Feb 17, 2020

Taylor Jarvis

SD: How long have you been a photographer?

Taylor: Unofficially for eight years, and officially for four years since September.

I studied music in college and I am a full time musician for a wedding band. Music pays the bills, so with photography it’s more of an outlet and I can pick and choose what I want to do with it– It stays a little more sacred for that reason.

SD: Are you from Charleston?

Taylor: I am from a small town north of Atlanta called “Rome.”

SD: How did you get into photography?

Taylor: In high school, my parents surprised me for Christmas with a Nikon camera. I just started shooting my friends and landscapes. I took a break and saved up for a camera. They gave me my first camera and that was the beginning point for me.

SD: How would you describe your style?

Taylor: Moody, conceptual, editorial, and narrative.

SD: Does your style have any reflection on where you are based culturally and demographically?

Taylor: No, not at all. I try to be the exact opposite of the style that surrounds me. I love LA and New York, and European fashion. Music has really influenced my style as well. What I listen to translates to what I get inspired by. I get inspired by other places and cultures, and I bring it to my local community.

SD: What’s your favorite thing to shoot?

Taylor: I would say editorial. I love the fashion aspect involved in it, as well as meeting new people. I love hearing different stories from the models. A lot of my post-production is how they inspired me and how I interpret them.

We absolutely love Taylor’s work and believe she does an amazing job through post-production storytelling. One of the most important things in the arts is to create pieces that move and tell stories.

SD: How would you describe yourself?

Taylor: Minimal and eclectic.

SD: How did you begin to shoot for these big brands? What got the ball rolling with that?

Taylor: The process has been an interesting time. Social media is a beautiful tool for brands to see you. I have been contacted by certain brands literally just by hashtags or word of mouth. I have also reached out to brands asking to work with them, and explaining that I would love to add it to my portfolio. You don’t have to have some special criteria to meet and contact people. I emailed designers at New York Fashion and told them who I was and showed them my work! It isn’t a super complicated process, you just need to try it! I have had plenty of “no’s,” but you just have to keep persevering.

SD: How has art influenced you?

Taylor: Art for me, impacts my life every single day. I see it and I use it, and It has changed my life. Art has always impacted me.

SD: Is there ever a fear of the ‘not knowing’ and never having consistency?

Taylor: Absolutely, I always try to think ahead and have a plan and goal in mind. I am currently unrepresented, I do not have an agency. I would love to be a part of an agency or magazine that I could work with. There is always the fear of the unknown. I would love to do this forever, but you never know!

SD: What has been your biggest struggle as an artist?

Taylor: The location I am at really limits me. Being in Charleston is great, but I often have to travel a lot to make money and shoot unique things. I have learned to know that work comes and goes. Sometimes I am super busy and it’s great, and then I don’t have work for a week– but that is something I have grown to learn and expect.

SD: What motivates and inspires you?

Taylor: A lot of outfits in art, a couple of artists especially inspire me. Music and people’s stories inspire me. One big artist, Tim Walker, has always inspired me. His shoots are super abstract and bizarre which I love.

SD: Dogs or cats?

Taylor: Dogs!