Today we’d like to introduce you to Jessica Sharp.
Jessica, we’d love to hear your story and how you got to where you are today both personally and as an artist.
I grew up in Canada in the middle of literally nowhere surrounded by nature which is where I get my love for the outdoors. I have one sister who was my BFF. We always found something to do, often creating many amazing make-believe worlds together.
High school was a pretty rough time for me. I was extremely depressed, suicidal, and bullied constantly. My mom was going through Cancer treatments. I have always felt very different had a very hard time connecting and relating to people or find much in common with them, so I often isolated myself. It was rough. My friends and I used to make websites where we would collect photo’s, “icons” and basically early 2000’s “memes” from myspace and Nexopia and other websites. When I found out my school offered a photography class, I begged my counselor to let me take it (even though I didn’t have the pre-requisites). She finally agreed, and I LOVED it. I ended up being the top of my class and learned all the basic terminology and fell in love with the darkroom and developing. That class got me through high school.
I moved to Edmonton, AB after graduation where I got my first camera, a canon rebel XSi. I turned it on manual mode and forced myself to learn photography. I wish I had some inspiring story about how I was an expert right away, but I don’t. It took a LONG time to figure out composition, shutter speed and so on. My cat was often my main model. I shot EVERYTHING and ANYTHING I could just to learn ~, and I still am to this day. That’s what I love about it so much is there are SO many types of photography to learn.
Photography is definitely my passion and creative escape. It gave me confidence in myself and my ability; it helped me find my voice (I’m not nearly as quiet as I used to be and have no problem directing people anymore) and also not so afraid to talk to strangers and meet new people. Though I am still a little bit shy, I communicate better and am able to connect with and meet people a LOT easier.
These have all come in very handy with meeting new people (especially creative artists) in San Diego. I moved here 2.5 years ago, and photography is the reason I’ve met almost everyone that I know here.
Now that more my friends are getting into it, it’s been fun to mentor them and show them new things (and vice versa) and watch them create amazing photo’s. It keeps me inspired and humbled and hungry to keep going.
We’d love to hear more about your art. What do you do? Why? And what do you hope others will take away from your work?
My current work is mostly landscapes and fine-tuning my skills, so that is probably what you will currently find on my social media.
I love to travel (even if it’s small local adventures) so my passion lies in landscapes and also portraits. I love stories ~ how people got to where they are today, what they believe in and why etc.
My goal is to incorporate all of these things (stories, portraits, landscapes, and travel) and to work with models and showcase different perspectives ~ real or make-believe ~ of our current world in relatable and recognizable places. I also want to use models of all different shapes, sizes, colors, etc. Basically, call me Alice. I want to create a world of my own. Sometimes it may be rainbows and butterflies, and sometimes it may be creepy and dark. I also want to make it realistic looking which may look scary sometimes, but that is part of the fun.
I want to inspire people that it’s ok to be different and that “imagination is our most powerful weapon in a world against reality.” It’s what separates us from computers, and we need to embrace it and start dreaming again.
I also would love to do some photojournalism to tell stories about cultures and places I go and lessons they can teach us. I have a lot of ideas and goals, and I can’t wait to watch them happen.
How can artists connect with other artists?
My friends and I of the SD photo community have actually set up the @SDPhotoSquad to network and bring the photo community together in person. We want to create relationships off social media and also so we can all learn new things from each other so we can ALL grow and improve our skills.
We are going to have some contests, learn, offer constructive criticisms, grow as people, go on local adventures, and get models and photographers to collab so we can see some new and exciting work that hasn’t been done before.
We also want to teach people who are just getting into photography how to get off auto mode and learn how to use their camera so they can create some wicked things, too.
So far the response has been overwhelmingly positive, and we’re stoked to see how this grows. We have our second meetup on March 10th. Details can be found on our Instagram page @SDphotosquad
Do you have any events or exhibitions coming up? Where would one go to see more of your work? How can people support you and your artwork?
Buying prints help financially but if you can’t then sharing with your friends is something every artist appreciates. Tagging people, sharing on social media. Exposure is everything, and we appreciate that a lot.
You can find me on:
Facebook: www.facebook.com/officialjesswanderland
Instagram: www.instagram.com/jesswanderland
Society 6: www.society6.com/jesswanderland
I am in the middle of having a website built but that will be up soon and I will have a PROMO when that happens so make sure you’re following me on social media to catch that!
Contact Info:
- Phone: (619) 602 – 8160
- Email: jesswanderland@gmail.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/jesswanderland
- Facebook: facebook.com/officialjesswanderland
- Other: society6.com/jesswanderland
Image Credit:
Jess Wanderland ©2019
Getting in touch: SDVoyager 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.
