Jake Chessum// Leah Thibodeau
After Jake Chessum finished his foundation year at the Central School of Art and Design, he was sure that he wanted to be a photographer. However, the school didn’t offer any photography classes, only about technique and theory. He had been collecting photography books and magazines since he was about 16, so he figured that graphic design was the best way to succeed.
He then transferred to Saint Martin’s School of Art. For the first two years, he struggled. He never finished any projects. To make matters worse, he had a very talented group of peers alongside him (Graham Wood and Stephen Sorrel), which made him look like he was in the completely wrong field of study. So for the end of his second year, he began focusing more on photography instead of design and typography. Still, Chessum was never around when final projects were due at critiques.
Luckily, Chessum was getting noticed other places. In his third year at Saint Martins, The Face magazine gave him a job to shoot their cover. The art director, Phil Bicker, did a small section about Chessem as the graduate to watch. This led to several commissions from all sorts of magazines. He shot for The Independent, The Saturday Times, The Guardian, and Neutrogena. However, he was taking every job that came his way, which was holding back his career.
That’s when he took a step back. He was completely ignorant of his working environment. He never had an assistant, a studio, written an invoice, or edited down his shots before sending them in to his employer. He decided that he needed to change in a big way. He would no longer compromise too much for a shot; it was important to have a style or vision.
On a shoot, he tries to establish some sort of connection with his subject. With this, everyone can relax a little bit, which makes a photograph so much easier to get. This was trying when he shot a series called “The Look Book” for the New York Magazine and had to persuade New Yorkers to stop and pose for a two page spread.
For aspiring photographers, Chessum says, “Don’t try to take pictures that you think are going to get you a job. Take pictures that you want to look at, and can talk about enthusiastically. There’s no point in trying to emulate the work of other photographers. A good photo editor will see straight through it. It’s a cut-throat business with a ludicrous amount of competition. Be enthusiastic. Always.”
