. No, you be at home, heating up some corn or cleaning your toilets when you look on itunes and see “NEW BEYONCE ALBUM JUST RELEASED”. So with that being said, just stay tuned!

To keep up with Jarrod’s latest, follow him on Instagram: @iamL1M1TLESS

And there it is. de la Pen…All Pen Everything. With us, keeping it real never goes wrong.