Like many creatives who found themselves behind a camera, Jay Ford grew up around a family who loved photography. Where his dad began by filming home videos, Jay continued by filming anything his friends and family would allow: parties, football games, sorority videos, and more. He used his camera as a way to express his voice and, through it, amplify the voices of others. We had a chance to speak with Jay and get a bit more insight into his work. Watch our latest SmugMug Film with him below, and read on to learn more about him in his own words.
I feel I’m a visual creator more than a photographer or videographer. I use my camera to create something that resonates with me first and then, hopefully, other people like it from that. I look for life and the emotion that creates that life—whether it’s the trees moving or the culture I’m in—and I try to capture the raw emotion that comes out of it.
What wakes me up every day is challenging myself to do something different than normal. Every night I look through other people’s photos and videos, then use that to curate what I want and challenge myself to do something new.
A little bit of everything. I try to see how they achieved what they did, looking at the cameras they used, the scenes they got, the why behind their choices, the type of story they’re trying to tell. And I watch things repeatedly to get those answers.
For example, the show Euphoria is good, but the cinematography was amazing. Whoever the cinematographer was is the most creative genius I’ve ever experienced. The use of colors, imagery, and everything was crazy to see. And that’s something I want to implement in my work to be more creative.
At first people asked me, “Why do you have a camera?” After I started posting the photos, they started asking me, “Oh, where’s your camera?”
When I went to college, I had only raw abilities. But I always had a camera with me and would take it to parties. I used to record people at the parties as well as other stuff in college, such as basketball games and football games. When I started posting those images online, I began gaining momentum. At first people asked me, “Why do you have a camera?” After I started posting the photos, they started asking me, “Oh, where’s your camera?”
Once I started getting that momentum, I kept going with it. It not only made me happy, it made other people happy, too. And that’s what I love about photography: you get to make people happy and make them feel more beautiful than they thought they were.
The Black Lives Matter movement has probably been the most meaningful thing I’ve gone through so far. Because I didn’t go out there to make money. I didn’t go to the protest to chase clout. I went there because I felt it was my true calling to document history in the making. With everything going on in the world, I felt if that movement didn’t happen, much change wouldn’t have come. For me to document that whole process was part of the history: to take pictures of the emotion — the reactions of people dealing with these injustices.
I feel it’s my duty to show it in a positive light because the news and certain media only show the negative. People are dealing with this emotionally. They’re upset, and I wanted to show that in a beautiful way. That meant a lot to me. And I want to do more.
At first I definitely got lost in them. I couldn’t focus. There was so much going on: people around me, damage that was happening, the police shooting rubber bullets and tear gas, and my friends getting hurt. It was tough. But as we kept going, we were able to show the emotions of the crowd and how it kept swaying. That’s when I started to lock in and adjust to what was going on.
Obviously, you want to be with the crowd, but you’re here to show what’s going on. Once I refocused myself, I was able to capture that. A lot of people love the images I got because it showed a different side of what the media was showing. I knew people had to see what I was capturing because I didn’t see it on the news — what I was seeing then, in the moment.
…as long as you have a camera and you’re ready, you can have a shot.
A little bit of street smarts. I wanted to be on the front line, but I didn’t want to be stupid. When there’s violence going on, you learn to take a step back. You can’t dive into it as much as you want because you don’t know what will happen. But I took precautions for the tear gas: wore heavier clothes, put a bandana around my nose, wore glasses. I also had a good lens that allowed me to get close enough without going too deep. I was worried about a rubber bullet hitting my lens and cracking it, so when the rubber bullets were happening, I was running. That was my precaution there.
Yeah. A lot of people saw I was taking pictures and they got my Instagram. When I shared a video of the protest later, it went viral. Once it got shared, a lot of people reached out to say, “Hey, that was me. Can you send me that video?” So they were able to find me and then the images I’d taken from that day. That was powerful.
I usually do. But at the protest, I didn’t. A lot of the time then, I shot auto because you never know what situation you’re going to be in. There was so much running going on, it was also tough to try to nail the perfect shot. That was a big thing I learned: you don’t always have to have the perfect shot to get the best shot. The photo could be a little blurry. It could be a little overexposed or underexposed. But as long as you have a camera and you’re ready, you can have a shot.
In order to grow, you’re going to need help. Whether you’re a landscape photographer, a commercial photographer, a family photographer, or anything else, you’re going to need help getting your photos out to the world. You’re going to need to help doing big production shoots. You’re going to need help running the business. As much as you want to do everything yourself, it doesn’t make sense. I was being selfish in the beginning by not wanting help. But now I’m growing as a person, and as a business owner, and help is what’s needed—help is what’s welcomed.
I always like to shoot at the same time of day outdoors: blue hour and golden hour. When it comes to framing, there’s really no plan. It kind of comes to me naturally depending on what the background is and where the sun is. Do you want it backlit? Do you want to get a close-up shot? Do you want to get details and emotion? I don’t like people posing or looking at the camera much, so I like movement. I like the actual smiles and not posed smiles. It comes to me as I go.
I have seven hard drives because I shoot so much. I have a passion-project hard drive, a business hard drive, and a personal hard drive. Then I have three backups for each one of those. So when I do a shoot, I immediately back it up to my big hard drives.
When I first started out, I didn’t have a process. I used to shoot, put everything on my computer, and edit from there. Then, the first wedding I ever did, I ended up losing all the photos for it because I put everything on the computer and it wasn’t ready for all that. The computer crashed, and I lost all the files. I lost everything. Once I saw the bride’s reaction, I told myself, this can never happen again. That led to me being a bit overkill about my hard drives and storage.
Just go out there and do it. Don’t listen to anybody who has no clue what your dream is. If you really want to pursue something, find those individuals who have done it before and reach out to them to figure out how they did it. Because if they did it, you can do it.
Go with your heart. Don’t go off trends. Don’t go off what other people like. Go off what you like. The best part about going off what you like is that it tells a story. Your story.
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Find Jay online:
Portfolio
Flickr
Twitter
Instagram
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