Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Dillon Jordan. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Dillon, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

I accidentally began my photography career in 2019, doing merch on a national US tour with the band Flora Cash. Management asked if anyone knew any photographers, and the crew all looked right at me! I had assisted a few weddings back home, but never anything been the one in charge of the camera. I agreed to do it, got a camera and shot our show the next day. I spent the next week huddled in my bus bunk listening to interviews, watching videos, and googling camera questions. Black With No Cream, a creative podcast I found, ended up being my most valuable resource. I had a few days to get in the swing of it, I was thrown straight into the fire. The process may have been faster had I known how to shoot prior to the tour, but who knew, you know? The most important skill honestly was the willingness and exhuberance to tackle the job! It was so fun and I was so excited to give it a try and went all in right away!

Dillon, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I play guitar for an artist named Charlotte Sands, and I do photography as well! The two passions of mine have taken me across the globe on multiple tours, trips and travels. I grew up playing in pop punk bands, which lead to a few tours, one of which got me my jumpstart into photography. During Covid, I moved to Nashville, Tennessee to pursue photography full time, and began touring as a photographer. Through friends of friends, I met Charlotte Sands, an artist in Nashville, who brought me on as a photographer for a tour. I did one tour with her, and they found out I played guitar. Come next tour, she asked me to play guitar in the band! We get to travel the world together playing music, and I do photography here and there for her still as well. Some of my work includes shoots and shows with Mod Sun, Cowboy Mugshot, Lil Skies, Trippie Redd, Machine Gun Kelly, Carter Cruise, and Fletcher.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

It sounds old-fashioned, but just support whatever they do. Go see your friends band play live. Buy a shirt. A lot of artists make more money from merch than from streaming online. Post things on social media about the band. Have photographers in your life? Have them do your headshots, buy prints if they sell them.

Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?

If you’re an artist, photographer, creator, videographer, anything; go listen to Black With No Cream, a podcast and online community started by a rad dude named Ben Hagarty. They would feature different creators and tackle questions, give advice and talk about things that helped me become what I am now. Never met the dude but I owe him lunch big time!

Contact Info:

• Website: [email protected]
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/dillphotos

Image Credits
Meg Clark / @digitalsmeg