An Introductory Course into the Elusive Jessie Pridemore
As most things in life, I assume an introduction is in order. This being the first blog post on my fancy new site, I shall do just that. My name is Jessie (not short for Jessica), I’m just shy of XXIV and I enjoy long walks off short piers. Don’t be fooled by the numbers though. I look far younger and speak much older. A vagabond by nature, I have lived in many places. I’ve been everywhere from the Dirty South to the boring Midwest. I was born in New Orleans, Louisiana and I currently live in New York City. Truly a “make or break town”, I adore this city. I moved here two years ago to make it as a photographer and now you’d have to pry this city from my cold, dead hands to get me to leave. The only thing I adore more than this city is photography.
I didn’t start out in photography. Being relatively unfortunate in the family and financial department, I spent a good portion of my time from ages 17-22 trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my life, working on killing my body with jobs that weren’t the most glamorous. Unwilling to go back to a restaurant job, I acquired a graphic design/photo editor position at a small internet company while living in Kansas. It was there I festered the delusion that I could be a model, like a good portion of girls with a decent face, which didn’t last long considering my location and me being 5’2 (regardless of how tall I look in photos). I also dabbled in acting for a bit. I starred in an award winning indie film (I also did a bit of extra work the first few months I lived here in NYC). I was later introduced to SLRs through a roommate at the time who let me borrow his Nikon D70 during a vacation to Florida. I was hooked. I found myself in New York a few years later with a Nikon D200 at my disposal which was later upgraded to a D300 as a birthday present from friend who is sadly no longer in my life.
Last year the recession hit and the TV company I was spending more time than I should have trying to work for was sold. I had two choices. I could continue to work dead end desk jobs being miserable in a cubical or getting coffee for a GM, or I could pursue my dream. I unwittingly chose my dream. This last year has been an incredibly tough journey and I do not recommend it to the weak heart, but I do not regret my decision and I love what I do. My journey is far from over and I still have a long ways to go but I’ve worked with some truly amazing people so far.
I think I’ve blathered on enough. The purpose of this blog is to post about my photography adventures, recent photoshoots and possibly even a tutorial or two. I’ll try my best to post EXIF data as well. I know how much people love that. I save for web (graphic design background) and it knocks all the metadata out.
Here’s some of my favorite photos that I’ve taken:
