Art & Life with Jonathan Brown

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jonathan Brown.

Jonathan, please kick things off for us by telling us about yourself and your journey so far.
I don’t know how unique my story is but I’ve been working in photography for at least half my life. I started in High School as 1 of 2 yearbook photographers. Back then we had to know how to shoot and print, so I spent a lot of time in the darkroom as well as behind the camera. The town I grew up in, Ridgecrest, is pretty small and quite isolated — at least 90 miles from any city with more than 20k population.

It’s not a bad place and gave me a deep appreciation for nature and the desert in particular. After graduation I left with some friends to live in Orange County and attended a local community college. I worked as a freelance photographer, studio photographer, and in a photo lab that catered to professional photographers for printing needs and editing services. Eventually I made my way to and graduated from UCLA. After I obtained my degree I landed an internship with a big-name media outlet — The LA Times.

I began working with an award-winning art team on a luxury lifestyles glossy magazine titled “LA” – The Los Angeles Times Magazine. A kinda west coast version of T magazine. As the decline in print advertising started circa 2008, the magazine was shuttered.

Shortly after, I got married to an amazing woman and started our small family. We were in a really secure spot in life so I decided to take the risk and try to really push forward as far as I can with a photography career. That’s currently where I am.

Can you give our readers some background on your art?
I would consider myself mostly a portrait photographer and that’s indeed where I make most of my money as a photographer but I enjoy and dabble in shooting anything I can.

But even when I’m shooting a product my default is to approach it like a portrait and I like a sense of drama to my lighting. Sometimes it works and sometimes I have to change the light depending on subject or purpose.

Iriving Penn, one of my favorite photographers, used to do these awesome shots where he’d find random degraded items like a discarded cigarette butt or dead flower — things not really beautiful — and he’d capture these great images of them that I could look at for an hour trying to find details that unfolded a story in my head. He could take something so unnoticed, so forgotten, so unwanted, so uninteresting and give it a purpose and a story. That’s inspiring to me.

I’ve been doing print art too from my darkroom days. I’m really proud of this old IKEA desk I modified into a UV light printer. I mix my own light-sensitive solutions and use this desk to make handmade Van Dyke Brown prints from 8.5 x 11 negatives. It’s still magic to me every time I see the images start to emerge.

Artists rarely, if ever pursue art for the money. Nonetheless, we all have bills and responsibilities and many aspiring artists are discouraged from pursuing art due to financial reasons. Any advice or thoughts you’d like to share with prospective artists?
Don’t let financial limitations inhibit your creativity or your desire to produce projects.

We’ve never been so fortunate to have information so easily accessible. Be resourceful and tap into this rich database of DIY communities to learn how to work around financial limits. Can’t afford a light tent to shoot a product?

Build a light box by cutting out cardboard box panels and replacing them with tracing paper. Can’t afford to take photography courses at a local college? There is literally an entire college-level course for free on the internet from a Stanford professor at your own pace. If you have the desire the roads are there for you.

What’s the best way for someone to check out your work and provide support?
My work can always be seen on my website but in addition to that, I recently started a small Etsy shop to sell prints if anyone is interested. And hopefully, I’ll be releasing a photo book this year on what I call California’s Big Empty which is the 3 valleys east of the Sierra Nevada Mountains (close to where I grew up) — Owens Valley, Panamint Valley, and Death Valley.

Contact Info:

• Website: studio.cafezermeno.com
• Phone: 213-453-2979
• Email: studio@cafezermeno.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cafezermenostudios/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/Cafe_Zermeno

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