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[0:00] Jayke Workman: Have you ever shot a drag queen?

[0:05] Jayke Workman: That sounded hilarious. He's he's a photographer. Have you ever taken photos of a drag queen?

[0:15] Jayke Workman: Oh my god, did you hear? Did you hear? Did you hear? Oh my god, guys. Oh my god! Oh my god, you guys! What's up, everybody? My name is Jayke Workman, and this is Oh My Pod, you guys, a musical theater and pop culture podcast.

[0:37] Jayke Workman: You guys, you guys, this week we have so much to talk about. First of all, diving right in. You guys, it's no secret that I'm a slut for Chicago the Musical, but let me tell you, I got to see none other than Jinx Monsoon as Matron Mama Morton in Chicago on Broadway. And oh my god. I I can't even describe how floored I was by this person's performance. I have been a fan of Jinx Monsoon for years. Obviously, because of Drag Race and then her her triumphant return in the most recent season of RuPaul's Drag Race, All Stars, All Winners. But I have such a deep respect for her as a performer. I know that she is a theater person at heart. She went to school for theater. She's a seasoned comedian and a downright goofball.

And when I tell you, she brought such soul to this role. She was warm and silly and nuanced and just everything that you want in a Broadway performer. And you could just tell that she has wanted to do this for so long. And I think it's so special that you can reach some sort of level of fame or notoriety in one facet of your life and still have dreams outside of that that you look forward to reaching. And it felt so thrilling to get to watch her live a dream. I know firsthand how special it is to get to take a bow on that stage with that company and that orchestra, and it's something I will never ever take for granted. So to see someone who I have loved for so long up there living their dream is really it's unmatched.

I'll never forget it. And I had the crazy good fortune of getting to go out after the show with some of the cast. Um and Jinx was there, and so I got to meet her, and she was just the loveliest, silliest, the the truly the exact idea of what you think meeting Jinx Monsoon would be like.

[2:45] Jayke Workman: Oh, um, another show that I just recently got to see was Kimberly Kimbo. If you have not seen this show, run to what is it, the booth? The booth theater? I think so. Run and see it. It is so incredible, it's so original and poignant and special. Victoria Clark is obviously just unparalleled. I did wish that they had given her more vocal opportunities just because she's such an iconic vocalist, but she turns the party in this role. It is so funny and so sweet and and just melancholy in the most lovely way. She was in my opinion, the best part of the show. I have been such a fan of hers for so long. Her Glinda is like one of my absolute favorites, and she just has the goods, the comic chops, the vocals, everything.

She was superb. One other show that I just got to see was Anthony Rapp's solo show, Without You off Broadway at New World Stages. It was so so beautiful. It chronicles his experience working with Jonathan Larson up until Jonathan's passing. And it also talks about how um he had to deal with his mother's cancer diagnosis and eventual passing all at the same time. It is so lovely and beautiful, and Anthony Rapp sounds just like he did on the original rent recording. It's crazy.

[4:22] Jayke Workman: On my pod, you guys, this week we are joined by a New York City-based photographer, extraordinaire Mr. Jon Taylor. Welcome to the show.

[4:30] Jon Taylor: Hi.

[4:31] Jayke Workman: Where are you calling from?

[4:34] Jon Taylor: Uh, my bed in Astoria.

[4:36] Jayke Workman: Fantastic. Oh, first of all, let me ask, what are your pronouns?

[4:41] Jon Taylor: He hims.

[4:42] Jayke Workman: He him pronouns. Okay, great. I use he they pronouns, but I often always just tell people that you can pretty much call me whatever, as long as it's respectful.

[4:52] Jon Taylor: So beautiful.

[4:53] Jayke Workman: Yes. Makes it easy. So you and I met when my dear friend Leslie Blake Walker reached out to you to do um a pretty like conceptual photo shoot. Right. But what brought you first to to photographing performers?

[5:11] Jon Taylor: Leslie is in the Broadway revival of Funny Girl. Um, and I have known her through my experience with with musical theater in in school. Um I know she's clearly not the only performer that you have photographed. So what first brought you to to that?

[5:27] Jon Taylor: I my first rule like run-in with performers was probably in high school. Um all of my friends were were in musical theater one way or another. Um and I was the one with crippling stage fright. So I really wanted to be a part of that world, but not be in the spotlight. I am very much an introvert. I very much like to hide behind something, and the camera kind of gave me the opportunity to do that. And then I, you know, senior junior, senior year, I was the one with the fancy camera, and my friends were going off to college for musical theater, and they were like, Hey, you got this good camera and we need headshots. You've got to better learn how to photograph people this seems to be uh a calling. So and then that just sort of spiraled and and led to this like full-blown career.

[6:19] Jon Taylor: Yeah. So in a nutshell, I um I kind of shot it all. I did like the weddings thing, I did I worked for a newspaper for a number of years and doing news photo journalism, and then I dabbled in fashion a little bit, and that's where people really started to pay attention because in Virginia there's not much of a fashion market, and that those photos were unique. And people were pushing me saying, This is something special, you should you know, you should pursue this, you should do something with this. Um and ultimately I moved to New York to kind of see where that could take me. And in a nutshell, after a few years bouncing around the fashion industry in different capacities, I missed my people, I missed my performers.

Um and I just didn't feel like I was finding my place in the fashion community. But I was constantly having these incredible experiences with performers, and they were oftentimes models that I would meet on set that either were performers or or are performers or had some experience in that field, and those were the people that I really vibe with. So I thought, you know, why don't I just work with these people instead of you know trying to find a place trying to force uh a place in a community where I wasn't finding a home.

[7:46] Jayke Workman: Sure. Absolutely. And then when did you first come to New York then?

[7:50] Jon Taylor: Was that um I moved here in the spring of 2014?

[7:54] Jayke Workman: So we're coming on nine years.

[7:57] Jon Taylor: Wow, incredible. And have you always been in Astoria since you arrived?

[8:01] Jon Taylor: Um, I've been I was close. My first apartment was in Greenpoint, but then I bounced around Brooklyn a little bit, and it just took finding the right girl with the right apartment in Astoria to land me here permanently.

[8:14] Jayke Workman: Yes. Will you tell me about your um your partner and what it's like to have a partner who is a performer?

[8:20] Jon Taylor: Right. So she is a dancer through and through. Um she um has definitely been an inspiration and a um kind of a gateway into the community even further. You know, I had my own circle of performing friends, which is how we met was through the that group of friends, but she absolutely you know opened some doors for me there. But uh it kind of gives me an opportunity to have my my finger on the pulse of the industry and to to hear her talking about auditions and talking about what goes on, you know, in in the rooms um yeah that I might not otherwise have since I'm not a performer myself and I'm not in those rooms and I'm not facing those people at the table.

[9:07] Jayke Workman: Right, which can be a very daunting uh task.

[9:11] Jon Taylor: Right. I might so I've heard um do you ever is it is it fun to have someone just always in your home to be like, hey, could you come and um stand here or put your leg up so I can take a picture?

[9:25] Jon Taylor: Absolutely my test for many many uh a shoot um you know before a client arrives, or if I want to try something new, um I usually have to coax her with some food. Um so the photos tend to be her uh stuffing her face. But um yeah, it's no great having somebody that's it's camera comfortable kind of at my disposal anytime I need.

[9:47] Jayke Workman: Totally. So speaking of that, I was gonna ask you, do you have any advice for people who either may just be extremely camera shy or maybe have never had their photo professionally taken? Um, like from the photographer's standpoint, like is are there things that you try to do to make people as comfortable as possible?

[10:10] Jon Taylor: Um, so one of my um one of my selling points, if you will, um, is that I hate being photographed. I hate being on the other side of the camera. So I empathize 100% with those feelings and that stress. Um and throughout my career I have taken many mental notes of how can I make this experience as comfortable for myself, and um I want to make it as as comfortable for them as as it would be for me.

[10:41] Jayke Workman: Totally.

[10:42] Jon Taylor: I have had my fair share of photo shoots where I have either been the photographer or I've been the subject. So I've gotten really used to playing around with my levels of comfortability and what I what I hope people see in an image. So I think like my comfortability in front of a camera came from knowing that being a performer, it you are being looked at, you know? And when you're on stage, especially when you're dancing, you're you're hitting poses and you're hitting lines and creating shapes with your body that you know are being looked at. So when I'm in front of a camera, I sort of have to think of it in terms of that of like if my angle is this way and the light is coming from here, this is what's gonna look the best for the line or for the shoe or the garment or whatever.

[11:40] Jayke Workman: Um do you think that that translated into fashion photography for you? Where were there instances where people were like less inclined to lend themselves to the camera?

[11:54] Jon Taylor: Um yes. I think there are people who come in with a predisposition of what it's gonna be like, and I tell folks that you know there's there's only so much that I can say ahead of time um to make you feel comfortable because the at the end of every session, almost everyone says something along the lines of, oh, this was way easier than I thought it was gonna be. Um and I wish that I had the ability to sprinkle some magic fairy dust on people before they come in the door and make them feel that feeling before they even get here because feelings of nervousness and feelings of anxiety are valid and it's totally okay to feel those things but also like you're here to be yourself and you're here to be you and if anything the pressure falls on me to get to know you on a deeper level in a in a pretty short amount of time whereas all you have to do is show up and show me.

[12:54] Jayke Workman: Yeah that's so interesting I I think about um like my friends who obviously are close to me and are already comfortable with me being my subject so it's it's much easier to be like oh try this or do you want to do this and you know I've had like like fully nude shoots or or you know things that are really wacky and weird and I think it would be a different experience to be in your shoes and to have people reaching out to you who you've never met before being like hey can you take my picture or can you do this weird thing do you have do a lot of your clients reach out with like a fully realized concept for a shoot or does it is it kind of across the board?

[13:41] Jon Taylor: It's kind of across the board.

[13:42] Jon Taylor: It's actually pretty rare that folks will reach out with an idea that's fully conceptualized, especially with headshots. Like, I encourage people to make mood boards, you know, whether it's images that just make you happy or images that are representative of anything, like color palettes that you love or, you know, examples of headshots that you love, whether they're my photos or your friends' photos or just anything. And that just building that mood board for them puts them in a much more comfortable and much more prepared headspace. But then sometimes we have people like Leslie who come in with a very, very specific concept and a very structured idea of what we're gonna do, and that's also great because then I can just kind of kick back and focus on creating rather than building this concept. And that takes me back to the fashion days where I would have an art director or, you know, a set designer or somebody that could kind of guide the shoot and I could just do the fun stuff.

[14:52] Jayke Workman: Totally.

[14:53] Jon Taylor: I was lucky enough to be included in that shoot in terms of makeup, and I had a blast, and I loved watching you shoot. Do you enjoy having collaborators in that sense of, like you mentioned, like an art director or makeup artists or just anybody else on site?

[15:12] Jon Taylor: Absolutely. And like, even if we're not talking about a whole conceptualized shoot, if we're just talking about headshots, then like usually I will have a hair and makeup artist on set, and just having that energy and that second set of eyes can really make all the difference. It can bring a new layer of creativity, and it can also take so much of the pressure off of the client that they don't have to be stressed out in front of the camera with the thought in the back of their mind of, "Oh my gosh, is my hair where it should be?" or "Did I smudge my makeup when I touched my face a minute ago?" Like, there's all those little things that you can get lost in that prevent you from really fully expressing and fully letting go. Sure, so having those people on set, you know, can absolutely enhance the experience and the confidence and ultimately the look of the final photos.

[15:12] Jon Taylor: Do you have a favorite way or style to shoot in?

[15:12] Jon Taylor: I have many. But do you inspire by... I'm inspired by lots of things when it comes to headshots. I don't want to do the same thing that everybody else is doing because trends are very much a real thing in the headshot world, and you can easily look at a photo from five years ago or ten years ago and know that that's when that photo was taken because of all this trendy, whether it was, you know, we went through a stage where there was this bright white poppy background that everybody had, and then we had bright vibrant colors, which can still be popular, but I think that we're kind of on the tail end of that trend right now, and we're seeing lots more neutrals, lots more natural backgrounds and textures and things.

So while I try to follow the trends, I also like to kind of give it my own... well, trendsetter, trendsetter Jon Taylor. But then when it comes to my other work that's not headshots, like I am so inspired by timelessness and trying to create a photo that looks like it was either shot 80 years ago or 30 years ago or yesterday. I'm very inspired by, you know, old Hollywood and anywhere from the 20s and 30s on up through the 60s and 70s, and then obviously like the colors of the 80s and 90s are pretty trendy right now. But I just love old photos, and I love wondering what it would be like to have been in that room at that time and to see the other photos that were made that day, not just the, you know, we've all seen the iconic photos of Audrey Hepburn and Marilyn Monroe, but like what else happened during that?

[17:05] Jayke Workman: Yeah.

[17:05] Jon Taylor: And I like to kind of bring that to my sessions and allow people to experience, you know, what it would have been like on the other side.

[18:19] Jayke Workman: Totally.

[18:20] Jon Taylor: That's so cool. And I mean, the photos that you create are just incredible. Some of the most beautiful photos that I've ever seen. And how much of the sort of vintage or like retro period look is done post-shoot? Is there a lot of editing that goes into the photos to help with that feel, or is it much more of like the setup of the shot?

[18:44] Jon Taylor: Um, 90% of it is going to be lighting and hair and makeup. Um, between those two things, you can get pretty darn close. And there are things that digital photography cannot emulate as well as shooting large format or medium format film from that time period. There's just a character to those old cameras and that old film stock that is different from what digital cameras provide. But there was still a surprising amount of editing done to those photos back in the day, even pre-Photoshop. There was a lot of editing that was done in the darkroom and a lot of retouching that was done using pencils and graphite and, you know, just darkroom processes that we take for granted today that we can do them in a click in Photoshop or, you know, on our camera apps that took hours and hours and hours in the studio and in the darkroom.

So I like to kind of hark back to the history and get as much of that right in camera. I use lighting that is representative of the time, and then when I'm editing, I try to imagine myself doing this in a darkroom and not just, you know, on a computer. Um, but still, it's 90% hair, makeup, and lighting.

[20:06] Jayke Workman: How did you learn to do the lighting element?

[20:10] Jon Taylor: I have lots and lots of books from particularly like George Hurrell. He was the big MGM photographer back in the day. His images are just... anytime you think of photos of Grace Kelly or Rita Hayworth or any of the old-timey noir stars, yeah, almost all of that was him. And what wasn't him was other photographers that were emulating him. Um, so I have many books on George himself or just, you know, old Hollywood of that time, and then just getting into the studio and messing around and trying to get as close as I can and just a lot of trial and error.

[20:56] Jayke Workman: Totes.

[20:57] Jon Taylor: Yeah. Well, I noticed too that when I was on set with you, one element of the atmosphere that you created was music. And I think you asked Leslie to put on the music that she would most like to hear while she was doing the shoot. How much creative inspiration comes from music for you?

[21:19] Jon Taylor: For me, it's more important that I tap into something in my client and my subjects. Because obviously I have music playing all the time, but these shoots are not about me. These shoots are about giving you a mental headspace that's safe and comfortable and familiar, but also using music to emulate the mood that we're going for. We're not going to listen to classical music when we're shooting a hip-hop look. We're gonna listen to things that bring out the, you know, the vibe and the energy, and I love learning about how people interpret music into movement, how they interpret it into, you know, their expressions and their mood. So getting, like, one of the first things that I ask when people walk in the door is, you know, what kind of music are we feeling?

What's on your Spotify right now? Or what are the things that you listen to when nobody else is around? The things that maybe you might be a little bit embarrassed to share publicly, but like this is the space that you want to do that in.

[22:25] Jayke Workman: Love it. Do you have a favorite camera? Do you shoot all digitally?

[22:31] Jon Taylor: Mostly, yes. All my client work is digital. Um, I do have a handful of film cameras that don't see a lot of use because film and developing is so incredibly expensive right now and cost prohibitive. But I have a variety of 35 millimeter film cameras, um, I have a large format camera, I have a couple of, you know, like Polaroid Instax cameras that see some use, and those come out for fun or for artistic endeavors, but most things that you see on my website and social media are digital.

[23:06] Jayke Workman: Cool. Does that make... I mean, I'm assuming that makes the distribution process much easier too, of just being able to share images in seconds.

[23:16] Jon Taylor: Yes, pretty much instantly. Like, I typically have people their proofs either by the end of the day or within 24 hours, and with digital, the process might take weeks. Or with film, sorry, that process might take weeks.

[23:28] Jayke Workman: Wow. So did you grow up in Virginia?

[23:31] Jon Taylor: I did.

[23:32] Jayke Workman: Okay, great. So in about 40 minutes outside of DC. What was your exposure to art like, like growing up and in high school?

[23:41] Jon Taylor: I mean, it was awesome. Our schools had a great art program. I at one point thought I was gonna go to school for vocal performance because I love singing, and starting, you know, at a very young age, I loved singing, and there's... I knew I could hear it in your voice. There's a good bit of music in my family. So I was exposed to different styles of music from a very young age. So, and then all through high school, I was in every choir that our school offered. I was except show choir because, uh, two left feet, but I photographed the show choir. So, and then precariously through Glee.

[24:22] Jayke Workman: But of course.

[24:23] Jon Taylor: No, so I thought I was gonna go to school for musical or for vocal performance or music education or something. But so I, yeah, I was very much exposed to music and theater, and then being so close to DC, we had some of the greatest art museums in the world. Um, yeah, wow. And then also being so close to government and the White House, I knew many of some of the greatest photojournalists to ever live. And photojournalism is also very special to me because it combines my love of history and documenting things and life and important events with photography.

[25:05] Jayke Workman: Yeah.

[25:06] Jon Taylor: I was looking at your website, and I saw all of the beautiful photos of Barack Obama. Is there a specific point of view or perspective that you tend to have when you're doing photojournalism?

[25:22] Jon Taylor: It's important with photojournalism to tell the story as it is with any sort of journalism and any sort of news reportage. Um, you know, you should try to remain as neutral as possible. Obviously, there's a love for Mr. Obama in our community and in our world. Um, but in Virginia, it was... Virginia was a very purple state, which growing up was an amazing experience because I didn't live in a bubble. I had exposure to all ways of thinking. Um, and that was very important in developing as a human but also as a photojournalist. But those portraits of Obama were during the 2012 campaign, and it was one of his very last campaign stops because my county kind of controlled the state, and we were a swing state.

So that was a very, very important speech that he was giving that day. And that was a wild day. Um, that was a wild day. Uh, to be invited to be so close to him. You know, I can still smell his cologne. I was standing inches from his personal photographer, who is one of the greatest photojournalists to ever live, Pete Sousa. There's many documentaries about him. Wow. So that was an important day for me. That was, yeah, I will think about that day for a long time, which is why those photos are the cover of my photojournalism page.

[26:47] Jayke Workman: Yeah. And how cool that, I mean, quite literally, it's captured for you. Um, well, okay, well switching gears a little bit, not that Barack Obama is not similar to a drag queen, but um, have you ever done a photo shoot with someone in full drag?

[27:04] Jon Taylor: I have. And they were actually a huge inspiration for what became my Timeless series. Ooh. One of their costumes was very vintage inspired, and I thought while I had them in the studio that I would try something that I had wanted to try for some time, and that day kind of flipped a switch for me.

[27:29] Jon Taylor: They did bring an obscene amount of glitter which is to be expected. But um going on two years ago now and I'm still cleaning glitter out of the studio. Of course. So I have a love hate relationship with glitter. It's beautiful to photograph, but good lord is it the herpes of the craft world.

[27:46] Jayke Workman: It surely is well very special session. I just saw um the there's the new the latest season of Drag Race is on right now and um I was looking at an article and social media posts that some of the Rue Girls had posted about what it's like to be photographed in drag versus out of drag and what the balance is like that you have to strike as a photographer because when you have someone who is so specifically creating shapes and uh lighting on their face with makeup, they are already going into it, sort of telling you subliminally, this is what I want my face to look like. So do you do you think that that is easier for you to capture, or do you think it's a harder, more specific thing when when you know that like these lines on this person's face are telling the viewer's eye, this is what I want you to see.

[28:44] Jon Taylor: Right. So the thing with drag makeup is it often is emulating the lighting, obviously, like what you're saying. Like, this is how I want my face to be lit. This is where I want the shadows to fall, this is where I want the highlights to fall. And so much of that can be created with lighting alone and not without necessarily the the extreme amount of makeup that goes into drag. So I think it would be fascinating to see if a photographer is able to capture that look without faking it with makeup, but actually doing it with real light. You know, the the sharp contour lines under the cheekbones and the the shadow that comes out from the lash um that that's supposed to look like the you know the shadow of the eyelashes. Marilyn Monroe actually made that style very popular of uh creating that that shadow and that that depth there to make it constantly look like she was being lit by this like beautiful overhead butterfly.

[29:44] Jayke Workman: Totally. So yeah, that's that's a very interesting point that I really hadn't thought of that the drag performers use that makeup to emulate that light. But it would be fun to see if that could be done without as much makeup and just done using the lighting. Well, and there are so many different styles and and you know ways that people go about their drag makeup, and some of it is you know, like a gender illusion, some of it has really nothing to do with gender, and it's more about like the art, but you know, there are tr drag queens Trixie Mattel who has like some of the most iconic, like geometric, sharp lined makeup. And then there are people who uh do completely like soft, almost human-looking, natural makeup in drag. So I think that is uh interesting to think about in terms of how far you could go with just lights and and not the makeup. Um was there was there ever a point where you were like, I'm for sure an artist?

[30:45] Jon Taylor: You know, I struggle with that word artist. Um because not so much recently. Um I feel like I'm I'm coming to accept that that label a little bit better. But so much of what I do as a headshot photographer often feels like a a service provider. Um it feels a little bit more customer service-y because I do have kind of this formula that I use to prepare for the sessions to photograph the sessions, because there is an end goal, and that end goal is to to create a product that makes you marketable. It gives you it gives your agents or gives yourself a tool to make money. You know, to better market yourself and to to book those book those gigs. So sometimes I begin to lose that feeling of being an artist. Even though there is an artistry to it, so much of it is business and so much of it is about this end goal and this end product and making people successful.

[31:47] Jayke Workman: Sure. But then I have moments where I get into the studio or I get outside and I get to play outside of the the rules of a headshot session. And then I am reminded that I am an artist. And this this feels like I've created something special that's you know, the sole purpose of it is to make people happy and not to create a product. And I think I kind of came into that a little bit more during COVID where I was creating just to create, um, and not necessarily to make a living. I was, you know, we were all so artistically starved that we all just wanted to make something and we all just wanted to to put some some beauty back out into the world, whether that was on a grander scale or just you know, scrolling through your Instagram feed.

[32:39] Jon Taylor: Oh absolutely. That was my I mean shamefully, it was TikTok for me. Where I was like, well, this is the platform to to feel like I'm an artist. I have admittedly not fully embraced uh the TikTok yet.

[32:54] Jayke Workman: Do not blame you for a second. It's it is an overwhelming platform, especially as somebody who sees the world in still frames rather than videos. And that's kind of where I struggle with TikTok in reels is that there is the content is there, it just has to be created. And I I'm not a content creator. I am I'm not comfortable being in front of the camera, much less being videographed. Um so I'm trying to find ways to to um appease the algorithm gods, but also be true to myself and not necessarily do things that just it's good to do things that make you uncomfortable because that's how you grow. But then there's things that are just uncomfortable for to the sake of being uncomfortable. And that's that's video for me.

[33:43] Jon Taylor: Do you think that social media and and specifically Instagram has been an influential part in your business?

[33:50] Jayke Workman: Oh, a hundred percent. Literally 100% of my work is booked because somebody saw me on Instagram or because somebody um saw a photo of somebody else that they loved and they said, Who shot that? And that that happens almost exclusively through Instagram. I've had a few bookings through TikTok which shocked me because I have like a grand total of three videos on TikTok. Um and it was again a situation where somebody else mentioned me in a video and and it led them to me. So I do need to embrace the talk. But yes, social media. Because it also gives me helps me keep my finger on the pulse of the industry and the trends. Um but then to discover new people and for new people to discover me. And as much as we complain about Instagram and algorithms and what social media has done to our brains, it is it is the the foundation for my business.

[34:51] Jon Taylor: Yeah. I don't pay for marketing, I don't pay for ads, I don't put my I don't put ads in magazines or on billboards or it's entirely through this free platform that's been gifted to us by the social media gods. So we need it. I think it's interesting too, um, to know that even though it may seem like the world is super oversaturated with with content like that, um, specifically on Instagram. I I do know that you are really great friends with other photographers in the city, like James Jinn and and you know, other incredible photographers. Can you talk about what it's like to to approach your business like without the the competitive nature of of what you guys do? Because what you guys do is so different.

[35:36] Jon Taylor: Right. And even the people who do similar things, I think that the allyship is so much more important than viewing each other as competition because there are one there are so many fish in this sea of New York performers that we could triple the amount of photographers here and we would still all be working. Um but yeah, competition is something that I like to talk about because I my entire education in photography in Virginia was linking up with other photographers and we would all like we rent space together and we'd like you know rent a studio for for eight hours or twelve hours and just like post on social media, hey, we're gonna be in this studio, come on by. And we would shoot photos, sometimes good, sometimes not so good.

You know, drink beers and high five, and like we would uh that was my education. That was my entire photography education, was just hanging out with other photographers and saying, Hey, that's cool, how'd you do that? Or looking at magazines or ads or whatever, and being like, I want to I want to figure this out and reverse engineering these photos, and that's my entire photography foundation is based on just being friendly with other photographers.

[36:53] Jayke Workman: And moving to New York, it was a little bit of a culture shock because in particular in the BC area, photographers are very friendly with each other and very willing to help and it's a very social community and here it's a little bit more dog eat dog um which is fine because it's New York there's you know that's just the the hustler culture here but I have gained so much more value out of life by being friends with the handful of photographers that I'm friends with. James Jinn is an incredible friend he's an incredible artist he's an incredible philosopher um he he takes a very very different approach to what we do and even though we shoot similar things and virtually all the same people you know we I don't consider him competition in any way um because people come to us for different things and different experiences um and I think it's that way with with most of the photographers in this industry like in order to survive you have to have your own little thing and those little things are what makes us different from those other photographers so yeah I don't I don't like to see each other as competition absolutely I respect the hell out of photographers who do what they do and they do it well but they're also good people at the end of the day like I want you know I want to be friends with good people and absolutely yeah that's huge for me.

[38:21] Jayke Workman: So do you have any upcoming exciting thing that you're really excited to to work on or to share do I we're kind of in the audition season grind right now, so like I can really only see the hand in front of my face.

[38:34] Jon Taylor: Sure. Um I am gonna be taking some time off in the spring to travel a little bit. And um if anyone in Europe is hearing this right now, then uh reach out because I'm looking for friends, and uh, you know, I'll buy you a beer to hang out. Show me your show me your city. Um that's a bargain, everyone. I uh yeah, I just need to take a little bit of personal time. I haven't left. I can count on one hand how many times I've left the five boroughs since 2019.

[39:08] Jayke Workman: Oh my gosh, wow.

[39:10] Jon Taylor: And none of them were very exciting places. So I'm I'm gonna take a bit of a sabbatical in the spring and do probably a month in Europe and UK. A lot of it is gonna be soul searching, but a lot of it is gonna be shooting cool things and meeting cool people and um that sounds amazing.

[39:31] Jayke Workman: Take me with you.

[39:33] Jon Taylor: We'll see how that goes, but I'm very much looking forward to that and whatever develops from that. I hope to kind of tap into the the theater community a little bit in London. There's so many performers and photographers over there that I admire and would love to put some some personality with some faces and names.

[39:50] Jayke Workman: Yes, totally. Well, Jon, thank you so much for coming on the show. This was so fun.

[39:54] Jon Taylor: So welcome. Thank you for having me.

[39:57] Jayke Workman: Oh my god, any time. Um tell everyone where they can find you. What the Instagram candle.

[40:00] Jon Taylor: I am Instagram at John Taylor Photo, J-O-N, not J-O-H-N, John Taylor Photo. Um my website is Jon Taylor C.com.

[40:11] Jayke Workman: Yay! You guys, you gotta check out John's work. It's truly incredible. And thank you so much again for being here. This was so fun, and you're such a delight.

[40:17] Jon Taylor: This was lovely. Congratulations on getting this thing kicked off. This is so much fun.

[40:23] Jayke Workman: Thank you. Thank you so much. You guys, don't forget to send me your emails at oh mypodies at gmail.com. I'm so looking forward to sharing some stories. I want to hear theater mishaps that you've had, favorite theatrical experiences that you've had. Not just theater. I want to hear about your pottery class you took. Are you painting again? What's inspiring you to sing in the shower? Did your mom one time have a personal run in with Bernadette Peters? We want to know it all. Thank you so much for listening. And don't forget to like, rate, and subscribe. Talk to you soon. Bye.

[41:00] Jon Taylor: Oh my god.

[41:01] Jayke Workman: Oh my god, you guys.