Life & Work with Dino Jagger

Today we’d like to introduce you to Dino Jagger.

Hi Dino, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstories with our readers?
My name is Dino [Dee-no] Jagger III and I’m a Film Photographer from our great state of Arizona.

I began my journey behind a camera working in corporate marketing for various companies (Dutch Bros HQ, Rosendin Electric, and more). My personal career here in Arizona started within Music Photography; working for artists, venues, and recently with the production companies themselves. I am still involved with Music Photography here in Phoenix, but my personal work direction has shifted in the last two years.

I began to fall out of love with digital photography in 2019, leading me to buy my first film camera that Fall. I realized with Film Photography I was getting more out of the photo-taking process than I ever did before with Digital. Film photography quickly became my passion and practically took over my life. It gave me the fuel to go out and make my second photo book, ‘High and Dry’ (which quickly sold out within the first two months of release).

Film Photography continues to fuel my passion for photography here in the desert where the majority of my work is set, and now beyond the desert where the majority of my new work and my new photo book are set.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Overall, I think there are struggles and challenges that accompany anyone pursuing a passion within the arts or within a business, As a self-employed Film Photographer, I chose to take on both of these avenues of struggles and challenges.

Working for yourself and attempting to create streams of revenue as an artist comes with its general struggles of course, but I feel like the biggest struggle of all is the internal battle of knowing whether what you are doing is worth it in the grand scheme of all things. Is my art impacting people? Is figuring this out as a business on my own worth it? Should I just find a job that would make me financially secure?

These are all questions that I ask myself constantly but in the end, it always comes down to one thing. Am I happy? I think being happy makes me a more productive person, and I’m never unhappy when I’m working for myself and creating art that I want to create.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
Pieces of work that I’m most proud of are my first two photo books, ‘Heatwave’ and ‘High and Dry.’ The goal with both of these books, and especially ‘High and Dry’, was to document the weird, abandoned, and interesting places in Arizona while portraying the feeling of being lost or left behind wandering through the desert landscape… a sign of the times; as both of the books were created within the COVID-ridden, mysterious world we live in still today.

Creating these photobooks felt like my only escape from the craziness of the changing world. It gave me opportunities to keep shooting photos without live music events and gave me an outlet for the emotions stirring around inside me during these times.

Both books, to my surprise, were met with overwhelming success. With ‘Heatwave’ I sold all 60 copies within 2 months after release in the Summer of 2020. ‘High and Dry’ was met with similarly great success in the Winter of 2021, selling all 100 books within the first two months of release as well. These books hold a special place in my heart because they really give the audience a deep dive into my creative process (photography, graphic design, book design, etc.) and Arizona as a whole.

‘Heatwave’ and ‘High and Dry’ are part of a bigger saga of three books. The first two are self-reflection pieces on who I was at the time, and the third, ‘HOV’ (unreleased), is meant to take the audience along with me on a month-long, “find yourself”, road trip that I took up the “West Coast Loop”, as I like to call it, in the Fall of 2021.

“HOV” is currently shot and is in the beginning stages of being put together in a book. ‘HOV’ and my first two photo books have taken me on a whirlwind journey further into the more business and design-oriented portion of my photographic mind, and for this, I am eternally grateful and proud to have found my passion.

What’s next?
My future plans as they stand right now are pretty simple. Keep chuggin’ along on projects such as ‘HOV’ and any other personal projects that I stumbled upon in the future. This doesn’t mean I’m not ready to take on any Music Photography or any other Photography/Design gigs someone might have for me.

The future is a mystery, but I’m always excited about what’s to come. The plan is to see where Film Photography takes me and trust that my passion is worthwhile.

Pricing:

• Film Photography Session ($20/photo, 10 photo minimum)
• Digital Photography Session ($10/photo, 30 photo minimum)
• Music Photography ($100/hour of work)
• Commercial Contract Work (pricing based upon workload, message me!)

Contact Info:

• Email: dino@dinojagger.com
• Website: www.dinojagger.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/dinojagger
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JaggerDino
• Twitter: www.twitter.com/dinojagger
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCduTuxCepek2KGgJbhodc8w

Image Credits:
The photo of me was taken by Sukhi Mehat (@mehatsukhi)
Connor Greenawalt (@cfoam_green) and Dino Jagger III (@dinojagger)