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

Jerry, appreciate you joining us today. Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?

I learned how to do photography by watching thousands of hours of YouTube videos around photography. I would watch videos at work on my lunch breaks and then be excited to get home from my day job and try it out. Most of the time it would never turn out exactly the same as the video and I would find my self frustrated because I would follow the instructions to the T. I then focused my education on fundamentals of taking a great photo and went to the store and got a copy of “Read This If You Want to Take Great Photographs” by Henry Carroll. The book is split into five sections, the book covers composition, exposure, light, lenses and the art of seeing. The book shows masterpieces by acclaimed photographers – including Henri Cartier-Bresson, Sebastião Salgado, Fay Godwin, Nadav Kander, Daido Moriyama and Martin Parr. In this learning process I found that I was trying to learn everything at once and need to simplify what I wanted to learn. In particular how not to take a blurry photo, I would then learn about that subject matter till I could take a photo that wasn’t blurry. The most essential skill in learning photography or any craft is dedication, going out taking a bunch of photos putting your pride aside and figuring out what you need to improve on.

Jerry, 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?

When I got out of the military I was struggling with PTSD and my own identity, I wasn’t a soldier anymore and didn’t know who Jerry Silva was at this point in my life. I needed to find a purpose something to help me get out of my bed of sorrows and a healthy way to express myself. I remembered when I was a kid that I loved doing videography with my moms old Floppy Disk Camera. I saved up my money and got a Canon EOS Rebel T7i DSLR Camera with 18-55mm Lens. I was able to get two paid video gigs before things started slowing down. One night I was bored so I garbed my camera and headphones and started taking pictures of the street lights by my house. I immediately fell in love with the craft, it felt like everything I was dealing with mentally faded away and the only thing that mattered was getting that one shot. I stopped making videos and would just go on long walks taking photos of anything that would catch my eye. I started sharing my photos on social media not thinking much of it because I was having fun. One day a friend reached out to me asking if I could take family photos for him at the park. When showing the family the photos on the back of the camera and seeing them fall in love with the photos gave me the same excitement they had. I might be dealing with my own struggles but with this silly camera I can bring others joy. I then started obsessing about photography and trying to learn anything I could. Four years later I’m a photographer and digital artist living in Arizona doing portrait shoots and remotely editing photos for clients all around the world. I have done photoshoots for NFL players, families, edited photos for Kernel and Exclusive NFT event editor for Liquid Death’s Designer Will Carsola. My style sets me apart from other photographers because I can do clean and professional to putting someone in space. I’m proud that I made it out of that dark place in life and can show other to keep moving in life and never give up.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

I have heard it all in life from teachers in school telling me that I won’t go anywhere in life if I don’t go to collage. Leaders in the military telling me I will be no one when I get out of the army. Friends telling me that photography is a hobby and not a real job. Senior photographers telling me that I’m not a real photographer because I over edit my photos. I have seen puke emoji in the comments of on social media. I couldn’t afford adobe photoshop and had to do the seven day free trial over and over making multiple emails just so I could have photoshop and practice my craft. Multiple people told me not to move to Arizona and stay in Idaho because I would be a small fish in a big pond. After working a Eleven hour shift at my day job I word use this for motivation to get off the couch. I wouldn’t just prove those people wrong but I would prove to my self that I could do anything I wanted if I put in the work everyday. Some people are very content working a nine-to-five job going home watching some tv before bed. Other people feel like their souls are dying at that nine-to-five job and just want to scream, to those people I hope you find something that your passion about.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

The biggest pivot was the pandemic, most people didn’t want to do photoshoots during that time. I needed to stay sharp on my craft but didn’t have any photos to edit. I started downloading and editing selfie photos on Instagram and eventually people started offering to pay me for selfie edits . If I couldn’t find any photos to edit on Instagram I would jump on unsplash photos and download any royalty free photo that caught my eye. I would bring those images into photoshop and started making composite photos. Photography really helped me with this because I had a understanding on what made a good photo and able to sell some of these pieces of art as NFTs.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/js.snapshot/
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• Twitter: https://twitter.com/js_snapshot