Jason Siegel of Shoot Portraits Not People | Studio Shoot
Jason Siegel
Jason Siegel is an accomplished Denver-based photographer specializing in the music and apparel industries. He’s one of those guys that you meet out and about and just get the vibe that he’s up to something cool. Jason’s photography has been featured in publications like Rolling Stone, Billboard, Hypebeast, Complex and High Snobiety which he sandwiches in between shooting major commercial brands and being an embracing friend to the Denver creative community. I’ve had the privilege of getting to know Jason over the last couple of years and can attest to his talent and creativity.
Shoot Portraits Not People
In the last few years Jason has expanded from photography into comprehensive installation work, store design, gallery curation and apparel hard good design. In 2016 he started a concept collaboration work entitled “Shoot Portraits Not People” gaining international press. The project began as a photo of his personal camera equipment organized in the shape of a rifle on his living room floor. The photo went viral as the internet did its thing and the response encouraged Jason to round up recycled camera equipment to create a design of his own. In November of that year Jason began to transform his flat lays into physical sculptures and turn the project into a series. The series sold out quickly in January 2017 at the BLK MKT in Aspen, CO.
Since the original debut, Shoot Portraits Not People has been developed into multiple series, including a show at Evoke Contemporary in Santa Fe, NM and two more shows in Aspen - one during the 2018 X-Games. The series has been featured in Hypebeast, Juxtapoz Magazine and gained international attention from art collectors and even foreign governments.
Jason stated he has plans for future designs to include charity components and greater community outreach as he toils away in the studio. I recently connected with him and was able to go down to his studio in Denver to photograph some of his process and behind the scenes. What follows is a photo series of Jason’s process creating his installations as well as a behind the scenes of his camera archive used for the project.
For this shoot I used a digital Fujifilm GFX50r and a Mamiya RZ67 film camera with Kodak Portra 800.
Hope you enjoy!
For more of Jason’s work check out the links below:
If you liked this shoot check out Adam Viceral for Denver Crush Walls.