I was introduced to the work of super young photographer Joey L about a year ago thanks to an email from Wilson Barry. But it wasn’t until I did the CAPIC portfolio reviews back in November that I saw the extent of the impact Joey L was making on the future of commercial photography. Among my reviewees were three ambitious teenage boys who saw their own fortunes in Joey’s story and begged their mom to drive them into the city from North York for the night of reviews. At that time, Joey was only 20 years old and he’d just shot the movie posters for Twilight and these boys couldn’t get over it. Although I have limited interest in moody band photography, Joey L’s personal travel projects are seriously ambitious and for the most part, stunning.
Well here’s another eager young thing who’s only eighteen:
© James Mooney
And he’s made these pictures:
© James Mooney
© James Mooney
© James Mooney
© James Mooney
© James Mooney
© James Mooney
© James Mooney
© James Mooney
© James Mooney
© James Mooney
© James Mooney
In his introductory email to me, James explained that though he briefly attended Humber College, he found the program didn’t suit him and started interning instead. Upon further questioning, I was encouraged to hear that his internship is with Mark Zibert. About that he says:
I haven’t been there for long and I’m not in that frequently right now, but hopefully I’ll be in there more. I did second assist for Andy Ferreira once, I was eating lunch in the studio one day and he asked if I wanted to come check out the shoot, so I’d say it was more of a learning experience than actual assisting, a dip of the toe in the assisting water if that makes sense.
I asked him some questions:
I’m just assuming that to be as familiar as you are with lighting etc. you’ve been working at this for awhile- you seem young for this kind of commitment, please explain how you came into this. How have you learned what you know so far? Basically a bit of background to understand how you got to this point.
I got a set of alien bees about a year ago, and that’s when I really started shooting and learning how to light. I took enough bad photos I kind of figured out what works and what doesn’t on my own, I’ve learned almost everything I know about photography by experimenting and just making a lot of mistakes. I think with photography, the best way to learn is through discovery and shooting as much as possible, and that’s really what I’ve done.
You say there’s a few series you want to shoot- can you tell us about them?
Yeah, I actually shot a promo for the first series, the one with superman.
© James Mooney
It’s kind of simple and I don’t want to give the whole concept away, but in it’s entirety it’s just a fun series, a humourous look at the life of not-so-superheroes. The second is set in a 1960′s american motel. I’m trying to flex my shooting and lighting styles, just to help me stay creative.
What are your influences/inspirations? Where do you want to be in 2 years, in 10 years?
My photographic tastes are pretty diverse and there’s so much really good photography that I’m inspired by, I’ve got a bookmark folder that’s filled with photographer’s websites and blogs. I know it’s ambitious but in two years I’d like to have shot a couple of commercial/advertising assignments and in ten have a studio, shooting enough commercial work that I can work on my personal work too.
That’s a fair goal.
James is off to a solid, early start and hanging with Zibert is a good way to spend your late teenage years.
But it’s crucial that young talents understand that photography is about more than sexy women, sexy vampires and sexy lighting. A photographer needs time to develop their voice and vision- listening, learning and shooting is the best way to get there. My sense is that James will be able to mature his early talent and drive into something viable. For heaven’s sake, he’s only 18!
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I remember hearing about Joey L(awrence) about 3 years ago. His work was really strong but his book was mostly his friends/aquaintences. I remember thinking “he’s good, but who in their right mind is going to trust a teenager with producing a campaign?” Well, he showed me! I also said the internet will never take off, so maybe I should stop making predictions.
I often get down on myself because I’m quite a bit older than these phenoms and think I should at least be on their level because of my advanced age, but a friend recently enlightened me. He said, “you shouldn’t worry about where you are compared to others because we don’t all start off in the same place.” That’s very important to remember. I’m thinking these kids have to have some sort of benefactor that funds their cameras, computers, photoshop, travel, etc…a benefit most of us don’t have. Maybe that’s jealousy talking, I don’t know? All I know is you can’t become a great pianist if you don’t have a piano.
some great images keep it up
love this guys photo’s!
clicked here through A Photo editor.
Shane, I had a similar thought on seeing these. Looks like he has some quality gear and lots of people willing to pose for him. Cameras don’t shoot great pictures on their own, but sometimes it’s hard to know if a specific photographer would be able to capture compelling images without having the coin available.
I think that’s what Heather’s last paragraph is getting at. The question is, if you gave anyone the gear that was used to take these pictures, could they do something similar? The answer to that tells you how much influence the photographer’s vision and voice has on the final product — and I can’t come up with that answer.
I can say that these shots have a “flickr aesthetic”; the wet hair shots, the comped “extreme sports” multiple exposures, swirling smoke. You see these all over on flickr, they are very popular, and they are almost exlcuively “look what my camera can do” (or, “look what my strobes can do”) photos. Not “look what I can do”. But there’s some great composition and a knack for timing here. I can’t say if any of this is good or bad.
In any case, I wish him the best and hope he flies past his goals in the upcoming years.
I remember seeing Joey’s stuff a few years ago. They were great and cutting edge and super retouched but hey that’s the kind of stuff people like and when you’re pleasing the masses you’re going to get work and thats awesome.
I really like James work and am going to enjoy watching him grow. James don’t go down the route of super retouched work. It’s a pain in the ass and the images wont hold up over time.
Big ups James!
You should check out the work of Chrissie White: http://chrissiewhite.com/ and Mike Bailey Gates: http://mikebaileygates.com/ they are both 16 years old and very talented beyond their years!
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