Why Interviews Matter

When I first started shooting photos, I only cared about the image. If the photo looked right, that was enough. Good light, good moment, good framing. That was the goal every time. A lot of the time I was shooting skateboarding, shows, or friends doing something creative, and the focus was always on capturing what it looked like from the outside. I never really thought about telling the full story, just the part that could fit inside the frame.

Over time that started to change. The more I kept shooting, the more I realized the photo was only one piece of what was actually going on. The people I was photographing all had their own way of working, their own influences, their own reasons for doing what they do. You could see some of that in the image, but not all of it. Sometimes the most interesting part was the conversation before or after the photo even happened.

That is a big part of why the interviews became important to me.

With Juke, I never wanted the features to feel like a highlight reel. There are enough places online where the focus is only on the finished product. Perfect photos, finished videos, polished work with no context. That stuff looks good, but it does not really tell you anything about how it got there. What I am more interested in is the process behind it. What someone listens to while they work, what inspires them, what frustrates them, what keeps them going when something is not working.

Those things do not show up in a photo unless you ask about them.

Doing the first few interviews made that even more clear. Once the conversation starts, the story usually goes somewhere you did not expect. Someone starts talking about how they got into what they do, or the first camera they used, or the people that pushed them to keep going. Those details end up being just as important as the work itself, sometimes more. They give the photos context and make them feel real instead of staged.

It also changes the way I look at the images when I am putting a feature together. Instead of just picking the best looking shots, I start thinking about which ones actually say something about the person. A photo of someone working, a photo of their gear, a photo that shows the environment they spend time in. Those kinds of images tell a better story when you know what is behind them.

Another thing I have realized is that interviews slow everything down in a good way. Shooting photos is fast. Posting online is even faster. It is easy to move on to the next thing without really thinking about what you just made. Sitting down to talk to someone forces you to pay attention. You start to notice patterns in how different people approach their work, and you start to understand that everyone figures it out in their own way.

That is what I want Juke to show.

Not just what people make, but how they got there, what keeps them doing it, and what their process actually looks like when nobody is watching. The photos are still important, but the story behind them is what makes the feature feel complete.

The more interviews I do, the more I realize that the conversation is just as important as the image. Sometimes it is the part that stays with you longer.

-MS