Today we’d like to introduce you to Jen Fedrizzi.
Jen, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
Photography has always been a captivating medium to me. I started making pictures as a 13 year old with an old film camera that didn’t have any film. I just went around the house framing my perspective and bringing things in and out of focus, I loved watching the mood change in the viewfinder. My interests brought me to an internship for food and portrait photography for a local publication. I quickly fell in love with the world of food photography, but not studio or commercial setups. I was in restaurants, working with the chefs and owners, to capture their real food! I was never interested in working with fake food. I want the real stuff.
However, my career really started when I uncovered my life’s mission: restore human relationships with resources. In 2015, I learned about the Los Angeles water story and it’s connection to the Owens Valley, a place I love and frequented as a kid. I joined the Walking Water pilgrimage as a participant/photographer and really dove into it. I walked and documented the pilgrimage for two of the three years.
On the pilgrimage, I met another photographer/artist, Jasmine Amara. We collaborated to create a photography and poetry tour called “About Water” to bring discussion around the idea of having a relationship with water. My work on the project looked at hidden ways in which we waste water in our culture. It directly led me into looking at plastic waste and food waste.
That same year, I collaborated with another female artist, Kat Culture, on a performance art piece entitled “Our Sophisticated Denial.” This work was a commentary on our culture’s obsession with disposable waste, where we stood in a window of an art space in San Francisco and slowly filled up the window with single use/disposable waste until we “drown” in our own consumption habits. I now work as a food photographer with mission-aligned companies and as a grant writer for a nonprofit working to end food waste & food insecurity.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
It’s been a bumpy road, but it’s almost as if each thing builds on top of itself to help me with the next thing. All of the challenges and accomplishments come in the right order to teach me what I need for what comes after.
Please tell us about Jen Fedrizzi Photography.
My photography work specializes in capturing real food, made by real people, from real places you can go to! My artistic work is centered around inspiring a new relationship with finite resources.
If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
I would do nothing differently. Each experience I’ve had is integral to what has come after.
Contact Info:
- Website: jenfedrizzi.com
- Email: jen@jenfedrizzi.com
- Instagram: @jenfedrizzi
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