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

Justin, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.

5 years ago I laid on a picnic bench staring up at the stars along infamous highway 1. A week into traveling through California in a rented 1980’s VW van making memories and photographs, I realized I could no longer show up to my 9-5 and not feel like I was wasting precious moments of my life. I felt that I hadn’t come that far just to get THAT far. I desired something more. All I ever wanted in life was adventure and romance, and I wasn’t getting either delivering cardboard for UPS.

Within a month of that defining night, I composed my resignation letter and submitted my two weeks. I knew that my parents and friends would eventually forgive me for not living the way they would have preferred I do, but what I knew on a deeper level is that if I didn’t do this, I would never forgive myself. Thats how I remember the night I made the decision to take my last $1,000 and bet it all on myself and my future.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I am an American landscape and lifestyle photographer from New Jersey. In 2015, after years of battling drug addiction, I attended inpatient rehab for the last time and found freedom from active addiction through a 12 step fellowship.

With many years between film school and my new found sobriety, I was feeling an undeniable itch to explore my creative side again. I spent the first few years of my recovery delivering pizza to make ends meet while teaching myself still photography, shifting away from my original dream of being a feature length film director. I would often take my camera with me on hikes in hopes of documenting the beauty I often found myself in, as nature has always played a major role in my sense of self, my relation to the world and my place within it. Thus, landscape photography felt like a natural marriage of two of my favorite things, nature and creativity.

In 2019, just months before the covid-19 pandemic, with only a few dollars to my name and no back up plan, I submitted my two weeks and left my full time job as a UPS driver to pursue my dream of being a working landscape photographer.

It was without a doubt the biggest leap of faith moment of my life. I knew that most of my friends and family would not understand leaving a secure union job with among best medical benefits, pension and 401k, for something that, by most accounts, isn’t even seen as a full time profession, but more-so a hobby. I knew, however, that eventually my friends and family would understand and forgive me, but what I could not live with was whether or not my future self could or would ever forgive myself now if i didn’t taken that leap. That one act of faith set in motion a series of events that has snowballed into a modest, yet undeniably fulfilling little career as a landscape photographer and taught me that sometimes everything I could ever want is just on the other side of fear.

Today, I travel the United States full time in search of the perfect combination of light and composition, telling stories through my photographs and written words. Many of those photographs adorn the walls of customers all over the U.S. and beyond. Its incredibly humbling for a recovering junkie from Jersey to have a small piece of real estate in so many homes. If you told me back when I first got clean that my life would one day look like it does right now, I would have told you that you watch too many movies but now that I’m living it,I’m determined to make it the best damn Blockbuster I can before my time is up.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

The last time I went to rehab I remember someone, maybe a counselor, maybe a tech, maybe a patient, who knows, saying “look around you… not all of you are going to stay clean, and unfortunately not all of you are going to live through your next relapse.” And he was right, maybe half of the people I got clean with are still alive today. This is a sad universal truth for anyone in recovery and not unique to just I. But I also remember thinking, “oh yeah? I’m gunna be that one that DOES stay clean. I’m gunna be the one who died a happy, clean, old man. Watch me.”

I’m quite used to the odds being stacked against me, with consequences far greater than simply not getting the things I want, need, or think I deserve. Maybe that’s why I’m not afraid to dream absolutely enormous and why it actually fires me up when people doubt me. I guess all I’m really trying to say is that I’m used to it and to be honest, I love it.

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

I think that my entire goal in life is to inspire others to strive for a bit more than maybe what they currently believe to be their limit. I look back at different chapters of my life and think, “man if I had just stopped there, I would have sold myself so short.” I think many among us do just that and I could think of nothing more fulfilling than for someone to look at me and my past and think “well if he can do it than so can I.”

Contact Info:

• Website: Justinkrompier.com
• Instagram: Just_passinthrough
• Twitter: @just_passinthru
• Tiktok: @just_passinthrough

Image Credits
Black and White Tin Type portrait taken by Phil D’Auria instagram: @tintype_nj