Je Suis Jana Solomon

Occupation: Photographer, producer, director

Instagram: @janasolom

Where were you born?
I was born in a small southern border city of Estonia, called Valga, which is situated just next to Latvia. Have an older brother and an older sister. The three of us are all working in the art field now, although father tried to get us away from art, thinking there is no value to it. But one cannot run from what the heart desires. Although in Valga there were no options of learning photography or cinematography or anything near to it. So I focused mainly on literature and languages, but had always my camera in school with me. I enjoyed capturing moments. Somehow I could memorize every event and face after I had taken a picture of it. It was sort of like a backup memory for me that allowed me to relive and feel moments that had already gone by. For now I have worked as a photographer for 10 years.

In one sentence what is unique about your work?
I focus on working with the emotion and energy of the person I capture - feeling the inner power.

Why do you do what you do?
For me, photography is also a way to connect with people I shoot and help them to overcome some fears they might have. My main interest besides photography is psychology. Somehow I seem to have a natural gift for it - to understand and guide the people I capture. It is the same with models and regular people. They all have their fears and it is such a joy to overcome those and create something strong and beautiful. Something that comes from within, the strength and beauty of the soul. But also trust and vulnerability, being open and vulnerable is the biggest strength one can have.

What inspires you?
I am inspired by wind, movement, colors, the soul and eyes of a person. Once you become fully present, it is so easy to get inspired, because there is so much beauty happening around as all the time.

Describe your personal style.
I have thought about it a lot and feared that I do not have a certain style and if this could have a negative influence to my work. But lately I started to realize, that my "thing" is power. It matters to me more, how the image feels, not certainly how it looks. I do love to shoot the same much with my Canon as I do with my film camera and even iphone.

Your ultimate must-have.
The thing I always have with me is my Contax T2 film camera with an Ektar100 film. Just love the colors of it. And also my diffuser or reflector - I do not know how I lived without those thing for the first years.

What superpower would you have and why?
You know what, I think I already have a superpower and I am so grateful for it! If we should ever meet, I will reveal it.

What is next for you?
Next for me, that is a good question. The world comes next. I plan to travel and drift now for as long as it seems that I can or should. At the moment I am in LA, soon going to Nevada and after that maybe to Guatemala or Hawaii or India - or them all. So whoever wants to collaborate, I am free as a bird and will go wherever life takes me.

Je Suis Jenna Davidson

Occupation: Mostly opened to every kind of styles, but I'll say mostly fashion photographer.

Instagram: @jennadavidsond

Where were you born?

I was born and raised in Monaco Monte-Carlo and I'm Franco-British.

In one sentence what is unique about your work?

The power to capture moments that still gives you these same emotions 40 years later.

Why do you do what you do?

To me it's natural. My goal is to share my passion, to show people how I see things in my vision of the world and all the personalities I've met. The colors, the environment, clothes, expressions. Showing what I captured in this person, why and how I took this picture. Critics and people's view on my work is magic. I take photographs to capture souls. That's all.

What inspires you?

Everything. Life is inspiring. Music gives me tons of ideas.

Describe your personal style.

Hippie Chic. Staying natural, fun and elegant.

Your ultimate must-have.

COCO CHANEL red lipstick, always useful.

What superpower would you have and why?

I would like my brain to get to 100% of its capacity, that's THE power to be and do to everything you can imagine.

What is next for you?

To meet every kind of artists, to travel more, make more photo-shoots and wish my website will grow with time and work.

Je Suis Andrew S. Klug

Occupation: Producer // Fashion Photography.
Project management in the production of commercial photography/stills campaigns, specialized in fashion photography >> art buying + locations + casting + budgeting + planning + crew + equipment + permits + travel + logistics. On set // on location >> scheduling + coordination + management of crews and other resources.
Based in New York, work with a small boutique called Shake Productions. We work mostly for a handful of regular clients, which include Macy’s, Banana Republic, Cole Haan, Clarins, among others. We operate as local production in NY + LA + Miami + the Bahamas and Caribbean. We also travel extensively for some of our clients — this past year we have brought Macy’s to Mexico City, Morocco, Aspen, among other amazing trips.

Instagram: @andrewklug

Where were you born?
Grew up in Calgary, Canada. Speak 4 languages English, French, Portuguese, Spanish. Have lived in Montreal, New York, Los Angeles, and now back to New York. Career path has been unusual. Formerly a corporate lawyer, MBA from an Ivy League university, did a few months of investment banking on Wall Street worked on one of the largest takeover deals in history (Budweiser). Have owned an art gallery in NY specialized in Brazilian photographs. Have been involved in startup projects including my last one, a project to stream curated narratives of visual imagery to Smart TV (like Spotify for visual imagery). While working on projects got involved in stills/print production (fashion photography), since the past year and a half moved back from LA to NY to devote myself full time to being a Producer.

In one sentence what is unique about your work?
Other producers may offer expertise and execution, which I strive to deliver as well. What distinguishes me is my sensitivity to diverse cultural backgrounds, and speaking 4 languages.

Why do you do what you do?
Being a producer allows me to use my left brain (analytical) in support of the creative projects of others, while giving me the freedom to pursue my own creative projects in my own time.

What inspires you?
Being in nature, particularly the West. I love the dry climate and sparse landscape of the American West (USA + Canada). In between jobs I often escape to my lake house in the Canadian Rockies (in British Columbia). While based in New York City (in Gowanus, Brooklyn), I do get away as much as possible to be in nature.

Describe your personal style.
Maybe it has to do with my background from the world of corporate law and banking, but I can’t but adhere to the highest standards of rigor, attention to detail, and structured processes. That being said, I don’t take myself too seriously and like to have fun in all situations, even stressful ones. There is always room for a good sense of humor. Life is too short!

Your ultimate must-have.
I am not materialist, and really there is nothing I could want that I don’t already have. Subscribe to minimalism, not only as an aesthetic, but also as a frame of mind. I keep my physical possessions to a minimum.

This extends to my own visual arts practice.
I produce work that is information/digital in essence, made from processes that include painting, drawing, and photography. But the work itself remains digital, immaterial, and hence perfect, not subject to defects and decay as in the case of physical objects.

For that matter, some of the contemporary art that interests me the most tends to be conceptual, non-object-oriented, and involving the participation of the receiver (relational aesthetics).

Artists who have most influenced me include Donald Judd, Sol Lewitt, John Baldessari, Lawrence Weiner.

Realize I’m getting pretty far off the interview here, but following is an artistic project of mine.

The very point of Like Art is to confront the question of whether this constitutes, like, art... or not? The Facebook page that conveys Like Art contains no posted images or status updates, other than its creation event and the following statement of purpose: "The sole purpose of this Facebook page is to convey an artwork consisting of the set of users that 'like' it."

Deceptively simplistic, this almost 'non-page' belies its true complexity in terms of the artistic issues being explored. The boundary of what constitutes art first moved from the representational towards abstraction, then towards conceptual art defined by artistic intent as opposed to the hand of the artist, and finally from having a pure author towards involving the receiver with relational aesthetics. Like Art constitutes a limit case of this progression: the artwork consists merely of a collective expression of intent, in the form of 'likes' to a Facebook page, where those 'likes' serve no purpose at all other than to create the artwork in question. Like Art is therefore a non-object-based, conceptual artwork whose process of creation is a) perpetual and b) involves the participation of its receivers, drawing upon notions of relational aesthetics and actor-network theory. Furthermore, Like Art probes the new modes of social media interaction that have literally transformed society in very recent times but, for the most part, have not yet been profoundly reflected in art.

Like Art was inspired by the following artists and their work: John Baldessari (particularly I Am Making Art, 1971; I Will Not Make Any More Boring Art, 1971; A Painting That Is Its Own Documentation, 1968; and Pure Beauty, 1968); Tino Sehgal (particularly This Is Good, 2001 and This objective of that object, 2004); and Lawrence Weiner (particularly Declaration of Intent, 1968).

What superpower would you have and why?
The ability to fly. Because what an amazing visual trip it would be, to fly over everything. The closest I have come to experiencing that is being at the top of a mountain.

What is next for you?
The last few years of my life were all about what was next for me. Now I have found myself in place that makes a lot of sense, career-wise and in regards to quality of life. I devote my energy to delivering the highest level of service to my clients, and my own artistic projects in my free time. Wash, rinse, repeat. Finally, after a long road of searching, I am fully satisfied in the here and now. That’s what’s next for me!