Please excuse the clickbait-y headline. But for real—Jourdan Christopher’s photos are, like, absolutely amazing. We’ve been ogling them all week, ever since learning at the last minute that he has a show born from his Strangers in Boston series at Craft & Caro this Thursday.
If you have other things to do, then be sure to steer clear of Jourdan’s unbelievable portfolio. Because if you’re anything like us, you could wind up spending hours checking out his site (or his Instagram for that matter).
We asked Olivia Falcigno, one of our ace photogs, to drop a couple of questions on Jourdan. You can find his answers below between a small sampling from Strangers in Boston, which will be on display at Craft & Caro during his latest show, A Collection of Moments: Street Photography & Portraiture.
Where does your passion for photography come from?
I was originally introduced to photography as a teenager. My mother bought me a camera to keep me busy. After putting the camera down during college, I picked it back up again once living in Boston. At the time, I was working a job I didn’t enjoy and doing very little with the other time in my days. I was unfamiliar with the city and stuck in a work/home/work cycle. The camera was originally meant to help me to write more viscerally by capturing moments in order to describe them in my poetry and stories. I decided to re-teach myself photography through daily photo walks. Eventually I found enough happiness in my journey that I decided to remove the portions of my life that took away from that alignment. For me, this meant quitting my job and pursuing photography and writing full time.
What drove you to start the “Strangers in Boston” project?
During the time spent photo walking around the city re-teaching myself the technical aspects of photography and developing my eye, I found myself drawn to capturing images of raw life moments unfolding around me. Reviewing my photos at the end of every day became therapeutic, as I began to connect with the stories being told through the images captured and the lives behind them. I began to interact with the people I photographed, the “Strangers” and found a side of the city and of myself that had never really been known to me—one not based on comfort but adventure, not solitude but community and humility. The project was not planned, but developed during a series of growing moments in my life.
What is your favorite photograph in the exhibit? Why?
It’s easier to say that these photos (in the exhibit) are among my favorite in the series. This exhibition is really a teaser, 30 to 40 photographs from a collection that is hundreds of photos long. It was difficult to choose which ones to showcase, but I go out with a level of intention which directed the focus of my choosing, and I had help from some artist friends who looked over the final choices and helped extract themes and described their emotions and experience viewing the set.
What is the biggest challenge you’ve faced creating the Strangers in Boston project?
Funding. The project became my life. Though I have other freelance jobs that help put money in my pocket, it’s been difficult fully funding my life and my work. Full-time artists must be resourceful, skillful at time management, and self-motivated to create a life around creating in 2017.
What artists influence your work?
Gary Winogrand, Ruth Orkin, Helen Levitt, and Gordon Parks are inspirations from the past who planted seeds of visual storytelling through street photography that set the scene for the daily dance I do. Contemporary photographers include Andre Wagner, Rui Pahla, and Eric Kim.
Are there any future project you have been working on?
In terms of photography, I don’t want to limit myself to one or a few genres, but to develop understanding of my perspective and how it unfolds when capturing all sorts of different scenes and moments. So much of my recent energy has gone to taking the same level of detail orientation and intimacy and applying it to studio and editorial photography.
I’m also beginning to work with motion picture, and writing a short film and web series to be produced in late 2018/early 2019
Check out the Strangers in Boston Photography Exhibition Show & Open Mic on Thursday, November 2, from 7 to 11pm at Craft & Caro, 23 Drydock Ave, Boston. More on the event and tickets here.
Dig Staff means this article was a collaborative effort. Teamwork, as we like to call it.
