I still want to keep my Substack (mostly for myself) as a record of the projects I worked on each month, so I’ve decided to condense things, I’ll instead just share 3 of my favorite photos from each of the shoots I did this month with short captions. We’ll see how this goes :)

Other random shit I’ve been chewing on:

• Ok have patience with me as I rework what this Substack is!! Trying to figure it out…

• I’ve been gaining some good traction on my IG reels! I’m still definitely not over the awkwardness of talking to the camera/plastering my face all over the internet… but alas, we soldier on.

• What do all of my fabulous 73 followers on here want me to post? I’m open!!

xoxo,

jamiepixx

Hello world! I recently made an IG reel talking about some of the most important things I include in my contracts as a freelance photographer. Lots of people were asking if I’d be willing to share my contract template and I absolutely am, so I’m linking it here.

I am not a lawyer and this is not legal advice! Just sharing what I do in my practice.

xoxo,

jamiepixx

The month kicked off with a few production meetings and job inquiries, many of which were scheduled to shoot at the end of the month/beginning of May. I can really feel my work world heating up, after a slow, slow, SLOW Winter. It feels good, but I also feel the anxiety of busy times ahead. It’s so rare that I hit the perfect happy medium with the amount of work I have. It seems I’m either begging for gigs and my inbox is dry or I’m overwhelmed with opportunities and can’t catch my breath.

My images for NYLON Magazine of Slayyyter went live, and seemed to be really well received, which was great. I’ve been listening to her album nonstop (definite potential for her to be in my Spotify wrapped) and it honestly makes the images even more special to me, even though I couldn’t necessarily say I was a huge fan of hers at the time I shot the images (just cause I hadn’t listened to her new album yet).

I also had some continued progress on my reel-game. Up about 3,000 followers from when I started posting reels on my Instagram a month ago, I’ve gotten lots of traffic to my page, which is definitely encouraging. I’ve also just gotten so many kind messages from friends/family/strangers/mutuals about my videos— it’s really sweet to know that people genuinely care about what I have to say.

Given the many inquiries for client work that I got at the beginning of the month, I was spending a lot of time emailing and e-meeting, though didn’t have many shoots in the calendar until the last few days of April. For weeks I had been eyeing a two week gap in my schedule, knowing that it would be the perfect time to go to Japan— my number one destination on my bucket list. I had booked refundable tickets the last few days of March, and had the idea to just wait it out, and go through with the trip if nothing too important for work came up. This is a dance, and quite a delicate one might I add, that I do often— I want to travel, but I don’t want to miss anything that could be really creatively inspiring/lucrative in the work realm, so I book my flights to be refundable and decide to go on the vacation at the last minute based on my influx of work. So, when the 9th of April rolled around and the only gigs I had gotten reached out to for in the next week were minor, event-centric jobs, I decided it was time to pull trigger on my April 10th trip to Tokyo. I booked my hotel on the way to the airport and embarked on 24 hour travel day, excited to land in the country that I had been so excited to visit for so long.

Tokyo was absolutely amazing. I’m so in awe of the culture there— everyone/everything is so polite/organized/efficient. The shopping is also the best I’ve ever experienced in my life… and that’s coming from someone who has been to 39 countries. My bank account definitely took a hit (I may or may not have bought three designer bags…… (but they were all incredibly priced, I swear!!)), but it was so worth it. I spent 11 days galavanting around the city, with few plans, just doing whatever I felt like doing in the moment. Solo traveling is the best.

I, of course, shot some photos on the trip. I brought my travel gear set up as of late— my Fujifilm XT50 digital camera and my Olympus Stylus point and shoot film camera. While shooting digital is always preferable in a logistical sense (you can see/share images instantly, it’s “free”, you have more control over what you’re shooting, etc), I found myself drawn to film on this trip. I went through about 5 rolls and as I was on the airplane back to the U.S., I could basically taste the anticipation of developing them.

The Japan trip was also another great opportunity to keep my Instagram reel game up. I had lots of content banked and even worked with Nice Film Club to make some collaborative reels showcasing film they gifted me to shoot. The idea is to start doing brand deal-esque videos so that hopefully, in the future, I’ll get actual brand deals. This has always seemed like the most logical next step in my career, especially given how lucrative creating content is. Four, five figure deals for a little Instagram video? Sure thing.

Following Japan, I was lucky enough to have just under a week of chill(ish) time with no shoots. Though I was kept busy with TONS of pre production calls for the insane seven days that will be April 29-May 6 (LOTS of major projects across those days). I also went into overdrive with Met Gala outreach. I had been reaching out a bit earlier in the month, but when the leads I had died, I executed multiple rounds of outreach again. I wouldn’t be surprised if I sent over 200 cold emails trying to get in contact with celebrity teams, PR firms, media outlets, and literally anyone I thought might need me to shoot something related to the biggest day in fashion. I did end up securing one (and am in talks about potentially adding a second) gig, so I’m really glad all that outreach paid off. I, no-joke, probably spent a total of 10 hours this month just on researching/reaching out to contacts— there was simply no way I wasn’t going to shoot something related to the gala.

The kick off to my insane work week was on the 29th with my friends at Zola. We did a full day branded wedding shoot. We photographed two couples at a brownstone in Harlem and then in Central Park. It was extremely chill and really nice to be out and about in the park. I’m excited to dive into editing those images.

The Zola shoot was quite a long day and I even had to hop on pre production calls on my Uber home at 8pm, for my shoot on May 1st, for which I had to fly to Miami the next day. So here we are, on the last day of April, 35,000 feet in the air, and I’ve just dipped my toes into what I expect to be one of the craziest work weeks I’ve ever had. Not only is my schedule jam-packed, but the projects are huge and I’ve been heavily involved in production for the majority of them. Fingers crossed that I absolutely kill this week! See ya on the other side…

Other random shit I’ve been chewing on:

• Should I get the Contax T2? I’m just so tempted…. Probably missed my chance by not purchasing one in Tokyo, but alas…. I need time to mentally prepare to pay for it. I love my Olympus point and shoot but Contax images are just so damn beautiful.

• There were a fair amount of gigs I had to say no to this month (given Japan and other work commitments) and I’m still working on quelling my anxiety when I have to say no to something that I’m even remotely interested in. I had to turn down a party for Edie Parker, which is the sickest brand ever! And couldn’t shoot Ashley Graham and Vinnie Hacker before events because I was already working. It’s very hard for me to have to say no when I don’t want to and it makes a unique kind of anxiety arise in me.

• My editorial that I pitched to Merde Magazine shoots on May 6th and the team and I have been working SO hard to pull it together. It truly has been a labor of love… but I am very nervous. Praying it all goes smoothly. I need to get to May 7th.

iPhone Camera roll highlights:

xoxo,

jamiepixx

At the beginning of the month I headed back to New York from a very sunny Arizona, excited to develop the film I shot in the desert! When I was in Chile back in December, I had really enjoyed shooting my roll of film twice, so I decided I’d do that again on this vacation, and the results did not disappoint. I really fell in love with these photos. They’re so satisfying because I feel they push me beyond the title of photographer and more into the territory of “artist”. I love the physical effort and manipulation that goes into creating these images, beyond just the normal clicking of a button on my camera.

I also, of course, had to shoot some high flash desert shots— it’s only right. I’ve been shooting images like this since 2018, when I first started doing so for my photography final in college.

My first gig upon my return to NYC was an event at the SoHo Shopify space for Boden— a brand I’ve followed since I was a kid. The set up was absolutely incredible and I got some fun shots!

I then had another pop up that weekend for Summer Fridays. I’m a huge fan of the brand, so this one was super fun. On the first day of the pop up, I shot a private influencer event, and then the second day was open to the public. I go to a lot of beauty pop ups, and this one was pretty highly ranked in my opinion— so well done and I got to take home so many amazing products.

Additionally in the beauty realm, my shoot with Drunk Elephant in January went live, which was super exciting!

And beyond beauty, the images I shot of Claire Rosinkranz for NYOTA Magazine, also went live!

I also got reached out to for a super fun little job, photographing Angela Kote for her upcoming podcast! This one was super fun and I had a great time with the editing process— I printed and scanned the images and am SO happy with how they came out— super fun. I think I’m addicted to printing and scanning.

I also got to see the images I shot for Anya, for her brand Karo, go live! She edited them into a little lookbook style post, which I thought was super cool. I might even continue to play around with them and edit some more… waiting for the right inspiration to strike.

My next project for the month was working on pitching an editorial to Merde Magazine. I’ve had an idea I’ve wanted to bring to life for a while and so I’ve been working on compiling a team and deck, which has been super gratifying. It feels really good to be creative for fun (as editorials like this are often unpaid). I’m still waiting for final approval from the talent’s team, but my fingers are crossed!

I finished up the work week working on my pitch, and prepared to go into an insane work weekend. It started with a Friday night gig with NYLON Magazine, photographing an unnamed popstar on a night out/during her album release party. This night was SO fun and high energy, and I walked away having heard so much great music. I’m super excited for this one to go live, especially since I’ve been listening to her music nonstop.

The night out went quite late. I believe I finally got to bed around 3:00am, but then had to wake back up at 7:00am to make an 8:00am call time for an event with Target. Even though I was quite sleep deprived, I really enjoyed the event. Target had an aura photography/reading station, which I’ve always been curious about, but never experienced. I got my aura read— it’s pink/red/orange, which is always what I imagined it to be— and took some photos for Target’s internal use. I was only on site for a few hours, and then luckily had the opportunity to go home and have a very restful Saturday.

Then, on Sunday, I had a shoot that had been in the works for a month and a half for a kids’ food brand called Nomie. I had spent the weeks leading up to the shoot doing a ton of prep for this shoot, and I was really excited by the creative vision/moodboard, so there was lots of anticipation on this one. We spent a long day in New Jersey photographing several different children in a home and park setting. It was quite chaotic, but I think we ended up having some really good shots. I’m really excited to see the art director’s selection of photos and get to editing!

That weekend was super intense. I had the following Monday off, and then Tuesday was right back to it, with two events to photograph— one was an info session for a new beauty brand called Serotonin Beauty at one of my favorite places in NY— Fouquet’s! And then once that was finished, I quickly edited the photos and headed over to the Meatpacking district to shoot a tech company’s investor dinner. It was pretty routine, but a great way to end the month.

I can finally feel the momentum coming back to my work schedule and have super high hopes for what the coming months will hold. I’m slowly defrosting (we had our first 80 degree day), though I know that there’s still a few more weeks before it will be consistently warm. Happy to be done with the bulk of Winter and excited for what’s to come!

Other Random Shit I’ve Been Chewing On:

• My best friend Julia is moving out of New York and I am devastated. I always knew there would come a day when my friends would start moving out of the city but I wasn’t expecting it to be today.

• I really want to take a photo then print it as a puzzle, then assemble the puzzle. Stay tuned.

iPhone camera roll highlights:

xoxo,

jamiepixx

While the first two and a half weeks of the month were the slowest, I did get one of the more unique gigs I’ve ever had. I got asked by Journalist Danielle Robay to photograph a round table discussion with important thought leaders in NYC hosted by and at the home of Gloria Steinem. This was, obviously, an incredible once in a lifetime experience. Gloria’s Manhattan apartment was amazing. Homey and comfortable, it was intricately decorated with memorabilia from her iconic life. I love how it felt like a cozy, fabulous upper east side apartment, without being too over the top. It was really special to see the personal home of a living legend like Gloria.

The round table, moderated by Danielle and Eve Rodsky, was on the topic of masculinity, and several important figures, from famous actors like Amy Schumer and Kandi Buress to high-profile individuals like the commissioner of the Women’s National Soccer League, Jessica Berman and top tier divorce attorney, James Sexton. All and all, the room was filled with absolute icons and it was fascinating to hear such a thoughtful discussion about the way masculinity fits into feminism.

I got to take a couple portraits of Gloria, which was, of course, a huge honor. It was also fun to snap her with Amy Schumer!

This amazing gig was followed by many days of silence from the work world for me. I was anticipating getting some Fashion Week jobs that would come through, even though New York’s February Fashion Week has gotten notoriously less popular (it’s all about Paris!) in recent years. I even cancelled a trip to Marrakech that I had planned with a friend in anticipation of a lot of cool jobs coming up. However, I experienced a complete anomaly and did not get any fashion week inquires (besides a few influencers wanting me to photograph them before shows, but none of them ended up actually happening) except for a day-before request to shoot backstage at Kim Shui’s runway show. While I’m extremely happy to have been able to photograph Kim’s show, I, transparently, did it as a favor, meaning I did not make a single dime off of Fashion Week this season. Rough. Focusing on the positives though, I did take some shots I really liked at Kim’s pre-show and it was awesome to get the creative juices flowing again after a lull. Kim’s collection was to die for, as per usual, and the models were slaying, so overall, I’m super happy tow with the shots!

I also got to take some quick shots of the front row guests at the show.

The rest of Fashion Week brought a bit of grumpiness as I was frustrated at the lack of gigs and that I had cancelled my trip. However, I did my best to keep my head up and stay hopeful that more fun gigs would pop up before the end of the month. I did, after all, have one gig in my calendar for a couple weeks that was scheduled for the Wednesday after Fashion Week— a cover shoot for a friend’s publication, NYOTA. I was excited for this one because it was editorial and the Editor and Chief, Carol, was kind enough to allow me a lot of creative freedom, especially in the post production process. I had a blast with implementing in some mixed media aspects to the edit and once again felt fulfilled in my quest to experiment with editing techniques more. The final product turned out really great, and I can’t wait to share the photos when they go live on March 9th!

In effort to combat some of the boredom (I HATE even saying this, cause like, I should never be bored— I live in New York!!!!! But it’s just the truth…) I felt when work was slow, I was kept slightly entertained by (a very minimal amount of) traction on a few TikToks/IG reels I posted. One video in particular that I posted, which was one of the first I’ve ever done talking to the camera, did decently well on both platforms. Though it took a lot of courage for me to make/post (I just feel so awkward talking to the camera), it proved to be worthwhile as it helped my followings on both platforms significantly and even led to a couple new work inquiries. It really was just a lesson that I need to post more explaining my process because there are people out there who care! I’m gonna do my best to post more content like this even though it takes everything in me to make/post….

A couple days after the NYOTA shoot and while I was deep in an editing frenzy, I got a last minute text from a contact at Refinery 29, asking if I was available in a couple hours (that same day) to meet her in SoHo to photograph some supplementary imagery for a filming of the man-on-the-street style social media interview show, Streethearts with Tiff Ibarra, in collaboration with Target and two special real housewives Dorinda Medley and Dolores Catania. We spent a very chaotic couple of hours shooting on the (insanely busy) street outside of the Target on Broadway, and while the photos were quite simple, I’m happy with how they came out!

After the Target shoot, things started to seemingly pick up a bit… more inquiries, fewer days of total inbox silence…

A shoot I did back in September with Facebook Dating quietly went live, which was exciting since it was such a career milestone for me. While the campaign didn’t have a huge internet presence, it was wild posted around Houston, which is cool.

I then got a gig to photograph a Hypebeast party— it was the celebration of a collaboration between fashion houses Who Decides War and Kody Phillips. The energy and outfits of the party were super entertaining and I walked away with a few cool shots.

After the Hypebeast party, I had a few potential inquiries about work in the coming week and some super productive introductory calls that I hope lead to solidification of the gigs. There’s one lifestyle/editorial project that I’m especially excited for, that I’m praying comes into fruition.

I also heard from two good friends at the top of the week during the last few days of February. My friend Anya, who runs a creative studio called Karo, and is one of the most talented artists I know, asked me to shoot some pieces from her clothing line. Anya is seriously the blueprint for cool, talented artist girlies in NYC— I’m always in awe of the projects she’s working on, whether it be a pop up art show, cool brand deal, new merch drop, or stunning painting! Anya had me over to take a couple photos of her that she is going to use for one of her paintings (I am BEYOND excited to see how this comes out and feel so honored that she trusted me to help build the assets needed for one of her pieces) and then we worked with two models to photograph her clothing line. The clothes were dope— lots of fun graphics/bold texts with themes of imagination and dreaminess. The shoot was super fun and it was really exciting to work along side Anya, spitball ideas, and work so collaboratively. I’m excited to begin the editing process, and while the direction post production goes in is totally up to her, she was super keen to have me bounce editing ideas off of her. We’ll see what we come up with.

That same day, I hurried home after my shoot with Anya, got changed, and then went to meet my friend Bianca, head of brand at Lili Reinnhart’s skincare company, Personal Day, at a brand dinner in celebration of a new product launch. In the chic venue, Parcelle, Bianca, Lili, and the team threw an intimate 30 person dinner with an incredible guest list, including iconic it girls like Lola Tung, Avantika, Matilda Djerf, Willa Bennett, Tefi, Shannon Beveridge and more. The cocktail hour was super swanky and cute, and then I got to join everyone for a delicious dinner! After dinner (and once the wine was flowing) we had a super fun time shooting some glam photos and just being silly. Everyone had a lovely time and was so fun to hang with. It was probably the most fun I’ve had at work in a while— which is saying something given how jaded I have been feeling about event photography lately.

And I’m not gonna lie, I was majorly fangirling when Matilda Djerf (who was SO KIND) followed and DM’ed me the next day. She was so fab.

I stayed up quite late editing that night so that I could deliver the photos that same night and then crashed around 2:00am after an extremely long day. The next day, after tending to a few emails, I hopped on an evening flight to Arizona as I saw a couple of free days and knew I had to take advantage of them and get out of the cold. I was super excited to get to the desert— it truly is my happy place and one of the places I feel most photographically inspired. It was a much needed switch up from 30-something degree weather to 80-something degree weather. I’m so grateful.

Arizona was absolutely stunning and abnormally hot for this time of year. I happily enjoyed some peace and quiet in the desert for a few days and of course shot a roll of film and some digital photos. I’ll be working on editing and sharing them soon, so tuned!

Other random shit I’m chewing on:

• God give me the strength to continue making “talking-to-the-camera” content because… unfortunately… it works. I gained so many new followers from the videos I posted + even got a new work inquiry.

• It’s crazy how I get some sun and just realize everything’s going to be okay.

• I’m really manifesting a work trip to Tokyo. And I lowkey feel like it’s going to happen.

iPhone camera roll highlights:

xoxo,

jamiepixx

During my travels, I actually shot a lot less than I normally do on trips. I was really using the time to decompress and only shoot if I was feeling so called. That being said, I did of course want to capture the beauty there. I shot digital to capture the landscapes as well as a few rolls of film, which I double exposed and exposed to light to manipulate the colors. I wanted to do this because, while I love a good landscape shot, sometimes I think they can get a bit monotonous/basic. So, I decided to mess with the film a bit to keep it interesting.

My time at Apothefinca was lovely. It was technically an Artist’s Residency, though a much more lowkey version than the previous residency I did. Lucy and I spent the week talking all things osteopathy, art, wellness, life goals, and just getting to know each other. I also had the pleasure of meeting (and playing soccer with) Lucy’s 13 year old son, who was another pleasant reminder of how much I learn anytime I’m around children. The week was filled with relaxation, farm to table meals, bugs, morning runs, cold showers, meditation, and some quality time to really sit down and take care of some of the business development aspects of my work (taxes, outreach, shoot prep, etc). I also, of course, had to shoot a roll of film, though I wish I had deployed my Chile film method of double exposing the roll… next time!

By the middle of the month, I was back in freezing New York City, just in time to shoot my first project— the Valentine’s Day campaign for an influencer-owned brand, Phe Phe. When I was approached for this project and saw the moodboard, I immediately knew I had to do it. I was definitely nervous, as I knew it would involve more post production than I typically do on my shoots, but I was confident it would be a really great challenge.

The post production process was insane— I ended up individually printing and scanning each of the final images I made and going through about ~60 rounds of revisions over the course of 3 days. Definitely the most meticulous post production process I’ve ever been through.

There were some points where I was sweating— especially with two of the hero images, which featured the models superimposed on top of waffles. I had to get reallllly creative with this editing and it was worlds more intricate than anything I’ve ever created.

All and all, I think the images really worked, but it was certainly not easy to create them. Though I really like the waffle images, some of the others were actually my favorite— especially the hair curler shots and the “big/little” shot with the waffle.

All and all, the many, MANY hours of work and countless printed images all paid off, as the client and I were both super happy with the end product.

After the Phe Phe shoot, I had another shoot on the docket. This one was totally different, and for a major skincare brand that I’ve worked with before, but only ever on events. I was super excited to work with this team on the editorial side of things, even though we had to be outside in the literal freezing streets of Manhattan for the majority of the shoot. I can’t wait for it to come out next month.

I then had a bit of time to lay low and flee the city to the suburbs of Pennsylvania to endure the record-breaking snow storm, which was a great opportunity to buckle down do some outreach.

To wrap up the month, I shot an influencer dinner with Velvet Caviar, once again returning to my event roots. It’s always super cool to see how all-out these brands go for their influencers!

It was a semi-slow month, but with two great editorial projects. I’m proud that I really pushed myself in the editing realm and definitely will be riding the high of the Phe Phe shoot for awhile.

Other random shit I’m chewing on:

• I’ve been back in NYC for two weeks and already want to leave again. I’m not built for this cold.

• I realllllly want to throw an art show this Spring, but I need a sponsor. Anyone want to cough up like $20,000? Lmk.

• Something I really want to get better at is managing the anxiety I get during the pre and post production processes. I get so worked up and uptight and need to be better at just going with the flow and trusting that it will work out, even if I anticipate roadblocks.

A short and sweet entry this month :)

iPhone Camera Roll Highlights:

xoxo,

jamiepixx

December is, of course, the month of holiday parties, so I knew I was bound to have a few of those pop up on my work radar. While, as I’ve said, I am trying to do less event capture in general, I figured December was the time to surrender and go with the flow, saying yes to more event gigs than I normally would.

That being said, however, my first job of the month was actually not an event… I’m sort of… not even really sure how to categorize the shoot even. I got approached by Masterclass, who asked me to photograph a sort of physical pop up they built in celebration of the release of Kim Kardashian’s Masterclass episode. The team built 10-foot-tall metal “Kimmandments” that were erected in the early hours of the morning of December 4th outside of the Oculus building in the Financial District. Thus, my job was to arrive at the Kimmandments before sunrise to document them. So, on that morning, I woke up at 5:30 a.m., was on my way to the Oculus by 6:00, and even though it was absolutely freezing and I could not feel my fingers, I photographed the statues. By sunrise I was set up inside the Oculus at a coffeeshop with a member of the Masterclass team selecting and editing, preparing the photos to go live that same day. I was able to wrap the project around 9:30am and get home by 10:00am for a nap.

It was quite the morning and I felt like I lived 1000 lives, but there wasn’t much time to dwell on that, because that night I was set to shoot a holiday party for Reebok. I absolutely love the Reebok team— they’re so chill and always make sure I’m well taken care of. They threw a gorgeous cocktail party at The Corner Store, and it was fun to see some familiar faces and chow on the restaurant’s incredible hors d'oeuvres. It was quite a long day, but all went smoothly and I was happy with the images I produced.

The next day was the day my first magazine cover for Nylon went live! We shot this editorial of Adriatique on Halloween and I have been stoked about it ever since. I was so excited for this to go live, and seeing a magazine with, “Photographed by Jamie Pearl” printed on the cover image was one of the most surreal moments of my life. I honestly just felt so insanely proud of myself. I thought it would be years before I would accomplish something like this. It was also awesome to know that they were in print and circulation all over Miami for Art Basel. I hope there are many more cover shoots to come!!

Next up was a weekend event— a gathering for Carhartt WIP, celebrating the publication of a book they sponsored called, “Sedimental Works”. Carhartt held a reading at the acclaimed diner, Food by Lucien Smith, where they had several of the book’s co-authors read excerpts of their writing.

After the Carhartt event, I had a moment to breathe. I mostly worked on a couple licensing deals I have with Google Photos and Pinterest! If you look at the Google Photos IG account, you can see a lot of my images sprinkled throughout their postings. I have yet to see how my Pinterest images will be used, but I know there’s a possibility of them being used in an OOH campaign, so that’s exciting.

I also had time to finalize my website, which was major. I’ve been working on it for about a year now, so to see it in its final form is really exciting. I’m going to share it on Instagram soon, which I’m pumped about! I worked with Aidan at Studio Adonis to design a site I thought was very me— colorful, maximalist yet refined, and photo-forward.

During the excitement of redoing my website, I also got back my roll of film from Spain— the one that I shot the rest of Jesi’s nude nature photoshoot on. I love these shots and I’m glad I have them, but I still do prefer the original ones. I think the post production process of adding the dried flowers really makes the series special, so I’m glad I did that for the first round.

Heading into the second week of the month, I had two events on my calendar— one for Lobos 1017 in conjunction with Service95, Dua Lipa’s book club, and one for NARS. Though I knew I probably wouldn’t get much access to Dua herself as I was just shooting for a sponsor of the event, I was super excited to just be in the popstar’s presence. The event was a live recording of the Dua’s book club’s podcast in conversation with Mark Ronson, as the book they were discussing was Mark’s book, “Night People”. Hearing the two musical legends chat was super interesting and only gave me more respect for Dua. She’s not only such an incredible singer, but an incredibly well spoken orator. Plus, her beau Callum Turner was in attendance, who I’m also a huge fan of. The event was quite easy to capture, but the photos weren’t particularly interesting, as it was more of the atmosphere of the event rather than portraits. I was able to snap some portraits of Dua, but her PR team rejected them, so I can’t share them— a common reality of working with celebrities. Bummer. But still love ya, Dua!!

For my final gig of the year, I went back to The Corner Store (yes, the waiters remembered me) for an event with NARS. A chic sit-down dinner, I just photographed the cocktail hour leading up to the meal and got to chat around and eat more delicious food. They had a really cool lipstick engraving station in the room that I thought was a super cute momento to take home from the event.

The event was super chill and a great way to finish work for the year. That left me with about a week before I left New York, which was the perfect time to catch up on emails and pack everything up. I was headed to Chile for two weeks and then Nicaragua for two weeks(?) after that, so packing for a whole month was quite the task. To make the task of packing even more daunting, I came down with a nasty cold. Between that and the snowfall, it was a very quiet week inside for me. I did, however, get to see some of my work in “the wild”.

Coors sent me some images of my billboards in Dallas, D.C., and Chicago.

I came across my Facebook ads while swiping through Instagram.

I even happened upon an image I shot of Victor Wembanyama in 2023 (my first major shoot) on a truck passing by. I had never seen my photo on a truck— only a billboard in the past— so that was pretty cool!

My sick/packing/inside/seeing work in the wild week was some great down time. I also really got the chance to reflect on what exactly this Substack is. More than anything, I’ve landed on the fact that it really is just a diary entry— a record; a documentation of my life. Groundbreaking stuff, I know. But I’ve always been interested in the idea of documentation— it’s one of my driving motivators in my photography and has been a theme in my work since my early days as an artist.

I started to understand this fascination of mine when I was in college, and for my final project in my photography class, I decided to create a record of my life at the moment, that I called “Document 21” (21 was my age at the time). I’m obsessed with making psychical proof of something— be it a good memory or just a piece of proof that I existed.

In a similar vein, I’ve saved countless physical objects, from journals and handwritten notes, to jewelry and sentimental clothes, all organized neatly, labeled, and stowed away in boxes in my childhood bedroom. I save everything in hopes of creating the ultimate document of my life, mostly for myself. So, I guess this Substack is just another form of documentation… again, mostly for myself, cause I mean, honestly, is anyone actually even reading till the end of this thing??

Anyway… though my cold followed me to Chile, the trip was absolutely incredible. My family and I visited salt flats and sand dunes in the Atacama Desert, lived amongst the wildlife and learned about the ancient stone statues on Easter Island, and generally just had a lovely vacation full of hiking, exploration, relaxation, backgammon, and cousin shenanigans. Since, for once, I am not on a deadline to edit the photos I shot there, I’ll share them in the new year…

Other random shit I’ve been chewing on this month:

• I LOVE SOUTH AMERICA. It is just the absolute MOVE in the winter when it’s cold in the states. There are so many new countries I want to explore there. Chile is my 38th country visited :)

• This is the first end-of-year where I really have absolutely no idea what next year will bring.

iPhone Camera Roll Highlights:

xoxo,

jamiepixx

Whew. The kick off of this month was fast and furious. I started out by being asked to hop on a Saturday call with a talent agency to pitch me a project for a major makeup brand (on a time crunch), which really set the tone for the fast-paced-ness of the month. Whipping together a budget with my producer friend Nem is always exciting, so we worked to build out the bones of this project. Hoping it comes into fruition…

Then, on the 3rd I got to reconnect with my lovely friends at Cult Gaia ahead of the CFDA awards. We shot before the awards last year with founder Jasmin Larian and her guest, Taylor Hill, and it was a ball. Hanging with VIP ahead of their major events is some of my favorite work to shoot— the fashion and glam is always so inspiring and the chicness of it all is just plain fun. This year I shot in Tribeca with Jasmin and Morgan Stewart, and then hopped in a sprinter with them to pick up and photograph Nina Dobrev and Barbara Palvin. We then headed to drop them off at the awards on the Upper East Side, where I popped out of the car and shot their entrance. It was absolute chaos and I got yelled at several times (I definitely pissed off some paparazzi to get the shot) but I was really happy with what I captured. I then hopped in the sprinter with Celeste from the Cult Gaia team, dropped her off in Tribeca, and then had the whole back of the sprinter (full party lights and everything) to myself for my drive back to Brooklyn.

Then came the race to edit everything in time for everyone to post after the event. I sat for a solid three hours and meticulously edited the photos. I wanted to give each subject a ton of different options because I know how particular we can all be about the way we look in photos. It’s always hard to know what makes someone think they look good in a photo or not. So, about 200 fully edited photos, 3 and half listens of Lily Allen’s new album, and a box of Goodles Mac and Cheese later, I sent out the images to Celeste who relayed the message that Jasmin was super happy with them. That always feels good. I set my alarm for a bit earlier than usual that night— 8:00am (don’t judge)— so that I could be up and ready to tend to any additional needs the client may have regarding the photos so that they could have ample time to post on Instagram. Luckily, I didn’t have too many adjustments to make in the morning and I could begin browsing the Cult Gaia website to pick out the gifting the team was kind enough to offer me. I landed on the Wren Boot and Perla shoulder bag. I’m beyond excited.

The next day, I was surprised to receive an email from a producer I didn’t know asking me to shoot a project for Molson Coors— it was the same *major beverage company* that I had pitched to, but not been awarded, last month! After chatting with the producer, it turned out that a different agency was going to take on the shoot, and my amazing photographer friend Henry Koranos had gotten asked to shoot it, but was busy and suggested me! So then I was back into it prepping with Nem and bringing a team together to shoot quite quickly, as it was a Thanksgiving/Christmas shoot.

I didn’t have too much time to dwell on the details and kind of insane coincidence of getting the Coors job back because I had to get ready to photograph an event for Maccapani— Margarita Missoni’s new clothing line. I’m a huge fan of Missoni and have always considered the line to be one of my favorite designers, so I was thrilled to work on a project so adjacent to them. The amazing Savi PR team hired me and it was so, so fun to work with them— there are few things in this world that I love more than PR girlies.

The venue for the event was really unique— a gorgeous, intimate art gallery on the Upper East Side. It was very luxe and beautifully staged. The clothes were absolutely gorgeous. As I said to Margarita after we finished shooting her portraits, it was so cool to get to see the O.G. Missoni inspiration come through in her pieces.

The event was fabulous. Every single person in attendance was dressed to the nines and effortlessly cool. Some major names like Derek Blasberg, Olympia of Greece, and Wes Gordon came through. Everyone was having an amazing time and loved the clothes. The event was definitely a success. It was also interesting because it was the first event I’d photographed in quite awhile. Back in May, I started to say no to more and more events, as I realized I felt way more fulfilled shooting editorial and fashion photography. There is something about putting a flash in someone’s face while they’re trying to enjoy themselves at a party that was really getting old for me. Don’t get me wrong, for the sake of my industry, it needs to be done, but I just started getting uncomfortable being the one doing so. In shooting events I also would not be able to make images that I was as proud of, seeing as a lot of them were on a whim and had to be shot extremely quickly. Shooting editorial allows me to create photos with much more intention and care, as I’m not (as) rushed and my subjects are also showing up with the intention of shooting, rather than partying and letting me snap quick photos of them…

That being said, it did feel good to exercise the event photography muscle again— especially with such fabulous guests. I even got to chat with a couple friends who were invitees. Lots of Italian was spoken, gorgeous outfits were everywhere, and I happily put in my order for some gorgeous pieces: the Hoodess, the Baby T, the Gerli Skirt, and the Cher Cardigan.

The next morning was, of course, a mad dash to edit the images and send them off, as I was informed they were being shared with Vogue for a story. This was super exciting as it was my first Vogue feature— definitely a milestone moment.

I sent the Missoni photos off, chilled for a bit, and then needed to start getting prepped for my next event— a, much chiller, lowkey, but equally as cool, event with Ilana Torbiner and Still Here New York at Still Here’s Upper East Side store. Once again, everyone was dressed impeccably— so many stunning fashion girlies with the chicest, most refined outfits. Your textbook Uptown Cool Girls. I shot a ton and even got my pick of a few products. I’m most excited about my Cool jeans, which are insanely comfortable and I think are becoming my new go-to jeans.

After a long train ride back to Brooklyn and a quick dinner I was able to edit and send off the images pretty promptly.

I finished the week off with a few pre-production meetings with Molson Coors, some in-depth edits of the cover shoot from last month (I cannot WAIT to share this!!), and admiring the images from the Susan Alexandra Judaica shoot that had gone live.

I definitely was on another career high, having loved what I shot in the past weeks, so I took time to journal/draw/reflect on the pride I felt.

The next week began with me seeing my images from my shoot with the aforementioned major tech company (Meta!) live on Facebook, which was super exciting.

I then had my shoot for Molson Coors. It was quite the sprint— we shot a 10 hour day with about a ~30 person crew in a townhouse in Brooklyn. On a tight schedule, we moved incredibly quickly and even had an on site retoucher to prefect the photos so that they could be sent off for printing that same day. The shoot was really tiring but I was very happy with the images. I can’t wait to see them live, as they’ll live not only on social media, but on billboards and bus shelters in various major cities.

I’m glad the shoot went well and had me in a good mood, because when we wrapped the day, I had an email in my inbox telling me that I did not get the makeup brand bid. This is always disappointing, especially since I was really liking the creative, but I did my best to just focus on the win that was the Coors shoot.

Finishing the Coors shoot felt like the end of a very long sprint of work madness. After I stepped off set that day, I felt a huge sense of relief, as I didn’t have any other shoots coming up. I knew that the coming two weeks before Thanksgiving were going to be quite chill for me, which I really needed. I spent the week catching up on invoicing and editing, relaxing and embracing the rapid temperature drop by staying cozied up inside. I was also thrilled to get back the final assets from the Coors shoot, which I was super happy with! It’s always fun to see my images with the branded overlays on them.

I also got to see the mockups of the billboards, which was super cool. I’m still waiting on seeing actual photos of the billboards.

In my chilling before Thanksgiving, I had three things to accomplish before the holiday: buy a new travel camera (I decided on the Fujifilm XT50 and the super tiny, cool Godox iM20 mini flash), record the podcast I had been invited on, and prepare for my week long trip to Spain for my artist residency, for which I departed on the 23rd.

Being invited to speak on a podcast was super cool. I’m not much of an orator— it’s sometimes hard for me to think on my toes and find the right words, so I thought it’d be good practice for me to talk about myself and my work. Each podcast episode, hosted by Dan Riley, interviews an artist living in New York. While I’m a bit nervous for the episode to come out (I cringe every time I hear a recording of my voice), I think it was a really good experience and I felt honored that someone wanted to take the time to interview me.

The biggest task of the week was to prepare for my trip to Spain. I’m lucky enough to have been to Spain many times, starting with when my parents took my sister and I to live there for a year when I was 13, but this trip was going to be different. I was going to Spain, to a small farm outside the southern town of Almería, to participate in my first Artist in Residency at Joya AiR. At this point I had spent hours on Joya’s website trying to understand/predict what the experience was going to be like. I found Joya through an internet deep dive of research— I wanted to participate in a short (one week) residency somewhere during the week of Thanksgiving, because I knew work would be slow. Leading up to leaving, I was quite nervous. I didn’t fully know what I was getting myself in to. I packed as lightly as I possibly could, bringing as few clothing items as possible, as well as my sketchpad, markers/pens, my film camera and a few rolls of film, my new Fujifilm, a book, and my computer. Though I was generally unsure of what to expect from the residency, I knew that my goal for the week was to finish up my website, which has now been 11 months in the making, work on more photographs for my ongoing Desert Study series, generally disconnect from my phone/the world, meditate, read, draw, and relax. All this, and of course, meet other artists from around the world.

Joya AiR was originally an abandoned farmhouse in the mountains that the owner, Simon Beckmann, and his wife transformed into a flourishing, eco-friendly artist residency about 20 years ago. The renovated farm house is truly amazing. Stunningly decorated with white wash walls and concrete floors, every piece of furniture and art is perfectly curated. There’s even a farm dog, Frida, who roams about.

The property is quite isolated and while the sun shined most every day, the Spanish winter was slowly creeping in, a chill accompanying the blue skies. Even though a lot of the agriculture was dying due to temperature drops, the views were still beautiful and the flora extremely inspiring photographically.

I spent just under a week in this special place and it is truly an experience I’ll never forget. My fellow artists, 8 women from around the world (the U.K., Spain, the Netherlands, Czech Republic, Japan, and Canada), were incredibly welcoming and generally just amazing individuals. Having dinner all together every night was definitely a highlight of mine. It’s always refreshing to be exposed to people who you may otherwise, if not for a particular experience, never encounter in life. I’m so grateful to have met these women and learned about their artist processes and lives. I’ll never forget walking in the door of Joya after a brutal travel day (7 hour flight, 4 hour layover, 2 hour flight, 2 hour drive…) to all the women sitting around the fire, laughing and drinking wine before dinner, and feeling so welcomed and incredibly grateful that this was the scene I had entered into.

One of my fellow artists, Jesi, struck me immediately as someone who I wanted to photograph. Down for anything, Jesi let me pose her in the nature on the property, nude. I’ve been wanting to shoot nude portraits outdoors for quite some time now, having been inspired by one of my first favorite photographer’s, Francesca Woodman’s, work.

We had a ball shooting. Jesi was such an incredible model and helped me execute my vision perfectly. The post production process was fun too— I found scan of flowers that I had dried way back in 2017, and used those to censor the images. It was cool knowing that those flower scans were mine, and not just some random flower from the internet. It made the images feel more personal.

I got such a creative rush from this shoot and also shot a whole roll of film that I can’t wait to get developed when I’m back in the city.

From the residency, I packed up and hopped on a bus to Granada, where I spent two nights before I had to fly back to New York. Being solo in the little Spanish town was a dream. It really reminded me how much I like traveling alone. I shopped my heart out in the markets there and bought sooo many fun leather pieces.

All in all, November was an especially great month, closely rivaling October (one of my favorite months of the year)! I’m back in the city just in time for December to creep in… I’ll keep you posted!

Other random shit I’ve been chewing on this month:

• I, of course, missed my family during holiday, but I really do like traveling during Thanksgiving week because it’s one of the few times of the year I can schedule a trip and be nearly certain that I won’t get some last minute work request that results in me cancelling my plans.

• Fashion Week coincides with President’s Day Weekend this year………… ugh

• Is winter going to suck? I actually weirdly have hope that it won’t? I guess it’s also never really “winter” proper that gets me… it’s end of February-April. Stay tuned.

• I’m SO close to being done with my website. I’ve literally been working on it for 11 months. Just a few final tweaks and I’ll be there!!! Can’t wait to share.

iPhone Camera Roll Highlights:

xoxo,

jamiepixx

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All the coolest/trendiest girls I know (shoutout theee It Girl Bailey Taylor and of course Ms. Kelsey Busted Malone) have informed me that Substack is indeed the hottest media form and that I have to partake. So, I chewed on what/how exactly I should write for awhile, and I’ve landed on a monthly round up/diary of sorts to start. (I think) This will encompass everything related to photography + feelings about my job + travel + other cool things I get myself into and hopefully be an alternative to vlogging my life… because while I do think I have a ton of cool stuff to share, saying, “Hi guys, it’s Jamie” to my iPhone camera is just simply not going to work for me (no shade to those who it does work for, just doesn’t come naturally out of my mouth).

So let’s start with October 2025.

Having just come off a last minute trip to Austin with a major tech company, I got hired again (by the same company) to kick off October in Vancouver for a six day shoot. My longest/biggest/highest budget/shoot yet— super exciting. This shoot was a definitely a career milestone !! I’ve never worked on such a big project and honestly, just felt so important on set. This induced a sort of high for me that I experience every time I work on a big project/something I feel creatively inspired by (this being the former). The high tends to last awhile and, while generally positive, sometimes makes me experience these weird mood swings where I have trouble processing that I am, in fact, getting what I want; my dreams are, in fact, coming true. The last time I went through this familiar feeling was February, and then before that Fall of 2024, so I’m no stranger to it. I feel invincible yet vulnerable, happy yet deeply existential.

When I was on my fourth day of the six day shoot in Vancouver, the producer asked if I would come back next month to shoot part II of the same project. I was thrilled and this definitely contributed to that feeling of invincibility and… honestly… smugness (what can I say, I’m a Leo). My ego had definitely been stroked.

I got back to New York from the shoot and continued on with my life, having a couple shoots in my calendar but nothing crazy. I continued to communicate with the team about the early November shoot, sending through my availability and quote estimate. About a week passed and I decided to check in with them, as our email chain had gone a bit quiet. They informed me, to my surprise, that they were actually going to go with another photographer for this project, as they were bringing in a new creative team that wanted to work with someone they had previously collaborated with. While this totally makes sense and my producer assured me they loved working with me and were super happy with the imagery, it was still upsetting. I had been counting my chickens before they hatched and used the job and my assumed re-hiring as ego fuel. I had told my parents, my friends, my cousins… everyone close to me, how excited I was to be returning for another project. I took a lot of pride in it. Accepting that I had lost that job was humbling. It brought me back down to earth and snapped me out of that high I’d been riding for the past couple weeks. I still felt good about my previous work with the company, but there was something sobering about how seemingly effortlessly my reign with them was cut short. It served as kind of a reminder that even when things are good and seemingly consistent in freelance world, they can be taken from you at anytime, reinforcing the difficult truth that you can never get too comfortable in this profession, as there is virtually no security in most gigs.

To add insult to injury, I also had spent the previous weekend building a pitch for a major beverage company that I had been reached out to by an agency to bid on. I poured my heart into the bid deck— working Saturday night and all of Sunday to build out a presentation I was super proud of. I sent it off only to hear back shortly after that the team was going to use someone internal at the beverage company for the shoot. Again, totally makes sense, and is part of the game, but losing projects you’re excited about // ones that have the potential to pay your rent for months never gets easier.

After a day of lamenting (I didn’t leave my apartment all day— I think I took a grand total of 13 steps until about 6pm when I peeled myself off my couch and took a walk) I did what I try to do whenever something out of my control happens— release it to the universe. After all, it wasn’t the end of the world— I had still gotten two great shoots out of the major tech company, made a great chunk of change, and gotten to experience a huge career milestone. All was well.

On the positive end of things, this month I also got to launch probably my favorite shoot of the year that we completed at the end of August— the podcast cover shoot + promo imagery for the influencer Brianna Chickenfry’s podcast via Barstool.

This shoot was awesome because I was really, really excited about the creative from a fashion perspective and was also pumped to have a photo be used in such a ubiquitous way.

I really hope to do more shoots like this. Hopefully this is a good omen that soon I’ll get to accomplish my dream of shooting a musician’s album cover…

I also got reached out to by my producer friend Molly with Merde to work with her influencer client Ellie Thumann on a Halloween shoot. I absolutely loved the moodboard Molly put together, so was stoked for this one, and I must say, it came out great. I was particularly proud of myself for the post production on these— I edited/retouched more than I ever have in the past and really pushed myself. My bestie Andie said the photos look like my version of an Amber Asaly portrait— the ultimate compliment seeing as Amber is my favorite photographer of all time.

It seems to have been my lucky month with fun shoots because later on in the month I got asked by Susan Alexandra to shoot their Juadaica holiday line. This shoot was beyond special for so many reasons. Since I moved to New York 4 years ago, I’ve been manifesting a shoot with Susan Alexandra. Susan Korn, an amazing Jewish entrepreneur and all around chic downtown cool-girl, owns the most gorgeous, colorful, maximalist jewelry + homeware line. Our aesthetics align so well and I’ve quite literally been emailing her since I set foot in New York trying to work with her!

Susan invited me to shoot her Fashion Week show last fall which was a ball, but I knew after then that I HAD to shoot something editorial for her, so it was super special to actually make it happen. The pieces were absolutely stunning and so was our lovely model, Rabbi Arielle Stein. This was my second time hanging with Arielle— we were actually on the same brand trip for another Jewish organization, Shtick, a couple months ago and we hit it off immediately. I can confidently say Arielle is probably one of the coolest people I’ve ever met. Naturally gorgeous, 34 years old, tatted up, effortlessly fashionable and just one of those people who has a calming, beautiful, grounding aura about them, Arielle is simply the best. When we went on our trip together she told me all about her journey in becoming a Rabbi, her past endeavors in art history, and her relationship to Judaism and spirituality. Arielle’s the type of person who you just know will tell you everything going to be okay… and you genuinely believe her. So, being around both her and the creative genius that is Susan Korn, we had an absolute blast at our little photoshoot. I can’t wait to share the photos next month.

I spent the week busily editing the Susan Alexandra Judacaia shoot (and of course obsessing over the gorgeous jewelry pieces Susan gifted me) and then headed to Posh VIP’s gorgeous space in SoHo to shoot their founders’ portrait. I’m usually more comfortable shooting female subjects, so whenever I do get the opportunity to shoot male subjects, like I did for this shoot, I really use it as an opportunity to soak in the experience. We took some cool portraits, vibed in the space for a bit, and then I took off.

I woke up the next day to an email titled “URGENT Photographer | EyeBuyDirect x Billie Eilish Suite OCT 25”. I barely got through reading the whole email before I responded “I’m in!!!!”. A PR company representing EyeBuyDirect was asking me if I could join them in their suite and capture content of influencers at the concert. The influencers were all lovely and super fun to chat with. The suite was gorgeous. The food was hitting. And the concert… the concert was magical. Dare I say one of the best I’ve ever been to? I’ve also never heard screaming fans the way I did at Billie’s concert. I sang my little heart out, snapped some pics with my trusty Sony RX100 vii and took home a handful of super fun frames from EyeBuyDirect. That left me with a pretty strong feeling of gratitude— what do you mean I got paid to attend the Billie Eilish concert in a suite!!!?

For (what I thought was) my final shoot of the month, I was asked to photograph a Cool Moms event with Ilana Glazer. While I’ve been trying to do less event work, I simply could not turn down an opportunity to photograph THE Ilana Glazer. I’m a such a huge fan of hers (die hard Broad City lover over here) so was super excited to get her in front of the camera. She was lovely (not surprising) and it was super cool to hear her talk about being a modern mother.

As the month was about to wrap up I got an urgent email request for a next day shoot— an editorial and cover for a major magazine. I couldn’t believe it. I was beyond stressed since I had to pull together a team with such short notice and this was definitely the biggest magazine shoot I’d ever done. I’d worked with the magazine team before and knew the team well, but felt a lot of pressure because I wanted to impress them and show that I could handle bigger shoots like this. It ended up going well and again triggered a major work high… we’ll see where this goes…

Other random shit I’ve been chewing on this month:

I’m in dire need of the motivation/discipline to post video content + generally grow my IG following. I’ve known for awhile that the most logical (and financially sensible) next step in my career would be to work on building a following so that I can partake in brand deals // become more attractive as a photo candidate because of both my brand and my work, rather than just my work… this means working against my age old struggle of being a bit shy to share my face on the Internet… especially TikTok. I get bursts of motivation sometimes but then quickly realize how non-conducive posting short form videos is to my artist flow— it just doesn’t come naturally to me the way snapping photos does.

iPhone Camera Roll Highlights:

xoxo,

jamiepixx