Today we’d like to introduce you to Jeremiah McDaniel.
Hi Jeremiah, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I’d like to have some prolific story about how I knew I was going to be a photographer since I was a little kid, and in a way I guess I’ve always been a storyteller, but those kinds of statements always make me want to roll my eyes. Really, at three you knew you were going to be a renowned artist, come on. You were still shitting your pants, and eating crayons like the rest of us. Let’s be honest. We all fall into our passions by chance, luck and a ridiculous amount of dedication. Haha, that makes me sound like the worst cynic, but the “destiny brought me to this…” is such a Hollywood line and I just can’t get behind it.
My story starts out like any other. In my past life, I was an on-air journalist and so I would tell stories through video. Those assignments would take me to some really cool places and I just started taking photos of the places I was going. I was also traveling a lot at the time and so I started kind of photo journaling my travels because taking video back then was kind of cumbersome. To take photos all I needed was a camera. It turned into this obsession. It was a super personal thing for a long time, I didn’t really share my photos with anyone.
Then in the early Instagram age, you know before stories and videos took over, I got hooked on accounts of others who were like me. In those days, there were a lot of super cool accounts of people taking these incredible photos from around the world. That’s when I really started sharing my photos and it kind of took off from there. People would see my photos and then ask me to shoot their photos. I like a challenge so I was like ya, I can shoot portraits. I most definitely had no idea what I was doing, but it’s all the same when you break it down. Composition, lighting, you know. The hard part is hands. I think I still have a Ricky Bobby moment every time I go to shoot portraits because hands are weird and no one knows what to do with them. From there things just kind of snowballed. The portraits would pay for the equipment and then the trips and before I knew it I was shooting a lot of photos all over the world. I was taking a lot of photos of places I like to go or places I’ve been to and then I started getting clients that wanted my photos of these places. To me that’s the highest honor. People love something I captured so much that they not only want to pay me for it, but they want to hang it in their house. That’s a super intimate place and for them to want something I created to be a part of that is just crazy.
So that brings us up to date I guess. I still do a lot of the typical family/kid portraits and weddings, and I still shoot a lot of what I guess you would call landscape photography, that’s my passion. It’s embarrassing to admit but lately, I’ve been doing a lot of photoshoots with my dogs, like especially when I’m bored. When COVID hit and they shut the world down people weren’t getting their photos taken and since I don’t have the goods to start an OnlyFans and we all had lots of time and anxiety I started taking creative photos of my dogs. They love it and the photos are hilarious. I love stupid things and it’s crazy challenging to build costumes for your dogs, get them to hold still and snap a photo of them looking like Walter White and Jessie Pinkman or Carol Baskin and the Tiger King.
The whole being a photographer thing is a hard balance because I still work a regular full-time job. I always said I don’t want shooting photos to become a job because when you start relying on it for money you lose the art of it and it becomes kind of utilitarian in a way. I love getting lost in shooting photos: finding that secret spot and waiting for the perfect time to capture what I see in my mind. I have zero patience for anything, but if I know the sun and the clouds are going to do what I want to capture a stellar shot I will wait hours. That’s how you know you’re obsessed. When you find that place you can see what it’s going to be like way before it happens. It’s weird to say out loud, but maybe that’s what the flow state is like for others and man let me tell you when all that shit clicks and you snap a banger it’s the best feeling in the world.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
Hahaha, I would say it’s always a struggle. Literally, everyone is a photographer now. We all walk around with cameras that do incredible things in our pockets. You can point your phone at anything, let the Steve Jobs 9000 work its magic and end up with some pretty killer images. So I think it’s always going to be a struggle. I’m sure it was and is the same for any artist in any medium. There are always going to be people doing it. I just try to be authentic. It probably hurts my business and makes me look like an asshole sometimes, but I refuse to do things because they’re trendy. I hate how right now everyone wants those desaturated colors and those crushed oranges and greens in their photos. If that’s what you like then that’s what you like and I’m not going to be mad at you for wanting it but if you want me photograph your wedding and you ask for that, we’re going to have a serious conversation about that style because it’s not going to be cool in five years. And when I deliver you photos, regardless of what we’re immortalizing, I want you to love those forever.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
For me, photography has always been a personal journey. I love that people like to see what I’m doing and like the world the way I see it. That’s a cool feeling. So when someone not only likes my vision but like its enough to want to buy it and hang it somewhere so they can see it every day or trust me enough to capture a once in a lifetime moment it brings me so much joy.
I don’t really know what sets me apart from the millions of other photographers out there, that’s a tough one. The arrogant artist in me wants to say that I’m awesome and what sets me apart is that you’re getting a piece of that awesomeness every time you buy a piece of art or hire me to photograph you, but I think it’s also the experience. When you book me for a shoot you’re not just getting a guy to come in, snap some photos and leave. I love what I do and I’m not going to be happy unless you’re happy, I think the medical world calls that generalized anxiety disorder hahaha. So I’m always going to go above and beyond to make sure you love your photos and that’s a service I don’t see a lot anymore. So I guess what sets me apart in a sea of photo monsters is quality.
What are your plans for the future?
It sounds so lame to say but it’s gotten me this far in life, I’m just going to go where things take me. If you plan super hard and get singularly focused you miss all the opportunities along the way. I would like to grow the art side of things. The pinnacle would be to have a piece hanging in a gallery so I’m going to shoot for that but keep an eye out for anything that comes my way.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.roguewavephotography.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/roguewavephotography/
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/RogueWavePhotography
- Other: https://roguewavephotography.darkroom.com/
