I was born in Champagne, in France.
It sounds glamorous but I was in fact born in a poor area. We played in the street and in the nearby tip, in an old chalk quarry.
This is probably why I am so fond of street photography.
After finishing my formal education I went to ‘Ecole des Beaux-Arts’ but with jobs in France being scarce at the time I found myself doing a lot of different jobs to support myself.
I finally went back to University and ended up with a Master in IT.
I worked in the IT industry until I moved to New Zealand 10 years ago. After a few years here I decided to go back to my passion – professional photography.
In a way I started at 43 what many people start at 23 years old.

I began by specializing in plant photography, especially roses.
My rose photography has been published in a number of books.

www.gotya.co.nzand www.rosarosam.com [rose photography website].

When and how did you become interested in photography?

I started to be curious about photography when I was around 14 years old. And I started to be serious about it when I went to Art school.
I had a Zenit, a Russian camera. It was so inaccurate that you had to shoot with ‘your nose’ rather than your eyes. I got addicted to black and white film photography and lab work.
From that time I never stopped.
It really took off with my rose photography after I moved to New Zealand.

What gear do you mainly use?

I try to keep it as minimal as possible.
A Nikon D700 for the general work and I now use a Panasonic GF1 in the street.

I attach more importance to my lenses. I like to mix new cameras and ‘old’ lenses like Carl Zeiss Jena, Helios, Yashica etc.
I have not used film for a long time.

What inspires you?

Human and small non-important things. Objects and people photographers tend to ignore.
The light, always the light.
Which is probably why I would shoot anything from Landscape to Food through Cars: because I am only interested in the light.

What is your favorite genre?

Basically, I always love landscape photography, and sometimes architecture.

Many times photographers find themselves with a full schedule of paying gigs, and end up with little time for doing the work they truly love. Do you struggle with finding time for your personal work?

I always try to turn my customers paying work into a personal work. Otherwise they may as well use someone else…
But I always carry a camera with me and can always shoot something more personal.

What is one thing you feel makes your style or your work unique?

My perception of light and how it moves in space and hits the subject I am shooting.

If you could photograph anyone, dead or alive, who would it be and why?

Jesus Christ.

Just for the market opportunity.

Or Nicephore Niepce, just to beat him at it.

What is your post production process?

Light room for the quick and simple adjustments, Photoshop for the more precise work.

What’s your dream photo field trip?

Crossing Africa following the bottom end of the Sahara.

If you had unlimited resources to purchase any type of camera, what would it be and why?

A Leica M9 to go in the street, a Hasselblad H3D for the rest. Obviously with a large choice of lenses.
But by the time I can afford these two brands, they will be up to Leica M12 and H8D…

Who are your favorite shooters and why?

At the moment Juliana Beasley. I am really impressed by her work in Rockaway Park and by her Lapdancer series [I must get her book]. I like the sweet violence of her pictures and the commitment. She takes pictures like her life depended on it.
Jessica Dimmock’s work ‘The ninth floor’ is, for me, in the same area of interest.

Just because I am jealous there are also Chuck Close’s portraits in ‘A couple of ways of doing something’…

And there is always Lee Friedlander.

Tell us about a shining moment in your career thus far

When I saw my rose photography as part of an exhibition at the Auckland Museum [New Zealand]

Samples of Jocelen Janon’s Work

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