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

Jordan, appreciate you joining us today. How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?

I started photography as a wedding photographer from pretty much day one. I think I went out once with my DSLR and practiced a little before I assisted on my first wedding. And of course a ton of my photos were trash and a couple were decent. I had a really good mentor who pointed out the few good shots I took then ripped me a new one on all the mistakes I made. There is no substitute for a good mentor. Find someone who is doing what you want to be doing and ask them if they will help guide you through your learning process. And also make sure you have something to offer them such as assisting on their shoots or helping them on the back end with editing.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My name is Jordan Ramay and I am a photographer based out of Los Angeles CA. I originally moved to LA from San Diego to pursue a career as a writer but picked up a camera at some point and started making money as a wedding photographer. Photography was always just a means for me to make money until I found the medium of analog/film photography and that has become my great passion in life.

I was ready to quit the wedding business altogether until I discovered film photography and started incorporating it into my wedding workflow. A lot of photographers would call me nuts for using film at weddings because there is the chance something can go wrong like it wasn’t loaded properly or the camera malfunctions but the way I see it there is plenty that can go wrong with a digital camera too so I don’t really see the difference. People are just scared of not being able to see the image on the back of their cameras but if you know your craft that shouldn’t matter.

The look you get from film simply can’t be replicated on a digital camera. I think that’s because with film it is a chemical process where what’s in front of the camera is imprinted on a real tangible thing using light rather than a computer creating an image with a bunch of ones and zeros. There is a depth and a beauty to film that I love so much and most of the time it really resonates with my clients and the film shots are usually their favorite. And I’m not knocking digital in the slightest. I love shooting digital as well I just don’t get as excited or feel the same satisfaction that I get from a film camera as I do from a digital system.

So as of late I’ve started to look for clients that really appreciate and love the medium of film photography. I also shoot a ton of corporate and lifestyle events in-between the weddings and I love shooting those because I can be more of a fly on the wall and implement some of my street photography/ photojournalistic skill sets. In a perfect world someone would pay me to go out and shoot street photos and portraits on film all day but of course nothing is perfect and we gotta pay the bills. I just feel so blessed that I get to do that with my camera and I’m grateful for every exposure I get to take.
#filmsnotdead

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

Speaking for the photography community I know that purchasing prints, zines, and photo books is a great way to support anyone working in the medium of photography.

Have you ever had to pivot?

I’m actually in the process of restructuring and rebranding my business completely in the direction of corporate events. I want to separate my art from my money and shooting corporate events is a good way to do that so I have more time to focus on my personal work such as analog and street photography. As much as I love shooting weddings I don’t want to work every weekend for the rest of my life and also professionally I just prefer working business to business. As I mentioned before I will still shoot weddings I’m just going to be a little more selective of the couples I choose to work with.

Contact Info:

• Website: jramayphotography.com
• Instagram: jordanramayphotography.com