Today we’d like to introduce you to Jeremy Ives.
Hi Jeremy, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstories.
You know. The whole enterprise tech consulting to full-time Photographer story…
I remember running around high school with disposable cameras, in college, it was TV broadcasting and radio. Out of school, I started a corporate journey that would give me an awesome amount of experience but fail to fulfill me. It was always creating that would breathe life into me. For a long time, it was a part-time journey, YouTube university courses, masterclasses, shadowing and learning, late nights, and early mornings. Shooting sunrises with clients before work. Shooting while traveling for work..
I would always wonder what people did to fulfill their passion. Not what people would do for work… but where their identity lied. For me, it is storytelling. It’s about telling a different story. It is about creating the imagery I want my children to celebrate. It is about creating images of my children that I celebrate. It is about using art to build a community using art to grow the deep connection we have to each other. It’s about the responsibility to leave a place better than you found it.
Going full-time as a creative has been a humbling testimony of grace and blessings. 3 days before the start of the Covid I called my boss and quit. Walked away from a pretty cool career and definitely a career I aspired to for a long time. I did that in search of something better. More than anything I did it in an effort to keep my spirit alive.
Over the last year, I have photographed billboards, celebrities, families, friends, and nonprofits. I have been fortunate enough to be on teams that are continuing The Civil Rights Movement in the same streets and pulpits as Shuttlesworth and King. I have worked all over the country and my son follows me around with a camera now instead of pretending to be on conference calls.
With friends that are like brothers, (Adedayo Kosoko and Thaddeus Pryor) we opened a Creative Sanctuary and built it during the Pandemic. Over the pandemic, we built the Dojo. Part by part we created and curated a space that is like a home for creatives. The Dojo Studios is a studio focused on Creativity Collaboration and Connection. At the Dojo Studio, you might find a band blasting music till the early mornings, a community mentor night with community members of all ages sharing space for creativity and mentorship. There are Small Business Saturdays and workshops on everything from finance to studio lighting. It is a space where there are nationally branded campaigns one day and Kings and Queens from DC learning the joy of photography the next. It is a place where Royal Exposure has changed lives and created young entrepreneurs of the arts.
I am only here to create stories my children will tell theirs. If I can do that well, everything else will fall into place.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle-free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
I grew up in upstate NY. Landscapes, mountains, sports, and long winters, and awesome summers in the mountains filled my youth. Eventually, I moved to Cortland for College, Albany, then Philadelphia, then the DMV. Along the way, I met my brilliant and beautiful wife and we created a family.
That being said, the storms of life are real. Being able to deal with them isn’t always easy. Over the past 3 years working as an entrepreneur, I stepped out of a world I knew into something I am still figuring out. Early in photography, it was hard to find the time to shoot, then the whole process of understanding what I didn’t know, then it was finding more time to shoot stories with more intention and creating more relevant and impactful stories. It got to the point where I had to ask myself if I wanted to bet on myself or continue to wonder why I didn’t.
I can honestly say it is because of the creatives I am around that made me realize it was a possibility. That this reality is something I can do. Without my circle… I don’t think I would be here calling myself a full-time creative.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
What do I do? I tell stories that I want to change the world. I put light on things that uplift, inspire, love, build, and reflect images of grace, melanin, and everything that we are capable of achieving.
What do I specialize in?
I specialize in Photography and most people would know me for my Portrait Photography.
What am I most proud of?
Not a short answer.
From a home perspective – My family and my children. Second to none. I wake up every morning speechless and only able to thank God for the blessing of fatherhood. If you have kids, you understand what I am saying. If you don’t… I hope you get to find out someday. I am so proud of my kids. They make me smile, they make me laugh, they make me cry. Seriously, they are awesome. Go look at my IG feed and you will see them often lol.
From a work perspective -I am really proud of the No Middle project that I have been shooting over the last year. The idea is that the things that tie us together are far greater than that which divides us. I use a high-key black and white portrait to solely look at the subject. I ask people what has no middle for them… what is something that has no debate in their eyes? The totality of the answers is the story. For me, it’s been a blast to be an observer. To allow the collaboration of my art and their intention to create a story that puts balance to the reality we have lived through for the last while and far too long. The Book will be on sale soon. Your coffee table needs it!
From a community and life perspective, the work The Dojo Studios and The Creative School of DC are championing has been life-changing for me.
Our work is driven by a simple concept: listen to young people. It’s a commitment born out of a decade of working in and around school systems that have silenced our Queens & Kings. We’ve had to spend a lot of time unlearning what we’ve been taught about power and control, but our collective journeys have taught us that when we create space for the greatest among us to lead, they open our eyes to possibilities we could never have imagined. So, it’s no surprise that as we sat and listened to our Queens & Kings share their stories about what Royal Exposure meant to them, we found the thread that we had been missing.
Over the last year, our Queens & Kings have chosen to gather together in the Dojo Studios. They’ve done it in spite of the fact that the world around them has been spinning violently out of control. Their words reveal that despite the cameras in their hands, the program was never really about photography. To them, it was always about mastering the secret art of remembrance.
What they are partaking in is an ode to memory—a humble attempt to honor the fact that our Queens & Kings have consistently chosen to fight for hope in a world designed to obscure the power that resides within them…the book will be available at the end of 2021! Come support our Kings and Queens in the youth program!
What do you like and dislike about the city?
Our city is where we are. What do I like best? Our people. Wherever we are. Whatever time it is. Period.
DC Specifically??? Uncle Chips on North Capitol in DC on a Saturday afternoon. And Foams… I grew up in NY so moving to the area and getting some Foams was a pretty solid move, but I can’t call it.
What do I like least? Lost stories, or the process in which stories are muted.
Peace and Blessings! Thank you for the spotlight. If any of you readers want to check us out come visit us at the studio! Book us! Check out some live music or come support local businesses! Let’s build community.
Pricing:
- Portrait sittings starting at $550
Contact Info:
- Email: jiveshot@jiveshot.com
- Website: jiveshot.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jive.shot/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jiveshot/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCk6weJTbBZIYif0ZwtszSnA/videos
- Other: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1taRrpGax2g1nQPK_ii2LzPmj_-QzwRqD/view
Image Credits
Elliott O’Donovan Photography
Jiveshot Media
