LA Stories : The Street Photography of Jake Michaels
The colours are warm and subtle. Glowing orange, warm yellows, browns and reds, often crossed by mysterious shadows.
His photographs are studded with cars and buildings that help frame the narrative and provide us with clues as well as a walk-through experience of his street photography.
A man, backlit, walks away from us and into the warm mimosa glow of his garage. A cooling twilight sky flits through shades of blue as it hovers above him. A long Summer night in Los Angeles inviting the anonymous figure to work late, perhaps, or maybe there is something more sinister…
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In one sense this is a comforting evening shot, while in another that relaxed feeling might harbour something a bit more untoward, an LA story with various interpretations.
We talk by phone, Jake Michaels sounds relaxed, it is 10am in the morning over there –probably warm – 6pm GMT here in the UK and raining.
“When it comes to the style aesthetics of my photography,” he tells me. “I feel it’s matured over the years. I think originally, I was kind of focused on the the trope of street photography from kind of subject matter itself. Then…as I progressed, I moved away from subject matter into more style…[it]… kind of happened over a progression of ten years.
“It is not something that happened over night, it is something that happened over a while.”
His voice tails off but I can tell he is still thinking, processing my question about his street technique and the photographs he produces.
“I think it, partially, has to do with…living in Los Angeles,” he starts up again. “The weather doesn’t necessarily change that much, so we always know that light will be constant. It is kind of using what I know and what I have around.”
In one beautiful shot, we see four silhouettes on a rooftop beneath a burning orange sky. The figures are framed by two street lamps also in shadow. The contrast of the foreground darkness with the gloriously orangey yellow warm colours of a Los Angeles sky make this a particularly powerful shot.
Copyright ⓒ Jake Michaels
Say what you like, Jake Michaels’ photography has a certain ambiguity to it. What are they doing rooftop? Are they workmen innocently repairing some faulty ventilation equipment, kids sunbathing on the roof or are they up to no good? It resonates with possibilities.
“I think Los Angeles presents itself as a very interesting city for street photography,” Jake observes. “Because there are so many different enclaves around the city. It is not like New York or London where everything is kind of compact. In LA you have so many things that are spread out, you get to see a lot of things that don’t exist in those cities (New York and London). LA presents itself as… so spread out. I feel it allows for when you want it condensed you can have it, but when you want the wide open you can have that too.”
In a city of almost 4 million, Los Angeles sprawls across 1302.6 sq km (507.73 sq miles), which is generous in comparison to New York which has more than double the population (8.3 million) but only 784 sq km (302.6 sq miles) to squeeze everyone into.
Jake Michaels graduated from the Art Center of Design in Pasadena, California, with a degree in Fine Art. He has worked commercially, and regularly contributes to The New York Times series ‘The Look’ where fashion and street photography collide.
“I have always been interested in classic fashion,” he explains his tie with the New York Times. “Maybe not necessarily modern fashion. I kind of have been really interested in how classic fashion mixes into the modern world and so for me a lot of my projects have kind of been about finding the cultures and fashions that exist in our modern world, in showcasing them. It kind of just happened organically.”
It was Jake’s father who first introduced him to photography and got him hooked.
“My love for photography,” he takes up the story. “Was introduced by my father. He was a photojournalist in the 1970’s. He worked for a small-town paper in Colorado. When I was in my teens, he gave me his film camera. So, my first interaction with photography was through slide film and colour negative. So, basically from when I was 13 years-old till now I have always been involved in photography.”
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A woman in a subtly coloured and patterned jumpsuit leans against a maroon car while talking to a man leaning out the driver’s window. At first it is a normal street scene but the woman is effectively standing in the road – it sets our minds racing. Who is she? Who is he? Are they doing a deal? Are they contracting? Do they know each other? Are they strangers?
“I think what drives me toward street photography,” Jake says thoughtfully. “Is that it is, basically for me, photography stripped down to the essence of making a photograph. You have all the elements of the world happening at once. It is unlike in a studio where you can control everything [and] unlike a commercial shoot where you are directing everything. Street photography is kind of like everything happening at once naturally. I just like the idea of… trying to search for the photograph because it feels for me rewarding once everything aligns together.”
Copyright ⓒ Jake Michaels
There are shades of Stephen Shore in Jake Michaels work. That is to take nothing away from the art itself. But, the way Jake just presents a subject in front of you and asks you to work out what is going on is reminiscent of Shore.
Stephen Shore, of course, was from New York City, but was also well known for his road trips and a series of photographs taken in Los Angeles.
When I spoke with Jake, he told me he had just returned from a road trip to Montana.
Copyright ⓒ Jake Michaels
The subtle and warm colours, the orange stripe, white facing, maroon edge to the sign, the exquisitely designed lettering of the word ‘restaurant’ – a street scene and a representation of place and time.
“When I first started shooting more regularly,” Jake revealed. “I was very much on the street all the time. Walking like five miles a day, kind of always searching, always searching, having my phone because that is normally what I use to shoot. Have my phone ready, and always like kind of searching with my eyes up and down, colours, shapes, light, whatever it was. Then as the years progressed, I would be in my car or I would be walking and I would be more about viewing than constantly jockeying with my phone. I mean more about viewing. Then I kind of come back to a moment after I view it until now it is more of a considered version of me shooting, rather than me kind of shooting as much as possible to go back and view.”
Copyright ⓒ Jake Michaels
No doubt Jake Michaels has an eye for the photograph. His horse mane tied to clouds is one excellent example, but there is much more to his photography than just juxtaposition. Michaels has subtlety and a thoughtfulness that is beguiling and yet challenging. A touch of Stephen Shore, perhaps, and yet very much his own style of street photography.
“Nowadays I use… a phone (iPhone 11),” he says matter-of-fact. “I know it is limited because you can never make huge prints, but… I kind of like it because it is something that is an everyday thing. Most people…will have some version of a smartphone in their pocket. I feel like it is a tool that kind of inspires people, and for me having it, it is easy to pull out take a photo – and if you think of the ability now to control exposure and kind of do the same ability to a certain degree as a regular camera. I feel having that makes it very easy and great to have.
“If I am going to have a regular camera, I also use a Sony a7R4 because I love the ability of that camera in low and hard light. So, that is for when I am really feeling a photography mission but I can’t level having my phone in my pocket. It is on me now; it is always ready to be used”
Copyright ⓒ Jake Michaels
Copyright ⓒ Jake Michaels
Copyright ⓒ Jake Michaels
Copyright ⓒ Jake Michaels
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With Much thank & appreciation
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