Urban creator Jennifer Kesteleyn traded in her PhD for a career in photography

February 14, 2019

min read

Jennifer Kesteleyn has been working as a photographer at Chase since the summer of 2017. 2018 was the year Jennifer decided to start working full time with her camera, and focus on developing her own style and direction in photography.

The Chase Urban Creators are digital creatives who create videos, photos, articles and social stories on topics such as urban music, lifestyle, creatives and society. They are a diverse group of young people looking for a platform to pursue their passions and sharpen their skills.

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How did you get into the world of photography?

I had the opportunity to pursue a doctorate nine years ago, when I graduated from the Faculty of Political and Social Sciences. As an assistant within the International Relations and Diplomacy program, I was able to travel a lot and thus my interest in photography was born. Mainly because I wanted to take beautiful pictures for Instagram, to show what I was experiencing on my adventures.

I soon enrolled in evening photography classes and continued to travel for a while, but photography remained more of a hobby. Until the last year of my PhD: I then completely collapsed. Was academic research really my thing? My interest in photography grew and my online posts picked up quickly. At that time, I was mostly making self-portraits in abandoned buildings, and somehow that appealed to people. I finally decided to give myself a year to reflect on what I wanted to do. During that year I noticed that I was photographing all the time and saw more and more potential in it. Last year I finally took the plunge and I now have an artist status as a photographer.

And now you're working as an urban creator at Chase?

The year I quit my PhD, I ended up on Chase's Facebook page quite by accident. I saw that they were looking for new employees and so I started photographing for them. Chase opened so many doors for me! I was featured in Chase's "top photography on Instagram" section, which caused Motorola Belgium to see my photos. Through them, I landed my first major assignment. This client is still coming back now and through them I also give workshops around smartphone photography in Amsterdam.

For young photographers or journalists, Chase is an ideal platform to get assignments and learn. Because when you have a creative profession, you are constantly looking for new challenges. So the more people see your photos, the faster you get known and thus get work. I get all my assignments through social media. Instagram and Facebook are the channels I get the most work from. People contact you on Messenger faster than they call you.

Have you had any negative experiences with social media?

The only thing I can think of is the one time I photographed a girl at a festival who emailed afterwards to take the photo off social media, which I promptly did. But other than that, I really don't care about social media policies like those on Instagram. With that, you have to agree to a transferable sublicense so they can use posted content. I don't think Instagram is going to bother reselling photos of me. I don't really care what happens to my images, except for my free work. You don't take a photo to put away: the best thing that can just happen to a photo is that it gets seen a lot. For paid assignments, I also sell my rights.

It's the same as if you went to the bakery, asked for a free loaf of bread with the condition that you write a good review online about how good your sandwich is: it doesn't work that way.

Do you have any tips for other digital creatives?

I get nerves from people asking if I will take free photos in exchange for exposure. It's forgotten that you have to find models, buy your equipment, have your ideas,… It's the same as if you were to go to the bakery, ask for a free loaf of bread with the condition that you write a good review online about how good your sandwich is: it doesn't work like that.

At the Culture Counter you will get a good and clear explanation of which statutes are most beneficial. I would do that as a first step if you are looking for a creative job. Last year I took the step myself and applied for an artist status. After my college career, it was not easy to take the step to the irregular life of an artist. But this gives me freedom, and I can do what I want.

As for the rest, I can only say: keep going. I also notice in myself that when things get tough, you have to keep busy. For example, during a quiet period I accidentally bumped into a call for a shoot for Who's that Girl? I ended up getting hired based on my free work.

So your free work remains important?

My free work is my business card: with it I express who I am. So it's important that your own business card be as strong as possible. Instagram and Tumblr are good platforms to work this out. Facebook also still works, in a weird way. Instagram is for young people, but Facebook has the slightly older generation who are also more likely to spend money for shoots. I have a professional page that is dying, but on my personal page I still have a lot of friends and followers.

So I am glad that there is some sort of separation: Instagram appeals to young people, Facebook is for the older generation. I do fear that once even that generation ends up on Instagram, the platform won't last long. With the algorithm adjustment, it is already sometimes difficult to understand how the reach system works. But who knows what will come after Instagram? There is already Behance, but that exactly does not catch on.

So as a photographer deploying on many channels is not that time consuming. You've already taken the photo and done the work: so it really comes down to posting because the storytelling itself is already done. I also post on a different frequency because I'm not a blogger. Posting is a result of what I've been doing all day out of my own, it's a record of my work.

How has working at Chase affected your work?

Chase made sure I finished third at the Red Bull Electropedia - Nightlife Photography two years ago, and in 2018 I finished second. Because of Chase, I can do a lot of the festivals, so they really support me in my passion for this kind of photography. Shoots at festivals also provide a lot of exposure and that's how your network grows.

It's also quite an experience, photographing at festivals. You get three songs to stand at the front of the pit. The rush you feel to have to capture atmospheric images and the artist at nine minutes, the thrill of being in front of all that audience is the maks. You have to be very focused and concentrated and not panic. I also only work with 1 body, a telephoto lens to shoot the artist and a wide angle lens for the audience. At festivals you can also really experiment, like with my work with star filters last year. In fact, at festivals it is not so strict, you can really let yourself go and in the best case you make money with it.

Because of my artist status, I am very free, so I let Chase know that I have a whole summer to do festivals. I've been working with Chase for two years, and the collaboration grows organically. Sometimes I work for free because I have time, and sometimes they book me for a paid assignment.

What is your most memorable anecdote while working for Chase?

The moment I made that picture of Pharrell. Last year I was standing in the pit at Pukkelpop, a spot I got through Chase. When I got there, as one of the few female photographers, you see all these men looking at me like: "ah, the young girl." N.E.R.D's performance begins and everyone is at the front. For some reason, I had just switched lenses, moved away from everyone else and was on the side of the stage. I turn around, see Pharell jumping and I took that picture without thinking.

All the male photographers also had good photos, but kind of the classic image. And when I showed that picture, you could see from their faces that they were like: "shit, this little one here has the best picture too!" That was the maks! Just being able to grab all those opportunities is memorable. You get to know people within the community. Therefore, the best advice I can give is: go out there, find work and then you'll immediately notice what you like and what you don't like. And for this, Chase is a good platform to start.

So do you want to remain a festival photographer above all else?

I started my career with self-portraits and free work, and fashion is clearly the direction I want to go further in. The idea is for my free work and fashion to flow together. Some photographers start with fashion photos on Instagram and then later get picked up by fashion brands/houses asking me to shoot a campaign in their own style for them. So my approach is to get paid jobs through my free work.

Therefore, my style on Instagram is constantly evolving. If you don't evolve as a photographer, people won't stay interested. You always have some themes that keep recurring anyway. With me, those are my self-portraits, but I'm developing a new style that focuses more on social criticism. Anyway, graphically I always had a vintage approach, but currently I have adopted a paler style with fainter colors. I normally use a lot of shadows and flash, but I've never gotten as many likes and comments as I do now.

In addition, all my new works have titles like "not working on my summer body," "women at the wheel is blood on the wall," … I want to give each photo a twist with that so that I'm kind of denouncing today's feminism. It's a very hot topic, the whole #metoo campaign and cyber feminism, and surely it's absurd that after so many years we are still dealing with this unequal struggle.

So is deepening your own style your goal for 2019?

Yes, those are skills I want to hone this year. To delve into fashion photography and convey more of the emotions from my own free work in it. People are attracted to my self-portraits because those images are really what I feel. Hopefully 2019 will be the year I really break through with this.

Interview by Joke D'Hooghe.

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