Successful People from Our Neighborhood - Jesse Milns, Photographer for Blog TO
He is young, fun, ambitious, creative and very talented. He is one of those rare lucky ones who were able to discover their true mission in life. He is Jesse Milns, photo-artist, photographer for blog TO, photo-artist, a pleasure to meet and an honor to know!
Jesse, where are you originally from and when did you come to Canada?
I was born in South Africa, Capetown. When I was young, my parents and my brother and sister moved to Canada.
Is your family still here, in Toronto?
Yes, they live in Ajax.
Are you the youngest one?
I am the youngest one, the baby. Even at this age, my Mom still thinks of me that way. I never got the feeling of being the eldest sibling, by the time I was growing up my parents loosened up and I had a lot more freedom.
You didn’t have to fight for your right to party?
Exactly! I did not have to do that at all.
How did you get started in photography?
My Great-uncle uncle gave me my first camera that I played with, he inspired me to do it. I started when I was 15-16 and I have been doing it ever since. This was an artistic outlet for me. I started drawing, I was also very interested in animation, but as soon as the photography world opened for me, it captured something in me, drew me in, and made me want to do it as a life-time career.
What was your dream as a child?
I use to love drawing, I wanted to be a comic book artist and draw super heroes. And eventually I discovered film, developing my own pictures, and composing my photos. I started realizing that I could achieve the image that was in my mind a lot more through the photography then drawing it out, and it just naturally evolved, was the next natural step for me.
What was your first and your worst job?
My first job was paper delivery, but my worst job… Well, I was heating and air conditioning apprentice for 2 weeks, and it was as long as I could make it. I hated the hours, I hated the fact that was never inspired to go to work. I was also changing the filters at a sewage treatment plant, which was the most disgusting job I ever had in my life, I just could not shower enough to get the smell off me. It was the worst thing ever, you have no idea how much I hated it. Then I decided, I would never be happy working like this no matter how much money I was getting. Everyone kept on telling me: “Just bear with it a little till you done with your apprenticeship and you will be making good money just to start with”. But I thought I did not care about the money. And this was actually the job that made me realize that I’d rather be happy then rich. As a freelancer this is exactly what you have to deal with. You are not going out there to be a freelancer and be rich. It takes a lot of hard work and determination, even after that you never know where your next pay cheque is coming from. I love it though, it’s the best job I could think of.
Hungry artist is only creative when hungry?
Exactly! You always have to find ways to keep yourself inspired. Its easy to lose this creativity because you are working so much. But all my friends are very creative people, so that helps a lot. They are all into videography, photography, makeup artists, or hair stylists, or just people who are just creative, so this really gives me a boost.
To be great, hang around with great people?
Yeah, right!
Do you have a funny story?
This happened this summer actually. I was doing an engagement portrait shoot with a couple and we were walking through this wooded trail. I had only took 20 photos and we were 5 minutes into the shoot when I kicked the light stand I was holding and it my leg. I didn’t think anything of it cause it didn't hurt that badly but when I looked down there was this 4 inch gash on my leg where the light stand hit, exposing the bone. There was blood everywhere! As soon as the couple saw, they said they needed to take me to the hospital. 4 hours later I had 11 stitches in my leg and I was so embarrassed because I've never had anything like this happen to me
What is the most challenging part of your job?
Staying creative. You found me through Blog TO, I shoot so much for them that it is hard to try and make each of the profiles I shoot look different and still visually appealing. There are only so many ways you can shoot a coffee cup, or the scene inside the bar. Finding that artistic eye is probably the hardest thing in my job. But if you can do it - great!
What is your most favorite part of the job?
I get to meet so many great interesting people and find the coolest places in Toronto. I probably wouldn’t know about this coffee shop, and now this is my favorite place. We do lists for Blog TO that are like “The Best Hamburger Places in Toronto” and I love hamburgers. And you get to go around and shoot all those amazing hamburgers and more than likely eat them! Or you are doing “Milk Shakes around Toronto” or “Best Cocktails” or you get to shoot a cocktail competition, or “Get to Know Bartender” series and you find out how all these people made it into bartender world. And you meet this amazing chefs, or business owners who are starting from scratch and seeing their passion. This is the best job!
See, and you are asking me why I am doing this interview series. I am addicted.
The reason I asked you is because I did something very similar when I was just starting. Me and my girlfriend at the time we started this thing called “Focus on Toronto” and we were just trying to find interesting people in Toronto and find out how they made it into their world. We were talking to street artists and graffiti artists and musicians. It is great. Toronto is known as really closed up and kind of snobby, but if you can break through it and find some interesting people, it is very inspiring and there is a lot going on. Especially in the last five years there is a huge boom of young people trying to change things.
You know what I think, was the greatest thing that ever happened to Toronto? Blackout 10 years ago.
At that time I was leaving in Ajax. And in Ajax nobody ever goes out, everybody is just sitting by the computer or TV. And they have all these parks and the waterfront that is so beautiful! And you would never see people out there! And then during this whole blackout everyone was outside, picnicking and partying and people were cooking their dinner outside, BBQ. It all just turned into this big social event! I think we should do annual blackout!
May be once a month, so that people can just talk instead of BBM or text or e-mail.
Yes, this is the downside of technology. I find people are not even interested to learn how do to things anymore. They can just Google or watch it on YouTube. My Dad is such a smart guy, he knows how to fix cars and do electrical work and I find that the new generation is not interested to learn these things anymore, because the need isn’t there to remember. Or people have 5000 “friends” on Facebook and they would rather send this invite rather than going out and talking to people. Even for my birthday, I am not trying to whine or anything, I don’t nearly get as many people calling me and wishing happy birthday, that would turn into a conversation. They would just write “Happy Birthday” on my wall.
Do you ever have times when you think you are just wasting your time and effort doing what you are doing?
Always. I think everybody in the creative field have these moments of doubt, especially when the huge challenges arrive and you think whether it is worth it, whether I will be like this forever, or maybe I shall just give up and go for more consistent job, but then I think I will never be happy there. I used to work at Henry’s Cameras store, just over at Queen and Church. When I first got there it was like a dream job, I just out of college and it was my intro into photography world. It was a job that people struggle to obtain, when they are into photography, cause you get to play with all the newest gear and everyone who works there is a photographer anyways. But for me it was just any other retail job, Monday to Friday, and it just becomes so regular and you start hating your life. I don’t think I can ever go back to the regular job. I love the freedom of my job and even the fear of never knowing when my paycheque is coming just drives me and gets me going. And there are times when I will just go a chill out with some friends at Tuesday at 2 pm in a park - I would never be able to do that if I had a regular job. But then there is a downside when my friends go out on Saturday night and I have to work. My Dad really wanted to get me into a trade, he always supports me but I still don’t think he sees it as a career. And this is the thing that really keeps popping into my head when I do have those doubts - is this just a hobby or can do this for the rest of my life. But if you think you can do it - then you can do it and I have to keep reminding this to myself.
Who do you mainly work for?
Blog TO! And I actually owe them so much, because they actually got me out of the retail world and it was the start of my life as a full time photographer. I shoot a ton for them, it is almost a full time. I also got to do these great projects for them and shoot Brad Pitt and George Clooney, or things like Dominatrix one year for Valentine’s Day. But also for the last year I shoot for La Dolce Vita Magazine and City Life Magazine, as well as a bunch of other publications now.
What are you still trying to achieve?
My dream is to shoot a cover for Rolling Stones, I would like to do more portraiture work, I love taking photos of people and kind of make their personalities come through, catching the lighting, or the mood that just comes up for a split second and then fades again.
Did you do sports events?
I did, but it is not my thing, I find it very impersonal almost like being a paparazzi. I am not trying to bad mouth sports photography but you really just waiting for that one moment and taking tons of photos and then you pick the best one. I like to have a more intimate relationship with the subject and be just a little bit more personal. I’ve done some racing, some basketball, a little of baseball, but it never really captures me.
What is home for you?
This is changing a lot. I think I will always consider South Africa home to a certain degree. I moved to BC 6 or 7 years ago, and even though it was only for a couple months, BC captured my heart and even when I came back I still considered BC home. It is beautiful place, probably the closest as you can get to South Africa but still being in Canada - mountains, the ocean… it is beautiful. But then I moved back to Toronto and the last 5-6 years I really started to like it, there are so many things to do and it really makes me happy that I live in such a great, multicultural city that has a lot of things going on.
Thank you, Jesse! I am not sure which of the nine Muses is responsible for photography, perhaps Euterpē, but I wish you to always have her for a company, feel creative and inspired, and not a single dull day at work!!!
Dear readers, you can enjoy Jesse's works HERE!
All photographs - compliments of Jesse Milns
Story compliments of Marina Gavrylyuk
Real Estate Agent with Sutton Group Summit Realty
www.MarinaG.ca
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