EM: How did your family take your decision to do photography instead of going to a UMASS?

JARVIS: My mom was a little upset with me.  She said that I was picking one of the hardest things in the world to do.  She said you are a young black woman, and you don’t come from money.  But she knew that she raised me well- she knew I was going to bust my ass.

EM: What were some of the sacrifices and training experiences you’ve had?

I had to pimp myself, it sucked.  Seriously, I did a lot of things.  I went the New School and then went to Parsons . I worked for a bunch of magazines like Paper , but my grad experience was working for TIMEOUT NY .  I shot a lot of things for them and got my training as a photo editor there. I worked with many influential art directors and stylists.  That experience taught me a lot about the business, how to be responsible, and how to deliver quality for nothing.  I spent lots of money and dedicated a lot of my days and nights to photography.

EM: Major Influences?

Guy Bourdin , Lorna Simpson ; and William Eggleston is one of my favorites for too many reasons, he’s just amazing!  He’s able to take something simple and ordinary and making it into something beautiful.  He produced images so everyone understood it as something to appreciate. He’s the father of color photography.

EM: How do pull out that emotion from your subjects?

It’s my personality I think.  In the past, while shooting I would let people do whatever they had to do. Now I try to pull something out of them.  Taking someone’s portrait is a give and take situation, I have to make them trust me, otherwise I spend the short time I have with them making them trust me.   In Japan I shot Hiroshi Fujiwara. He was easy to photograph, but it wasn’t as exciting as I thought it would be because he was so used to getting his picture taken and he had set poses. He said, “I get my photo taken like thirty times a week.” I felt bad for him to have to give a piece of himself every week-that must blow.

EM: Where has photography taken you?

It’s taken me everywhere.  75% of my travel is out of my own pocket. I will get paid from doing a big job and immediately invest it into travel, where some would buy equipment, I invest in my lifestyle of lolly gagging.

I think Thailand was one of my favorite places. People’s living conditions stand out in my mind.  From seeing a community of people living near the train tracks to a city block with 10 camera stores. Coming from New York I’m used to seeing different classes living among each other, but it was still weird.  It was the only place that I shot non-stop. I’ve been fortunate enough to have been well traveled. My parents took me everywhere I was shocked at myself that I was so surprised by Thailand.  I can’t recall any bad travel experiences.  All the places that I’ve been to are places that I would love to visit again.

Places on my list.  It’s very lame but I’ve never been to Hawaii.  I would love to get a gig in Hawaii- something fun or even something boring, like some company saying, “go shoot a bunch of hotels.”    I would love to go the Philippines and Russia; I can’t think of anywhere else I want to go that I haven’t already seen.

EM: Why did you come to LA?

I left my comfort zone, in the upper west side, because I started to get lazy in my world of photo editing and I needed to change things. Since I was young, I’ve wanted to move here.  LA has given me a space to create.  My friend told me that LA has brought out the best in me,  because I wasn’t comfortable and I had to force myself to do shit, versus being in New York where I can rely on my peeps to do whateves.  Yeah, I could make money but I wasn’t really doing what I wanted to be doing.

EM: What makes a successful photographer?

How many 0’s are at the end of your check!  Seriously, if you’re happy. I know a lot of photographers who aren’t happy with where they are, but are deemed successful. I’m happy with the people I get to work with, the ideas I’m pushed to come up with, the things that are offered to me, and the way that my career has moved.  Slow and steady wins the race I guess?

EM: Who do you like shooting?

In all seriousness I prefer to shoot people who aren’t famous, ordinary people with a good story.  I started taking photos at music shows, especially at Tramps (in NY).   It was the easiest way to take photos. I’d go all the time, got in with the promoters and I would just shoot.  It was sort of a gift and curse being black female photographer.  There weren’t many Shaniqwas that were into what I did.  I was able to be in certain places at great times, and I was able to get pretty good images. There was shit that I was aloud to do being a woman and luckily I knew what I was doing.

EM: What are some of the struggles being a Black female photographer?

Being a black female photographer.  Quoting Chris Rock ,“Where some people have to walk, I have to fly.”  Where people have to prove themselves I have to go above and beyond. And for that [the competition] makes me better, so I thank you. I don’t mind not having to have come up so quickly. I appreciate my struggle- I don’t whine about it, okay, maybe sometimes. I just know I will always have to bust my ass-I don’t mind it because it’s become my world.

EM: What’s fun in LA?

Laughing at people.  No, I really do love to have a good time- I’m pretty open.  Having game night with friends, going swimming, going to the beach, cooking, dancing. I love dance parties, HONEST people make me happy, to be honest with you.

EM: Favorite spots:

My house

Dead that Pork at the Room in Hollywood-last Wednesday of every month [I've been there it's dope!]

The Gold Room

Cha Cha Lounge, but sometimes it smells like sweaty armpit, yeah something is bad.

House parties with DJ’s I like spinning.

EM: Any advice to youth and future photographers?

I used to teach photography to 5th graders. These kid’s lives were so systematically laid out for them.  Most of them hadn’t been a few blocks outside of their neighborhood.    So I tried do expand their thinking.  I would take them on trips around the city and show them new things, like here’s a black dude  who owns his own business-you don’t have to stay  uptown you can go anywhere and be successful.

I think my students got it when we were listening to some music and one of the girls asked me, “What is art?” I said that verse Jay-Z just dropped was art- it wasn’t some cheesy shit that he’d put out, it was something good.   The beat, the engineer, the arranger, there are so many different layers to what art is.   At that point it clicked in their heads that it was something that they could do for a living.

The random photos that people take kind of makes them not appreciate the art of photography.  A good eye, knowing math and taste are all parts of it.  You better work hard. Even if it’s given to you it can get taken from you, especially if you don’t know what you’re doing.  While you’re faking it someone else out there is making it and if you don’t catch up your shit won’t ever mean anything.

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For more info, check out her sites:

chunkydoubledeuce.blogspot.com
shaniqwajarvis.com