Meet Jessie McCall | Photographer, Naked Conversations creator, community facilitator, Bnb Host

We had the good fortune of connecting with Jessie McCall and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Jessie, is there something you can share with us that those outside of the industry might not be aware of?
How much hustle is really involved to make a photography career work. My highlight reel (i.e.: Instagram) has shown me photographing incredible bands, festivals and taking underwater images all over the globe – however not all of these shoots are funded by clients. Sometimes I trade photos for AAA access to an event, so I can get photos other media photographers won’t. Sometimes I take a wedding in Italy and then in my off days I create my underwater art in the ocean. There is no one size fits all to “success”. Also, the definition of success varies from person to person. For some it’s notoriety, for others it’s money, and sometimes it’s all about hitting personal goals. I have personally felt successful in all three of those arenas at different times in my career.

I’ve also found that the key to my personal comfort and success is having multiple streams of income to take the pressure off of my photography career to pull in all the bucks. But if you were just looking and following along on my Instagram, you might not realize that. That and I utilize trade economy a lot — so not all the work I’m posting is for money. But to me, dollar bills are not the only form of valuable currency to me. So I love getting creative with my career and passion working for me in many ways.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
In 2018, I transitioned from tour/music event photography to underwater portraiture. A full 180 flip that has been so fun and filled my life with so many amazing connections and joy. I’m really proud of my ability to pivot what my art focus is, even though it was incredibly daunting at the time. I still do music photography but it’s no longer what I use to describe my body of work. I don’t think my art is “set apart” from anyone. I love to think of it as a fish swimming upstream alongside many other fish. As artists, I think it’s important to draw from each other’s creativity and support one another. To say my work is set apart would be to imply I’m either better or worse than others in my field. I’m 1000% about collaboration and sharing knowledge and forming community around creativity.
I want the world to know it’s okay to change your mind. Even if you were incredibly convicted to start. It’s okay to grow out of something and pivot. It’s even better to be authentic about your process and vulnerabilities. I loved the music industry until I got a little bit older and realized I like plans, and sleeping and dictating my wages. I wasn’t getting any of those needs met when I started at 21 — which was fine for most of my 20s, but when I hit 28 I became a lot more particular about my energy and how much I had to give. The music industry is incredibly exciting, and I met (and continue to meet) some amazing people. But making it my whole bread and butter was exhausting — that, and my work was very quiet in a loud environment. I was trying to fit a square peg in a round hole. My art wanted to be small in an industry that needs it’s artists to look big. I still have an amazing friendship with this group, Above and Beyond, who really love my eye and continue to employ me for gigs and take me on the road. However, it’s rare that the machine behind the artist gravitates towards that kind of work.

That was one of my biggest challenges, realizing that the work I wanted to make wasn’t really cut out for the industry I was in – at least not to make a living that way. That, and I wasn’t motivated to make pyro and lasers and stages look larger than life. I greatly respect the photographers that can do that, but I learned after a few years photographing, that if my heart wasn’t in the content, then it wasn’t going to shine.

So I found an art form that was aligned with my heart. That gave me more control over my hours and environment, and while it was scary to make such a big change, it’s been 4 years since the shift and it only keeps getting better.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
If a friend came to visit me in Nevada City, I’d take them to the river, then pop by Communal Coffee and Kitkitdizzi for a little stroll around town. At night, I’d take them out to Sushi Q, then to The National for a cocktail and some jazz (if it’s a Saturday). I have a lot of guests come through to visit, and I burn out quickly, so I like to keep many of the activities local and easy.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I have had many influences and help on my creative journey. I’d love to shout out my dad, who has always supported my creativity and my dreams. My late mother, who was an incredible storyteller and had a drive towards success i’ve yet to see paralleled. I’d like to thank Jamie (@bird.ee) for introducing me to the world of underwater photography as well as every tech inclined person who has walked me through a new editing technique or software that has helped streamline my editing process (my ex, Andrew Hardy, Gregory Alan Isakov who showed me the glories of split filtering, Jack Davis who taught me content aware fill, the list goes on and on). I’d love to shout out some of my best friends, Justin Nunnink, Aviva Le Fey, Ramona Rayo, Megan Matthers – to name a few – who always keep me afloat mentally when i’m floundering in my emotions too deeply.

I could go on and on, but that’s a good start.

Website: jessiemccall.com

Instagram: @littlegreeneyes

Other: other instagram: @naked__conversations

Image Credits
The portrait of me was taken by Andrew Hardy.