We were lucky to catch up with Jocelyn CALAC recently and have shared our conversation below.

Jocelyn , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.

I’ll talk here about a small risk I took by going to see a well-known photographer in my city who had a job opening.
I requested a meeting, and on the day of the meeting, I immediately explained to him that I didn’t want the job but that I was taking advantage of this opportunity to meet with him, apologizing for taking up his time. He could have taken it badly and fired me right away.
On the contrary, he listened to me, probably surprised by my audacity. Then, in the end, I remember him looking at my business card, wondering what he was going to do with it. Two days later, I received a call from him inviting me to shadow him during a shoot for a dance company. Today, he is still a partner, and as it is a market that no longer interests him, I am now the official photographer of the famous dance school where I came to observe him at the very beginning.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I was born in Rodez where I’m still living now, a little town in France. I bought my first camera for making video blogs of my different trips to Japan between 2009 and 2015. Then, in 2017, when working with disabled people I had the idea to make video workshop with them and decided to learn the basics of still photography first, to be in control of my camera. That was like a revelation for me, and I slowly discovered the art and have been interested since 2018.

Now I’m a professional photographer, working for events, family and professionals. I also do video work for dance clubs and other video projects for new coming artists.

People know me here for the street photo books I made about my town, Rodez, a little town in south west of France.

I have some exhibitions running in local restaurants and other places.

That’s how I promote myself, by showing my artistic work to people.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

My main goal is to document the life of my city for the new comers. Like i said in my last book, we are living the twenty’s of the ones who will born in 2100. It’s resuming my work in one sentence.
This is like a life mission for me, as I’m the only one to do this in Rodez.
I really think that it is very important and necessary. We, the street photographers, are providing images that tell the story of our city and the places where we go. Specially if we print our work in books, which is the format that will last the most in the future. I already made three books about Rodez and it’s my greatest pride.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

The most rewarding aspect of being an artist is to bring a fresh vision of my town to the citizens who are living it everyday. Offering my very personal vision and make them say : “I never saw this detail”, or “I never thought that Rodez was this beautiful”, is making me proud.
What’s also rewarding is to feel that I have a clear role in the society, and to fulfill this role I only need to be myself and follow my inner instinct with my camera hanging around my neck.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.jcproduction.com
• Instagram: @jocelyn_calac
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jocelyn-calac-25b018121/

Image Credits

For the portrait of me the credit goes to Laura Bec

And all the rest of the photos are by me, Jocelyn calac