More Than a Face | Jess Brohier
More Than a Face
portraiture by Jess Brohier
When and how did your journey as a photographer begin?
To be honest, I completely fell into being a photographer. Growing up I always dabbled between drawing and illustration and taking pictures. I would become obsessed with each process for weeks at a time and neglect the other, until one day I just stopped drawing and taking photos became the primary element of my life. I would shoot my friends in high school on countless disposable film cameras, always be the friend with a camera in hand at social events because I loved capturing authentic, unguarded moments of people in my life, and travel overseas a fair amount from the age of 19, always documenting the culture and characters I came across. When I travelled to San Francisco in 2013, I met this beautiful woman working in a store in Oakland who let me take her portrait, and from that moment, editing those photos in New York the next month, decided I wanted to photograph people as much as I could. Once I'd made up my mind, I've never really put down a camera since then.
What camera(s) do you prefer to use?
I learnt on a DSLR, but I prefer to shoot film, always. My Nikon F2 is my go to, but I recently bought a Pentax 6x7 medium format, that I'm still getting to know.
Could you describe a bit about the type of photography you pursue?
I am drawn to creating more artistic imagery, and even though I shoot fashion predominantly for work, my work must always have a mood, character or narrative element within it, for me to feel satisfied. I strive to capture an authenticity even still, in every single subject. Every person I photograph becomes more than a face, always a friend. It is hugely important for me to make this personal connection, in order to create a true representation of them as a muse. I adore portraiture and documentation of both organic intimate moments, as well as specifically orchestrated mood settings.
What inspired you to pursue photography?
Nothing really, I pretty much do it because I literally can't not do it, to put it most simply. Taking pictures over the years just became such an automatic, natural ritual for me, that it kind of feels like it more pursued me, rather than the other way around.
What is your greatest source of inspiration?
Everything, all the time. I'm so heavily entranced by the world I live in, and all the intricacies of people I meet, that I try to find a way to capture it - or even interpret it - and my camera is my current means of doing so. Friends, conversations, exploring new cities, music, faces in the street, art shows, cinema, objects, feelings, locations, books are all heavily influential.
What photographers have influenced your work?
So so many. I never formally studied photography, so I only really find influence in artists I've come across over the years organically who I feel encapsulate the moods I try to create. Juergen Teller, Can Dagarslani, Michal Pudelka, Lukasz Wierzbowski, Alexander Saladrigas, to name a few, the list goes on and is ever evolving.
How would you describe your aesthetic?
Cinematic and colorful, clean and deliberate, playful and quiet.
