Selected: ADC Young Guns 9

“Jesse captures our ever-familiar daily life from subtle yet surprising angles. They are stories waiting to be told.” – Qian Qian, YG7

I am extremely excited and honored to announce that I am part of this year’s class of ADC Young Guns 9. ADC Young Guns® is the only international, cross-disciplinary, portfolio-based awards competition that identifies today’s vanguard of young creative professionals age 30 or younger.  Judged on a body of both professional and personal work by a jury of past YG winners, this year’s class represents an impressive global roster of young talent in the fields of graphic design, illustration, advertising and art direction, photography, environmental design, film, animation & video, interactive design, sound design, product design and typography.  If you are in the New York area on October 13 check out the party.  The gallery show of this year’s winners work will be shown at the ADC Gallery from October 13- November 3, 2011.  Go here to see the winner profiles and for more information check out the official press release.

Mobile Portfolio

Today I am launching a mobile version of my online portfolio. Now you can access all the same content seen on my website from your smart phone and tablet. To check out the mobile site click here.

New Portfolios

I am posting to share my newly redesigned portfolio set. In the initial stages my goal was to produce something unique. An object that was easily recognizable and remembered by reflecting my online presence and strengthening my branding across both platforms. Like the site, green indicates the best of my assignment work and the blue showcasing my narrative personal series.

Upon completion the iPad was released. Like many visual artists, I was drawn to the easily customized platform that didn’t require hours of proofing, printing, and the cost of materials. But at the same time, I like the idea of showing nicely printed and sequenced photographs. And, I didn’t see any options to truly customize my presentation and was concerned my branding and identity could get lost in the mix. So I decided to have both and marry the old with the new. Integrate the iPad’s multimedia capabilities with classic book design having hand printed matte pages, half linen construction and a cradle for the iPad. The new presentation has been very well received and excited to share.

The above video was produced as a book preview on my contact page seen here. More photos and construction images after the jump.
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Class of 99 Turns 30: Alex Owen 2

The second half of the images of long time friend and classmate, Alex Owen is my latest subject for my series, The Class of 99 Turns 30.  Alex is a musician seen in front of his former Tempe, AZ residence with his Rhodesian Ridgeback, Beyonce.  He has since taken his talents to Los Angeles. The images above is the final portfolio selection and outtakes after the jump.

With the help of fine art photography’s most sought after consultant and editor Mary Virgina Swanson, we have since added to the series title “The Class of 99” to “The Class of 99 Turns 30.” The below essay is the series preface explaining the concept and themes behind my project.

This year my high school classmates and I turned 30.  As we entered adulthood, we had reason to be optimistic and confident.  Our formative years were cocooned in security, a youth spent in a time of economic growth and low unemployment.

This is what we were promised: “You are being bequeathed the tools for achieving a material existence that neither my generation nor any that preceded it could even remotely imagined as we began our life’s work.” – Alan Greenspan to the Harvard graduating class of 1999

Today, unemployment hovers at 9.6 percent.  Housing foreclosures are at an all time high and personal bankruptcy filings are estimated to affect 1.7 million Americans.  My generation is the first in a hundred years that is unlikely to be financially better off than its parents.

It’s in this moment of transition that I photographed my classmates in settings relevant to the lives they are building.

The images show a community last assembled at graduation during America’s most prosperous moment, regrouping in 2009 during the toughest economic and social circumstances since the Great Depression.  The portraits examine what has been gained or lost in the interim.

Some are recovering from job losses, drug and alcohol addiction and loss of family.  Others are building families, achieving in the their early careers and volunteering in their communities.  Like all generations, we struggle to define ourselves as parents, citizens, family members and spouses.  We work to create meaningful lives; we work to understand what “meaningful” looks like.

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Class of 99 Turns 30: Alex Owen

Long time friend and classmate, Alex Owen is my latest subject for my series, The Class of 99 Turns 30.  Alex is a musician seen in front of his former Tempe, AZ residence with his Rhodesian Ridgeback, Beyonce.  He has since taken his talents to Los Angeles and additional images will be posted next week. The image above is the final portfolio selection and outtakes after the jump.

With the help of fine art photography’s most sought after consultant and editor Mary Virgina Swanson, we have since added to the series title “The Class of 99” to “The Class of 99 Turns 30.” The below essay is the series preface explaining the concept and themes behind my project.

This year my high school classmates and I turned 30.  As we entered adulthood, we had reason to be optimistic and confident.  Our formative years were cocooned in security, a youth spent in a time of economic growth and low unemployment.

This is what we were promised: “You are being bequeathed the tools for achieving a material existence that neither my generation nor any that preceded it could even remotely imagined as we began our life’s work.” – Alan Greenspan to the Harvard graduating class of 1999

Today, unemployment hovers at 9.6 percent.  Housing foreclosures are at an all time high and personal bankruptcy filings are estimated to affect 1.7 million Americans.  My generation is the first in a hundred years that is unlikely to be financially better off than its parents.

It’s in this moment of transition that I photographed my classmates in settings relevant to the lives they are building.

The images show a community last assembled at graduation during America’s most prosperous moment, regrouping in 2009 during the toughest economic and social circumstances since the Great Depression.  The portraits examine what has been gained or lost in the interim.

Some are recovering from job losses, drug and alcohol addiction and loss of family.  Others are building families, achieving in the their early careers and volunteering in their communities.  Like all generations, we struggle to define ourselves as parents, citizens, family members and spouses.  We work to create meaningful lives; we work to understand what “meaningful” looks like.

View More