Meet Jon Dragonette

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jon Dragonette.

Hi Jon, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Born in Upstate New York, I spent my formative years running around the small-town streets of Saratoga Springs with my twin brother. Junior high brought the discovery of skateboarding, which gave me a whole new perspective in exploring the world. As an adolescent, I found an outlet too freely and creatively express myself. Not long after, my mother gifted me a 35mm camera, and I quickly combined these newfound mediums, instantly falling in love with the ability to document a subculture I was proudly part of.

Scholastically, I struggled; my short attention span and dyslexia made for a bumpy road throughout high school, which trailed with me in a few half-hearted attempts at college and then tech school. I knew photography was what I wanted to do, but I wasn’t exactly sure how to achieve this goal with the absence of proper guidance. I decided to leave my home in New York and headed west to San Francisco to chase my dreams.

Starting in San Francisco as a photo assistant in 2005, I learned the ropes from my mentors. Between assisting jobs, I began freelancing, shooting editorial portraits for Juxtapoz Art & Culture Magazine, and look books for lifestyle brands in SF. In 2009, I relocated to Los Angeles in search of more opportunities after the economic crash. After nearly a decade of blood, sweat, and tears, I broke through. The style I perfected in my free time, photographing subcultures on the fringes of society, caught the eyes of creatives in advertising. As I photographed global ad campaigns for Jack Daniels, Nascar, Microsoft, Allstate, and Amex, my resume ultimately gained creditability. But over the years, the hustle and repetitiveness of commercial photography became draining. The purity and freedom that came with photographing real people never seemed to fit into the constraints advertisers needed to achieve mass consumption, leaving me yearning for what I could freely achieve independently.

After suffering some tragic losses of life during the summer of 2016, I began to reevaluate what was truly important to me. It wasn’t the fact that I wasn’t proud of the goals I had accomplished as a young working photographer, but the untimely deaths forced me to search within my nature for value and meaning.

I began traveling the country, using black and white film to explore themes of political, cultural, and social regression. As I continue on my new path, creating meaningful photography is what’s most important to me. Concentrating on art that speaks to the human condition allows viewers a gritty yet humane perspective of a specific strata of contemporary America. Although I know it may be nearly impossible to change the world with photography, I will never let that thought deter me from documenting its evolution as I focus my lens on the individuals responsible for re-shaping it.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I’ve had plenty of struggles along the way, in fact, I don’t think its ever really been a smooth road, but the fact that I’m still here, continuing to do what I love, is more than enough proof for me that passion and struggle keep life not only interesting but fulfilling.

I will have to say though, the last two years have been one of the most trying periods of my life. The pandemic had devastating effects on so many people, and though I would never try to compare my struggles to anyone else’s, for me it was truly bittersweet. On the one hand, I was extremely productive. I tackled two enormous, quite frankly dangerous photo projects during a f*cking global pandemic, which to me still blows my mind. But on the other hand, with no work coming in, my finances deteriorated, the rent piled up, and I was finally pushed out of my home and studio, forced into a life of anxiety and uncertainty on what to do next.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I guess I’ll take this opportunity to talk about the book I just finished publishing. I’m extremely proud of completing it considering everything that had transpired in my life during the making of it.

The series of photographs in this book were taken in Los Angeles between March & May of 2020. As I zigged and zagged, trying to never hit the same street in the same direction twice, I sometimes felt lost. The city looked so different with no one in it. Streets that once felt familiar now seemed foreign. The cold spring breeze rattled metal security gates in the distance, the sound reminiscent of prison doors slamming behind us as we stood in line, six feet apart, awaiting guards to give us the signal to enter stores deemed essential. A chilling reminder that we were all officially locked down now. As masks became mandated, individuality seemed to drown under a sea of surgical blue. Yellow caution tape wrapped playgrounds and recreation centers as if they were crime scenes. The scuff marks under swings and on basketball courts provided the only evidence that life used to be fun here.

As I pushed my skateboard over miles and miles of empty streets those few months, I reflected on what life had been reduced to. For some, it really had become a battle of life and death. For others, feelings of uncertainty paralyzed them, as newscasts consumed by death tolls and infection rates destroyed feelings of hope. Essential workers risked their lives to keep us going, while corporations capitalized on their strength to do so. Politicizing a public health crisis, the federal government took the opportunity to cause a divide amongst us in a time when unity was needed. And all the while, I dreamed. I dreamed we would take this moment to reflect, not only on ourselves but on the flaws evident in our society.

Living alone 3,000 miles away from my family heavily influenced the choices I made during quarantine. I spent little time weighing out my options, discarding any ideas of staying safely in my home awaiting government instructions. My decision wasn’t swayed by a paycheck or because I wanted to be defiant. It was based on two simple feelings: the urgency to document this bizarre moment in time, not only for me but for those who could not or would not venture out to see our new world; and to use photography as my way of coping with the fear and anxiety of what life had become. This is Still-Life.

So maybe we end on discussing what matters most to you and why?
In a world so uncertain, do what you love and surround yourself with people that mean the most. We only get to do this life thing once, so why waste the majority of it doing things you despise? Money comes and goes like the ocean tides, so use it to further your voyage instead of wasting it on material things that anchor you down. Invest in things no one can take from you, building your wealth from experiences. I say don’t be influenced, be inspired, chase YOUR dreams instead of keeping up with the Kardashians. Live, love and question everything! Fight racism, hatred and bigotry, and give a hand when someone is in need, you never know when you’ll need one to get back up and carry on yourself.

Pricing:

• $100.00
• Still-Life Book

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: http://www.dragonettephotography.com/
• Instagram: @jondragonette

Image Credits
Personal Photo / Death west film