Snapshot 68: The creative duo
From the new snapshot: "Behind the Scenes"
Jada and David are a duo who specialize in very special photography concepts. They put an enormous amount of effort into building backdrops for every single picture. I spoke to Jada to find out what goes on behind the scenes of their pictures.
Photo:Jada and David"The art you create is like your handwriting." When words are written on paper, every word is different, but from a design point of view they are always in the same style - the same design. This design is unique and thrives on its originality. Jada and David's style is a good mix of two of those "writing styles", which each viewer encounters with a very satisfying aesthetic. Their art makes you want to touch it, immerse yourself in it and experience it with every sense on every level.
The pair only work up big ideas for their concepts. "Feelings of despair, entanglement and confusion are the main themes of this design," jada reveals. That sounds strange and negative at first, but these concepts are taken apart during the design process and transformed into a positive, very colorful and expressive result. The sets always play heavily with perspectives and scales. "We really challenge each other and push our creative energy as far as we can. I love being part of a creative duo. Because sometimes you just need someone to push you to do more than you think you're capable of," she tells me.
When I ask if the two of them are perfectionists, Jada answers with a resounding YES. Definitely perfectionists. David's sets are so intricate and precise that the details have to be perfect. There is a high degree of precision in every set. Jada's perfectionism shines through when it comes to posing and lighting situations. She makes sure that every pose is corrected until it is exactly how the two of them want it. A lot of time is also invested in post-production with Photoshop to ensure that imperfections and colors are balanced in every shot. This explains the feeling of wanting to touch when looking at the end result - like a small child who can't keep their hands off the cake out of curiosity. "Sometimes we have to remind ourselves that blemishes are perfectly fine. We want the viewer to see our creative fingerprints on the photos from time to time, to recognize us. Because every little part of the sets is made by us and that's what makes the pictures so special. Mistakes are good because they give the work a sense of humanity."
Photo:Jada and David
Photo:Jada and David
Photo:Jada and David"We really just want the viewer to feel something when they look at it. We want the emotions in the photo to be relatable so that everyone can feel something of themselves in the photos. We also love it when people don't immediately understand the photo. They are not sure what they are looking at when they see it for the first time. They have to look at it for a while to understand it and find their own meaning in it," says Jada.
It's a clear process behind the wonderful world of Jada and David, behind each of their photographs. It is thought, decided, built, executed and delivered. Each of these steps takes a certain amount of time and of course effort. They create a mix of personal work and commissioned work. If it's a client project, it takes several weeks to a few months from the initial concept to the final images. This is because they have very high standards in terms of accuracy of fit and finish for all their customer projects, so they invest an enormous amount of time.
"However, with personal projects, it's not unusual for us to be able to put together and execute the entire project from concept to photo shoot within 24 to 48 hours. I think David and I work best with tight timelines. We usually throw different concepts for photo shoots around until we settle on one. David designs the set. I choose the colors. David builds the set. We both paint. David lights the set. I take the photos. I love bold colors. That's why my color palette is usually very intense and bright. I also love to combine contrasting colors. With David's sets, he likes to play with scale and perspective and create optical illusions," explains Jada.
Jada and David have a background in wedding photography - or rather, they started in wedding photography. Then came a pandemic that shut down the entire planet and led them to reinvent themselves and develop an unexpected love for conceptual set design photography. The rest is history.
"Weddings taught us to be quick, and we still work that way today. Most of the photo shoots take less than an hour. We are very decisive and go into every shoot with a clear idea of what we want to create and how we want the shoot to go. Weddings have also taught us to work well under pressure and to manage our clients' expectations. "
The backdrops we build are reused as often as possible. Everything is recycled, rebuilt and reused. All sets are used artistically only once for an idea and in a concept and then dismantled to use the materials for future projects.
Photo:Jada and David"It saves money and is better for the planet. It also increases creativity in our concepts, as we have to find creative ways to work with the materials we have. "
What are their goals and dreams? What do they want for the future?
"We definitely want to gain more of a foothold in the music industry. We recently worked with the artist Olivia Jean to design the cover of her album "Raving Ghost". The set design was completely inspired by the music and it was really fun to create art together for another artist. We hope to do more projects like this in the future. We are also working on making a name for ourselves as artists. We have exhibited our work in galleries and would like to develop this further. In the future we plan to print our photos almost life-size. We would also like to create a photo book. "
Jada and David's art is simply fun. It's fun for the viewer and, of course, fun for the artists and all the other happy participants. It transports its viewers sometimes into large and sometimes into small spaces and worlds that inspire many thoughts and are felt throughout the body. It is personal, dramatic, simple and at the same time very complex. Loud, but also quiet, funny, but also serious and in any case very human. It could also be individual snapshots of different windows of the human brain, don't you think?
more info and more works by the artist:
Jada +amp; David
Instagram: @jadaanddavid
Website: www.jadaanddavid.com
YouTube: www.youtube.com/JadaandDavid
