Jai Lennard: On opportunity versus access
In this episode, we talk with Jai Lennard about opportunity versus access. Jai discusses how part of his ethical considerations include deciding if he is the right person to tell a story. Additionally, his founding of Color Positive was part of his drive to diversify the stories which are told by aiding young black artists. Jai outlines how his mentoring role at Color Positive puts him in a place of access to talent enabling him to connect photographers with projects that they are aligned with. Access is also explored in relation to opportunity as Jai discusses how both are needed for artists to succeed.
What you’ll find inside:
“I think that a lot of the subjects that I used to be more head on with dealing with actual people, dealing with survivors, dealing with people who are on the ground trying to change the world. Those same stories get told in entertainment… everyone wants to tell stories different ways.” (7.08)
“If I’m being approached about a project, is this a topic that I want to dive into? Should I be telling this story?... It’s always case by case for me, I take everything individually I don’t really have blanket answers.” (8.12)
“I just kind of always knew I needed a mentor and I think maybe that’s also back to just my background. Growing up as a young black man in a mostly white community – despite how diverse my area was – I just always knew that if I was going to succeed, I wasn’t going to do it on my own.” (18.52)
“You can be asked to do a job that sounds amazing and when you get there, you have not been set up to succeed and that is the difference between having access and not having access…there’s so many different kinds of access, an opportunity is just an opportunity and without access it’s not a lot.” (36.23)
What does photography ethics mean to Jai?
“Putting the wellbeing of everyone who’s involved at the forefront of your mind when you do a project. When it’s there you’re protective of it and I think that photography ethics is about being protective to what’s important on every scenario. And it may seem like a lot times the most important thing is just to get it but it’s usually not. For me, a lot of the times it’s about the experience. When I focus on the experience as the most important thing for a photography project a lot of other things come into play very smoothly including the images.” (39.25)
Links:
Jai Lennard grew up in the Bay Area of northern California with family roots in Texas & Louisiana. He studied at Morehouse College in Atlanta, where he started taking photos more seriously, then London where he took his first photo course, and finally New York where he received his BA in Photography at the School of Visual Arts. He has lived in Brooklyn ever since.
His clients include The Hollywood Reporter, CNN, HBO, NY Times, Warby Parker, Club Monaco and more. However diverse his work is, the binding element is always the stories his subjects tell; perseverance, triumph, legacy, love, and strength.
Aside from shooting editorial and advertising Jai founded the non-profit Color Positive which aims to network Black photographers, stylists, and directors in the editorial and commercial world. As well as promoting artists, Color Positive works as a mentorship program providing artists in NYC schools to speak and mentor the youth.
You can see his work at https://www.jailennard.com
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