We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jeff Straw a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Jeff, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s jump to the end – what do you want to be remembered for?

When I think about legacy, my mind races… On one hand, I think of the great musicians and photographers through the ages, and think about how their art has impacted me personally, and of course, I aspire to that. But I believe that our legacy is made up of a lifetime of everyday moments, much more so than the bright shiny accomplishments that win us awards. Building legacy is similar to building a brand, it’s done little by little over time.

So for me, it’s less about becoming “one of the greats” for me and more about focusing on the value I provide to people. Whether that is through a one-on-one coaching session, a photoshoot, mentoring a student or finding my work on social media – my hope is that people are left better off after the encounter. Maybe they learned something from a YouTube video I made or a class I taught, maybe they saw their unique personal power through a photo that I took of them, perhaps my words of encouragement to another artist were exactly what they needed to get through a hard time.

My body of work as a creative is also a part of my legacy, and I continually strive to improve my photography. I feel like if I’m not growing as an artist, then what’s the point of creating? Currently, I’m pushing new boundaries for myself in an upcoming digital art series combining my photos, videos, and music that will be sold as NFTs and potentially have a physical media gallery component to it as well.

I live my day-to-day life trying my best to provide that kind of value to everyone I come across, both in my career and also just spreading joy and positivity to cashiers, waiters, repair technicians, my mail carrier… basically anyone I meet. This is how I hope to build a legacy of positive value and impact on the world.

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’m Jeff Straw, a San Francisco Bay Area creative entrepreneur specializing in photography and branding services for musicians as well as commercial product photography for brands and companies.

I absolutely LOVE my time behind the camera working with clients. My passion for the work, coupled with my decades of experience in the music industry – really separates my work from other photographers. Many up-and-coming artists don’t necessarily understand the importance of a strong series of press photos, so I like to take time to educate them about the importance of a strong visual identity and brand. Then we work together to create images that really support their musical identity.

I bring this same level of excitement to my commercial photography work as well, carefully crafting set designs that support the story of the product and the feel of the brand. Every pixel is important, and I take great care in perfecting these shots and product videos in post-production.

After getting a music engineering degree from the University of Miami, I spent two decades working in various areas of the music industry – record retail buying, music licensing for film/tv, marketing, distribution, and education, all while also performing as a saxophonist and DJ on the side.

In 2017 I fell back in love with photography, something I had explored back in college, and I decided to go into business for myself. Given my network and background in music, it is a natural fit for me to work with artists and companies in the music space to offer visual services like press photos, video production, and event photography.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

Back in 2017 I was working full time at a music production school in SF as their Director of Marketing and music business teacher.

As a part of my music business class, I had my students, who were all artists and music producers, make websites for themselves. But the common denominator was that their sites didn’t look polished and professional because they didn’t have good-looking photos. So I restructured the class to work in a day where we would do a photoshoot for the class period.

Now, bear in mind, I hadn’t shot photos of anyone with a ‘real’ camera since the mid-90s… so to say I was rusty would have been putting it mildly. I basically had almost no idea what I was doing, but I knew I enjoyed it immensely. I saw a need and did my best to fill it. I also recognized that my skills weren’t up to par, so I started putting in the work. I stopped using the school’s camera and bought my own, a used Canon 70D with a single 50mm lens. And I took it with me everywhere, shooting anyone and everything I could. Gradually over the year, my images got better as my skills improved by virtue of just SHOOTING MORE.

As the year went on I grew more and more tired of the marketing work and realized the only part of the job I looked forward to was this one day per semester when I got to shoot photos. Then it struck me… I knew this was the path I was meant to be on. Photography called to me in a way that marketing and music business just never did. So I took a huge leap of faith at the end of the year and for the first time in my career went to work for myself. Armed with that used camera, a single lens, and a passion for this new path I made the most of it and I’m so grateful that I did.

Pivoting into photography and entrepreneurship at the same time gave me a sense of purpose and freedom that I had never felt before. Since then I’ve grown a successful small business, focused on a niche within photography and creative visual services that works for me and I’ve never been happier!

We’d love to hear your thoughts on NFTs. (Note: this is for education/entertainment purposes only, readers should not construe this as advice

To me, the NFT space is an exciting one to be sure. In the big picture, it’s still in its infancy, but the diversity and creativity I am seeing from artists are staggering and inspiring. The potential to have new and different ways for fans and collectors to interact with art – both musical and visual is truly exciting. And when artists couple that with different types of utility, it unlocks innovative ways in the ‘real world’ to experience the brand as well.

The notion of digital ownership and collectibles on the internet is most certainly an idea whose time has come. However, due to the decentralized nature of NFT platforms, the frequency of scams, bad players, and malware makes it a little bit scary and overwhelming for new people to get on board, both as artists and collectors. I think before we see massive adoption in the space, some tightening up

I don’t pretend to be a thought leader in the space, there are LOTS of artists much further ahead on the NFT path than me. But even as a beginner I am excited about the prospects of the medium and eager to create more art for the space.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.jeffstrawbranding.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jeffstrawbranding
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jeffstrawbranding
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeff-straw-1864781/
• Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/jeffstraw
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/jeffstrawbranding
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/jeff-straw-branding-san-mateo
• Other: Open Sea (NFT): https://opensea.io/JeffStraw

Image Credits
Photos by Jeff Straw Branding