Meet Jackson Keys | Photographer and Visual Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Jackson Keys and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Jackson, how has your work-life balance changed over time?
As an extremely busy college student and someone who wants to pursue photography full-time, there has always been a balance, and it usually tips one way. This final year of school has definitely made the scales tip toward academics, but as a photography major, it’s still helpful for my future. In the past years, there have been times when I didn’t feel I was getting enough from the photography at school, so I leaned more on my business and the people I work with to scratch that itch. While it can feel like I’m far away from business and shoot opportunities sometimes, I just think about when I’ll graduate in May, hopefully working full time and pursuing my personal artistic goals.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I’m mainly a photographer, but my work is becoming more than just the photos. I wanted a way to interact more with my photos because I was getting tired of my work only moving through digital stages. I started with just drawing little doodles and sketches and adding the physical drawings through Photoshop. Through those beginning little doodles, I started to experiment with physically altering prints and/or adding scanned items to photographs.

I started photography as a shy and reserved kid, and I knew it was something that I wanted to work on and change. I realized that I would have to break out of my shell if I wanted to take this seriously. While I still have some serious introverted tendencies, through meeting and photography so many different people, I’ve made tremendous strides in the social direction.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
This question is honestly hard because I’ve been such a homebody recently, but I’m so big on a good meal and a good place to kick back and relax. I value simple things; ideally, the friend visiting would appreciate the same thing. We would definitely eat at Bali Hai, the best Mongolian spot ever on ninth street in Durham. If we still had room for more food (which is unlikely), we would go up the street to the Mad Hatters bakery for a black and white iced cookie. Outside of the eats, we would probably just pittle around at various thrift stores and end up hanging out back at the house watching something good.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I had many gripes about going to school for something subjective and artistic and sometimes butted heads with some of the different ways photography was taught. Still, as I come up on my final semester at Appalachian State, I’d like to dedicate my shoutout to my peers and Professor Andrew Caldwell. Through all the challenges and disagreements at times, I learned so much about photography, both technically and creatively, and the program does a great job of providing equipment and space for whatever type of work you want to create.

Outside of school, there are so many talented artists that I’ve been around and been lucky enough to develop a relationship with, that have not only helped my skillset but have made me grow as a person. Being around other artists and photographers has been one of the most important and enjoyable things in my growth. I’m originally from Durham and there are so many people, not even necessarily just photographers, that helped me feel more comfortable as an artist. I’ve spoken about my friend and photographer Michael Garcia, we both started our journey around the same time, taught each other so much, and continue to work together to this day.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shotbyjackson_/