Success in new York at the age of 20!

We all have pre-conceived notions about how the photography industry works! Now living in New York, Joey has cut a meteoric path to the top breaking every possible rule we could imagine!  Yes! Joey Lawrence really is 20 years old, has technique DVD’s that are the real thing and is successful with both Commercial and Fine Art photography. All of this, during a period of unprecedented economic difficulty.

The natural question is “HOW” but the answer is anything but what you would expect. Joey may be young but he might best be described as an old soul with a passion and ideas that are inspirational.

Walter Borchenko:  So why are you a photographer?

JOEY L. I don't know, I'm not really good at anything else. All my interesting stories, things that have ever happened to me, my interesting experiences, life experiences have all happened because of photography; they've all happened because I'm trying to get a picture.

So in a way I don't really have a job because photography is my life. I don't separate the two from each other. I always have something to work on — it's not like I can work 9 to 5 and then get off work and then go home. It's just always a constant thing, and it's been like that since I was 16.

Walter Borchenko:  So who's your inspiration if we look historically?

JOEY L.  I really like the work of Edward Curtis and what he did with the Native Americans. I think he was one of the first, not the only one, but one of the first to photograph people like that, in the way that he did, in the sense of the dignity that he did.

Edward Curtis's style wasn't very photo-journalistic. It was more fine art, I think. It was more un-approached, where you are looking at the actual person instead of what they're doing. It wasn't about the pottery that they were making that day; it was about the person's face. That’s what I really like to do as well. So I think if Edward Curtis shot today, I think we could probably have some interesting conversations and probably and hopefully be on the same talking plane.

Walter Borchenko:  Would you say that you're not taking a neutral stance when you're taking a portrait of a person? You're taking a stand, making an emotional connection and you're bringing it forth.

JOEY L.  Yes, like you're taking a picture of the actual person versus documenting what they're doing — there's a big difference. I think photojournalists have their place and they definitely do very important work, but my style of work (although the subject matter is the same) is completely different.

Walter Borchenko:  What do you do that makes this happen? What's it about for you? How do you get there?

JOEY L.  It all just comes in the approach and how you shoot. I shoot really, really slowly. It takes a long time for me to get people comfortable with me. The way I shoot can be very intrusive if it's not done the right way. I use a lot of studio lighting on location and things like that. So I can't just show up, for example, to some of these villages and some of these tribal communities with all this gear and expect to shoot, because you're not going to get very good images at all if they don't trust you. So I just have to work really, really slowly, and when you do that you get to know people — and the photo?  Instead of you just taking a photo of somebody and that's your photo, it's going to be a collaboration between the subject and yourself.

Walter Borchenko:  How long does it take to break down that barrier? Like in the case of your current show, was that all shot as one sequence of images with one trip?

JOEY L.  No, it was two trips. The first trip I did, I spend two months in Ethiopia. The second trip, to finish, was three weeks, which was a lot easier because everybody knew me already. Sometimes you can go a few days and then you feel comfortable enough to actually bring out the gear. I'm not talking about the subjects being uncomfortable. I'm also talking about myself, like when do I feel comfortable enough that I can get out studio lights and actually be able to make a good picture. If I can't do that then there is no point in even trying to photograph because you're going to get something fake, that as soon as somebody looks at the picture, they're going to realize like "okay, your subject didn't trust you".

It can take a few days sometimes hopefully, or sometimes it can take a few weeks. I spent some time in Indonesia living with the Mentawai Tribe and I had to sleep on their porch for a week before I could take anything, just because I wanted them to trust me before. They always know that I'm a photographer, and they always know that I'm there to get photos, but it's always appreciated more when you bring up concepts that are important to them, if you participate in exactly what they do. So I always like to do that first.

Walter Borchenko:  Do you study the people you go to visit beforehand? How do you approach it?

JOEY L.  Of course! Yes, extensively. I've never gone to a university or college or anything like that. I'm all self-taught. So before I go to a place like that I read a lot of books and contact anthropologists that have been to the area before, or explorers that have been to the area before. I think it separates you a lot, because in the south of Ethiopia they've seen visitors before. I'm not a very rare occurrence. They've seen a lot of people like me. But a lot of the times they don't see is people like me asking them questions about their religion or asking them questions that only their people would know. So when you become interested in asking them questions like that, then they become very interested in you — it's like "how did you know that". They understand that you're there for a different reason than the rest.

Walter Borchenko: Are you only concentrating on the fine art or do you have a commercial side happening?

JOEY L.  It started out with the commercial work. I was a kid in high school and we used to go on tour with metal bands in America and shoot them for different music magazines and things like that. I used that to build my first portfolio, which translates into the television and movie work that I'm doing now. All the while I would always make sure to do my own personal work.

I do sell pictures and I sell prints in a fine art environment. Doing my personal work helps my commercial work as well, because a lot of people find out about me through all my personal trips, because I feel it's better work.  So if I go and meet a client, for example, and I show them my personal work. They see a couple of things, they see that even when I'm not shooting commercially, I'm still shooting and they remember me. I think a personal series is more interesting than just doing only money jobs. So it all helps and it all works together in the end.

Walter Borchenko: You know what's interesting about that is that it's almost a reverse psychology working with the commercial world in the same way you're working with these tribes. It means that you're doing something that people see as some level of truth that they're not seeing somewhere else. That's hard to forget.

JOEY L.  Yes. I mean, my commercial job depends on me being remembered. So if I meet somebody and I tell them a story about how I travelled here and this happened to me, then they're more likely to remember that than some guy who just has some book of commercial stuff. You have to obviously do good work, period!. But a lot of the times it's just who gets remembered. So first of all I love travelling and I love doing all my own personal work, and I would do it even if it didn't mean anything in my commercial world. But because it helps, then I'm more likely to do it more and more. So the two are just like a critical balance — If I do too much of one then the one suffers and if I do too much of the other then the other suffers — but if I do a little bit of each it's like a nice balance.

Walter Borchenko: Why do you even use Phase One equipment?  Everybody out there clamours about how much they can do with a DSLR. Why have you pursued the use of the Phase-One backs and medium format?

JOEY L.  First of all I've nothing against people that argue that you don't need good equipment to take a good picture. I would support those people. But for what I do I want the best possible image always, because the way I shoot is very slow, and everything matters! Every detail matters if it's going to be displayed. So why would I ever want to sacrifice image quality for something else. Do you know what I mean? So of all the cameras I've used, the Phase One Digital Back always gives the best results. What's the point in using something lesser if all I want in my work is the best quality.

I guess I have an old school mentality. I like the way that somebody would shoot film back in the day when they would make every single frame count. I think that's something that can be really overlooked when people are doing seven frames per second bursts on their DSLRs. Because you forget to just make a good image, and it takes time to do that. So when I shoot, especially my personal work, this is a very slow process. I like to just sit there and look at it before I take the picture. So to me, the only thing that matters really is just quality! I don't have to snap off a whole bunch of frames to get that; I'll just take my time getting the one.

Walter Borchenko:  To me what you represent is what's totally missing out there. The average attention span of the average person seems to be just long enough to read a tweet. What you represent here is the exact opposite. I'm a firm believer that how you think and how you see your world reflects in your work in the truest, truest sense.

JOEY L.  I believe that absolutely. Photographers have to have their own personal work. I care about my commercial work and that's what I do. At the end of the day, the stuff that says the most about me is my personal work, and that's why I think it's so important to tap that body of work if you're going to work professionally.

I shoot everything with the same mindset and that's just to try to get the best image as possible. I can shoot fast when I shoot commercially and I can get a lot of things done, but I'm not just one of these guys who pumps out a whole bunch of frames that somebody's going to have to edit later.

I use the Phase One camera and back in my commercial work because when I give clients images I want them to be as high resolution as possible and as best quality as possible. The more that I can provide my clients, the more likely I am to get hired again. Using the right camera is just one of the steps towards that.

Walter Borchenko:  You seem to be saying that you've got to use the right tools for the job!

JOEY L.  Medium format is just a different format. It just slows you down and gets you thinking about the actual image that you're creating, whereas I feel like DSLR cameras are more for behind-the-scenes kind of stuff. The highest quality images that I take are always medium format.

I still do some work with a DSLR. I don't want an interview that makes it seem like I completely switched, because… with some jobs… a DSLR is better. For some of the things I do, my Mark III is the obvious choice. But where time doesn't matter and certain elements don't matter and quality matters, then, of course I use the P 65+.

Walter Borchenko: Do you use Capture One with your DSLR as well as the Phase One Back?

JOEY L. I use Capture One for all my raw conversion. I use Capture One for both my DSLR photographs and for the Phase One. I just feel it's best raw conversion software. I don't think all of them are built equally. I've used other software and just the actual image that gets output seems different from the one from Capture One, just in the sense of colour tone and shadow value. It just does a really good job and it's streamlined with Photoshop. I've tried a lot of different programs and they all have pros and cons about them, but for what I do specifically, Capture One always gives me the best image output for sure.

Walter Borchenko: What is it that's really driving you here?

JOEY L.  I'm fascinated in the world, especially in the parts of the world that is disappearing at a rapid rate. So what better time is there than now? its always going to be now to just get out and actually go out and do it yourself! I'm not one to read books about things only, and study things only, I have to go out and do them myself.

Joey represents the very core of photographic craftsmanship. A seeking out of the truth that many of us have simply learned to ignore or perhaps even forgotten exists. The healthy balance of personal work is rarely considered with the pressures of being in business.

The approach that Joey takes is from the heart and points to a future that is bright with visual creativity. There are no pre-conceived notions, no baggage, just the remarkable plethora of tools we have today and an innate joy in their use as part of the craft of photography! The passion of true talent is ageless. To me, Joey’s experience is proof positive that there can be a balance between personal and commercial work, and the result can be more success.

Authors Note: In my last 5 years of writing, two interviews stand out as having a significant impact on my own personal photographic work; San Francisco architectural photographer Tim Griffith and Joey Lawrence. The day-to-day battles of life can easily distract us from our true passions. The inspiration for me is the ageless, timeless devotion to photography that Joey lives, eats, breaths and sleeps. When any of us can do what we truly love, it’s not work, it’s what we do.