For Jason Swain, photography is his passion, a living and a form of personal expression. “I can’t help it. I see the world through a lens,” he explains. “I’m very annoying to walk around with, just ask my family. I’m always stopping and taking pictures.”
Jason has always been an artist and he would use a camera to capture ideas to help with his paintings. In 2006 he became a full time photographer and now spends much of his summer doing commercial work, documenting Island events and lifestyle activities. The quieter months are when you’ll find him photographing surfers and the landscapes of the Island.
“Going full time was a bit of a leap because I have a family to support but it’s working so far,” he says. “Summer is pretty flat-out and I look forward to a couple of months in the winter when I can recharge myself and get back to taking pictures of storms and wildness, landscapes or clouds, enjoying the quiet time. I genuinely believe I couldn’t be in a better place because the Isle of Wight is an amazing place to be a photographer. You don’t have to work very hard to find interesting stuff to shoot. There’s always something happening and I like to think I always get the shot.”
I caught up with Jason on a Monday morning after he’d spent five long days at work, behind the camera. His weekend had included Sandown Carnival, a wedding and Ryde’s Party On The Pier.
“In the summer I’m very busy. One day I’m in a cage with some monkeys and the next day I’m doing staff photos or I’m at a carnival somewhere. I have a rolling contract with Wightlink for all of the festivals and shows this summer and that’s a big part of my living. I’m a bit like an individual part of the tourist industry, documenting people enjoying themselves on the Island, so I’ll also go to the IW Steam Railway, Blackgang Chine, Robin Hill, the Needles Park, the Owl And Monkey Haven – places where people go and have fun.”
Jason also works for English Heritage, Island Roads, Eurovia, Liz Earle, holiday camps, schools, small businesses and tourism websites. He covers around a dozen weddings each year, describing them as “fun, crazy, tiring and very long.” Working in an artistic field and as a freelance, Jason’s time has a value and I wondered how he managed to balance his time creatively as well as financially.
“I’ve been picked to do the commercial stuff because people liked the creative edge that I bring to my work,” he explains. “When I have free time, I do it for love. I’m not shooting for anybody and I do it because I’m an artist and I was an artist before I was a photographer. If you take something good people will come to you. I don’t have a customer in mind. Usually someone else ends up loving it as well but not always. I think I’d like maybe a little more time to get back out there in the wild, by myself, but that’s because you’re asking me in the summer. If you ask me in the winter I’m sure I’d tell you I wanted to do more people shots, catching those special moments.”
Clearly the Isle of Wight as a location has been a massive influence on Jason’s work. His internet Flickr account has been viewed well over 8 million times and leads to online conversations with people keen to visit the Island, encouraged by Jason’s portfolio. It isn’t just the geography that inspires though – it’s the people too, whether that’s a desire to have an event documented, or the appetite for artistic images of the Island that helps to support photographers here.
“I do sense the same passion with a lot of other Island photographers,” Jason says. “If you’re out all night taking a photo of the Milky Way then you’re doing that because you love it. Whether everyone is able to make a living from it, perhaps that’s another question, but I know I’m very busy. It’s a wonderfully unpredictable life. The phone rings with something new every week and I keep my fingers crossed. I’m very lucky to do what I do and long may it continue.”
First published in the September 2014 issue of Island Business magazine.
