Gallery Jem Creswell - Photofile

In: In The Mix 0 Comments Photographer Jem Creswell Wed 24th Mar '10

Tags: Jem Creswell , South Australia , Sydney

An awkwardly small car is perched on top of the cliffs in the desert. It's covered in thick red dust and the headlights are covered in bugs suggesting a long night behind the wheel has just taken place. An even smaller man appears from the car and has been shacked up waiting for the sun to rise. This is the first time I ever saw Jem and I think it sums him up perfectly. The hard working and do anything it takes attitude he applies to his work what ever he is doing.

You can often find Jem's name at the bottom of those epic lineup images and richly saturated mood filled shots, which lend your attention a little longer than the bulk of tight and bright photos which fill the magazines.

Jem has studied photography at holds a piece of paper which states his achieved skill level but Jem's true measure of skill comes in the form of his work. A desert swell chaser from South Australia who now is perfecting his skills in the tough cut throat commercial photography business in Sydney assisting some of the big players and brushing shoulders with the rich and famous.

We caught Jem in between jobs and found out about his training, current jobs and his passions for chasing waves is keeping him awake at night.

 

Can you tell us about your formal and informal training in photography?

Formal wise when I finished school I studied Diploma of Multimedia, and later went back and studied Commercial Photography which I took more seriously. Besides that I have spent a lot of time reading books, researching information on the Internet and learning from my own mistakes. I am always so critical of my own photography, there is always so much to work on, so there is always so much to learn.

Tell us about your current line of work with assisting on big scale commercial / advertising photography jobs?

Eighteen months ago I made the decision to move to Sydney, with the mindset of trying to get into the world of photographic assisting. I had heard that it was one of the best ways to gain experience in the industry and learn from the wealth of knowledge of photographers who had been shooting for many years. I drove up to Sydney with everything I owned in my car and organized a few meetings with photographers whose work I admired and everything went from there. I now work consistently under 6 different advertising and fashion photographers, but have assisted 21 photographers since my move. I love the work I do and have been lucky to work on some interesting shoots such as fashion shoots for magazines such as Harpers Bazaar, Vogue, Instyle, Marie Claire and Cosmopolitan with models and actresses such as Jennifer Hawkins and Kate Blanchet, advertising shoots for companies such as Volkswagen, Subaru and Olympus, and been lucky to shoot on locations such as yachts, cruise ships, mansions, clubs, beaches, forests and studios. It certainly has been an interesting and eye opening journey so far, and I really want to bring some of the techniques and work attitude I have learnt, into producing better photography myself, especially in my bodyboarding and portraiture work. I would definitely recommend to any budding photographers out there, to pursue some photographic assisting work, you will be surprised what a great environment it is to work and learn in.

Do you find any cross over between the skills in the more mainstream work and your surf photography?

In my opinion the skill set in surf photography is quite different to other forms of photography work, that being said any knowledge about photography and light is beneficial. One thing I do consider often is working on advertising and fashion shoots there is usually many people on set; there will be a hair and makeup team, stylist, stylist assistant, photographer, photographers assistant, digital operator, art director and client, which are all using there unique skill set to work together towards an end result. Where as in surf photography it is just generally yourself and the wave rider, battling the ocean to capture the best moment you can in the available light and swell.
The other thing I notice in advertising and fashion work is that, to a degree, you can control the environment to achieve the shot your after i.e. you can setup whatever lighting you want to achieve in the studio, and also to a degree can on location as well, where as with surf photography the elements do as they please, and you work around them. I enjoy a balance of working in both scenarios.

How are you copping with change in chasing swells and doing desert missions and now working in and around Sydney?

It has been such a big change living in a busy city, paying crazy rent for a tiny studio apartment, than the relaxed environment of South Australia. I am very glad I made the move though and am pushing myself in my career, it was a step that I needed to take, but at the same time I miss heading down the coast of SA, shooting the surf without anyone around and soaking up the whole desolate feeling of the coast. The SA coast is beautiful in a totally different way to how the South Coast of NSW is. I do feel as though there is a lot more happening in the photography world here, as apposed to South Australia where it isn't possible to do assisting work. I just make sure I don't check the charts for back home until I am coming up on a few days off so I don't think I am missing out on too much.

Do you have any adventures planned for this year to keep the wave chasing side of you satisfied?
Work has been real consistent this year, so I have managed to put some money away for a few trips I have in my sights for this year and have bought a new camera rig for a few specific shots. I have been doing a lot of research on two separate overseas areas for the last 6 months and when a solid swell rolls around I will head away with some crew and see if we can score them, fingers crossed! I will always make sure I fit in a few trips back home to SA as well, as I found a couple of waves in the desert on my couple of trips which I haven't surfed or shot yet, which I am real interested in checking out in the right conditions. Fingers crossed for that too, all in all it should make for a pretty busy and interesting year.

Looking forward to it all! Thanks for everything Phil!