JC: Thank you. Photography didn’t show up until later in my life. Later than most of our colleagues, at least. Looking back at high school and early college, photography wasn’t anywhere on my radar, in the slightest. But, I was incredibly passionate about storytelling and presentation. I was pre-med in college, and would put so much time and effort into the presentations I was giving. How things looked, layout of information, I was obsessed with it. The first internship I got was at one of the best teaching hospitals in Cambodia. It’s sort of ironic because the hospital was founded by a National Geographic photographer who got injured capturing some of the temples out there. Some kids led him to a hospital, and he eventually went back and founded his own. There’s a gallery in it that has exhibited some amazing photographers. But leaving that experience, I was less attracted to the idea of being a doctor, and more moved to connecting with people through stories. It really opened my eyes to other opportunities outside of the medical sphere. I ended up switching over to a communication studies major, and really began exploring the realms of visual storytelling. But photography didn’t really present itself to me until my graduate school days. I got my master’s degree in Public Health at UMass Amherst. My thought behind it was that it could only benefit me, and it’d make things easier if I wanted to go to med school. But I bought a camera to document my move to the east coast, and immediately became hooked. I was taking pictures of my dogs and my neighborhood, and could feel the power of the medium. I started taking on shooting weddings, and began making some money from it. I ended up writing my graduate thesis on photography; studying the effects of giving cameras to different focus groups and exhibiting what they documented.

MW: That sounds amazing.

JC: Yeah, it was really special. I ended up graduating and moving back to San Francisco. Really unsure of what to do: Should I pursue photography? Even though I just got this degree in Public Health? I did a shoot for this emerging platform that helped unsigned models get work, called Model Mayhem. I remember having such high hopes for that day, and seemingly everything went wrong. I left feeling even more confused. A week later though, I got a call from some small boutique agencies that needed headshots and model photos. Before I knew it, I was scheduling a shoot for almost every day. I just really put 100% into it. I forged really strong relationships with those agencies, and any time they had talent coming from New York, they would always send it my way. The agencies in New York that would eventually get my photos reached out to me and said if I was ever around that there would be work for me. And this was around 2010. I quickly realized that I had two directions: I could go to New York, or I could go to LA, and really pursue this and see it through. I talked to my wife, girlfriend at the time, and we ended up moving to Brooklyn. A four-month sublet turned into an eight-year stay.

MW: You know, growing up for me, I picked up a film camera when I was 14 or 15 because I was really inspired by people a little older than me on Instagram taking really amazing photos. This was like 2012, 2013, where Instagram really felt like a platform made for creatives. But your story is kind of the opposite it seems. Like you said, photography was hardly on your radar. Did you ever worry about being a late bloomer or coming into it after your contemporaries?

JC: No, it was never a thought that crossed my mind. Mainly because at the time, I didn’t have any contemporaries. I wasn’t around anyone doing anything creatively. I didn’t even have an understanding of how photographers made money. But it was probably for the better. It’s easy to be discouraged when you’re comparing yourself. I put all my time and attention into making opportunities exist.

MW: Definitely. If we fast-forward to the present, you’ve been making images for about a decade now. Have you landed on an ideal image, or visual style? Or is that still something you’re reaching for?

JC: It’s a good question. At the end of the day, photography for me is a tool to connect and get a glimpse of how people are living. That’s always been the driving force for me. So if one of my photos can evoke a feeling, or convey a way of living, then in my mind it’s done its job. Ultimately the camera is a mirror, in my opinion. It should reflect the state of whatever environment you’re capturing.

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