This is a picture of Jamie Kripke, taken with the iphone Camerabag app using the 1974 filter. I forced him to send me a picture of him AT THIS VERY MOMENT. And he did. See- demanding things can work.

I found Jamie’s blog and photography yesterday and I was mighty impressed. His blog is a very successful behind-the-scenes look at how Kripke got where he is today.  Anyhoo, I am going to repost a few of his entries below, as well as some truly gorgeous shots from China.

FIRST- Jamie’s timeline (I’m really into this type of thing after my 31 for 31 marathon).

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I was thinking this morning about how I got to where I am right now. Often people ask when I started or if I went to school, and there are short answers — I guess this would be the long one:

1986 Mom gives me her old Minolta SLR with a sweet macrame camera strap.
1987 My first gig as photographer for The Arrowhead
1989 Went to college. Studied Business, Pre-Med, got a degree in Philosophy, took lots of art classes.
1995 Intern / Employee at F-Stock Photo Agency in Ketchum, ID.
1995 First photo sold to Powder Magazine
1995 Photo intern at Powder Magazine, San Juan Capistrano, CA.
1996 Employee at Mountain Stock, Tahoe City, CA
1996 – 1998 First Assistant to David Stoecklein
1998 Moved from Idaho to San Francicso
1998 – 2003 A whole lot of freelance photo assisting for the likes of: Terry Husebye (that’s me on the home page!), Dan Escobar, David Maisel, Hunter Freeman, and a bunch of other shooters that came and went. Also studied Art Direction, Copywriting, Architecture, Graphic Design, and Photography at various times at SFAI, Art Center, and CCAC (now CCA).
2003 I go out on my own. Things start to work. Shooting editorial. Still assisting a bit.
2005 things are working. Shooting editorial and occasional advertising
2006 things are working better. Shooting fun editorial and some advertising. Sign with rep Marianne Campbell.
2007 things are working well. Shooting really fun editorial and some fun advertising.
2008 things are still working well, then in June things drop off a cliff.
2009 things are picking up again, love my editorial clients, still want to shoot more fun advertising jobs.

So in 23 years of having a camera in my hands, and working towards being a photographer, what have I learned? A few that come to mind:

There are no shortcuts.
It takes time to build a career.
There is no right way to do it, everyone has their own approach.
Looking at (all kinds of) art helps.
All art (photos included) is 100% subjective.
There is no substitute for time spent shooting.
I still feel like I am just getting started.

THIRD: Here is another amazing post Jamie made today, about his Esquire shoot. Check it out.

A few months ago I got a phone call from PE Michael Norseng at Esquire. He wanted to know if I was free to shoot a portrait of Francis Ford Coppola. It was the first time that Esquire had called me. Um, yes? Who wouldn’t want to shoot FFC at his Napa Vineyard? Esquire has a rich history in photography and design (George Lois Esquire covers now on display at the MOMA….), and I have always hoped to be a part of it. Yes Mike, I will drop everything and get to work on that immediately.

So…..I turned the job down. My wife and I were due to have our second child that week. There was just no way that I could safely commit to the shoot date. Which was a bummer. (The job part, not the having a kid part)

Oh well. Mr. Norseng understood, and said that he would call again.

Sure enough, a few months go by, and he calls again. My belief in a photo god is restored. This time it’s to shoot a portrait of Dr. Warren Hern, one of the last living doctors that has the skills to perform complex late term abortions. The other abortion doc George Tiller had just been murdered, and Hern was next on the Pro-Lifers’ hit list.

The shoot was insane. Between having no time to scout, Dr. Hern’s busy schedule and intense personality, and the incredibly tense environment, made even more tense by six US Marshals partrolling the office (which is enclosed in bulletproof glass), I was starting to feel a bit panicky. I wanted to hit this one out of the park, and I could see these things working against me. Then Mr. Norseng calls to tell me that the story has been upgraded to a feature. Which was amazing, but had my head spinning a bit, since I had been thinking about shooting a single portrait.

In the end, I just took a deep breath and everything went well. We made an image of Dr. Hern as a prisoner in his own clinic (above) that ran as an opening spread in this months issue, some still lifes of the clinic, and another portrait of him at home. John Richardson also wrote a beautiful article that captures Dr. Hern perfectly. Many thanks to Justin Walker for all the great help on this one! Here are a few more from the shoot:

See more Jamie Kripke here!