Connect
To Top

Meet Jarek James of Jamagine Media in Northeast Atlanta

Avatar photo

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jarek James.

Jarek, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I took up photography in high school (1993), but my identity as a shooter didn’t start taking shape until my senior year at Georgia State University. Throughout my schooling, I never took any photography courses. They were either too expensive or never available when I could take them. So I used my graphic design classes as a foundation for making my images more magazine-ready. I also took pointers from friends and colleagues over the years to follow. In 2008, I took a job with a school photography studio which finally gave me the on-the-job training I needed to elevate my skill set. I launched my site, jarekjames.com, in 2010 as an umbrella site for not just photography but eventually to add on videography services. Now I shoot everything from portraits, events, and products to comedy skits, promos/commercials, and short films. My goals are to have my own full-service studio, do travel photography, and feature filmmaking.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
My career has not been an easy road. Like the mean streets of Buckhead, it’s been full of potholes and off-road terrain that just didn’t make sense. I took on the most risky, least likely to be lucrative career ever. But I never had a passion for medicine or law or anything stable. Go figure. I walk on faith. I create. I help people. That’s been my life. Most challenges were financial. I kept a day job because photography just wasn’t a stable living by itself, or at least I hadn’t figured out how to make it one just yet. A tried to go full-time once or twice but I realized you can’t make a decent living with visual media while you’re still in debt. So a few years ago I put the camera down, took a job in a call center. I gradually got my finances in order, invested in more equipment, and the universe responded with more work and travel in one year than I’d had in the previous three. But all the while I kept getting laid off from various temp jobs. So I took another leap of faith and decided to work for the one person that will never lay me off… me. Since then, so far so good. I haven’t looked back, nor do I intend to. I’m built from struggle, it’s what keeps me hungry to outdo myself on every level.

Please tell us about Jamagine Media.
I provide photo and video services for various areas including portraiture, event coverage, product media, weddings, and more. I started out doing landscape photography so I like to think I’m more known for on-location portraits. But I now do a lot more in-studio work and have developed a strange fascination with neon lighting. I’m most proud of my longevity. It’s taken 25 years to build and rebuild me into who I am and what I can do as a visual media provider. I think what sets me apart is efficiency and attention to detail. I can’t leave things undone, so I work my butt off to get you the best work within a reasonable turnaround time.

Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
My mom says I was drawing illustrations before I could walk. One of my best, or funniest, childhood memories was her always yelling at me to come eat dinner. She had to yell at me because I’d always be in the middle of a sketch and would keep ignoring her requests until I finished my drawing. “Bring your butt in here and eat! Food’s getting cold!” I had a lot of cold dinners growing up, lol.

Contact Info:

Image Credit:
Behind-the-scenes photos by Cristal Beard

Getting in touch: VoyageATL is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.

Related Items

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

More in