2 / Jordan Fraker / Photographer
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© Jordan Fraker / Jordan and his son Rhys
Jordan Fraker is a commercial and headshot photographer in Dallas, Texas. In addition to being proud dad, Jordan is also one of our valued HSM Associate Members.
1. What is your idea of perfect happiness?
What a great first question, because I feel like happiness (and the idea of happiness) is settled firmly in a lot of what I may say when answering these questions.
I suppose my idea of happiness, in a nutshell, is enlightenment. Not necessarily in the Buddhist term of the word, but probably not too far off either. I believe happiness is just contentment in simply being alive. It's being comfortable in your own skin, willing to roll through the punches and take on anything that comes your way. Accepting that, in fact, quite a few things do not go as planned, and that it's maybe best to not plan all that much to begin with.
Happiness is strong beliefs held loosely, within a moral and mental framework of commitment and duty. It's funny how different this answer is from what it would've been 10 years ago.
2. What is your greatest fear or challenge?
I fear change and failure just as much as the next person. It's easy to get caught up in it, especially in our world that focuses so obsessively on being the best of the best.
But, as an artist, what I'm most fearful of is being known for just doing one singular niche thing. Ironically, this is an attribute that many artists obsess over obtaining. I would never want to be that way. I take pride in having multiple avenues for my creativity, and as a commercial portrait photographer, I'm proud to be able to offer several pathways to solve the problems of a diverse client base.
I've worked hard to get here, so I see no reason to limit myself.
3. What is the trait that you most value in yourself?
Curiosity and self-reflection. Two traits that are hard to come by these days, and I'm lucky to have learned and cultivated them. I reckon it's a more enjoyable experience than the alternative.
4. What is the trait that you most value in others?
Self-reflection, ability to truly listen, ability to articulate, and a sense of humor with a healthy dose of self deprecation. And if they can dish out a timely, well executed pun, all the better.
5. Which living person do you most admire?
Admiration isn't a feeling I keep in touch with all that often, so this is a tough question. I have respect for quite a few people, of course, but admiration and respect aren't quite the same thing.
I guess if I had to choose one person who I admire most, oddly enough, I'd choose my father-in-law. He's kind of the dad I never had, no offense to my actual dad. I just really love the guy, and think the life he built for himself was done seemingly effortlessly and without compromise. And, obviously, I've gotten to see and enjoy the fruits of his labor first hand by being married to his amazing daughter, and I've seen how rock solid the overall foundation for his life has been laid.
He has a killer sense of humor, but knows when it's time to get things done. He never complains, he never talks poorly of anyone. He's unlike anyone I've ever met, and I feel quite lucky to be a part of the family.
6. What is your greatest extravagance?
I didn't come from a lot of money, so I'd say my biggest extravagance is the fact that I work for myself. I've built my business over the course of 20+ years, and it was not easy to do.
Being able to set my own hours, take any time off that I wish, choose who I do business with, and having no one to answer to but myself. That's peak extravagance, in my opinion. I can't see how any amount of luxury could beat vocational freedom.
7. What is your current state of mind?
Well, I'm a little tired these days. We have a 7 month old. Our first. Everyday is an adventure, but we are filled with love and gratitude. It's hard not to think about the state of the world, though. Which certainly lends to the feeling tired. But, I also feel inspired by a desire to create and connect with people. So, that's my answer: tired, but inspired.
8. What do you consider to be the most underrated virtue?
As mentioned earlier, curiosity. So many artists love to pitch how it's all about passion. Passion passion passion. Nah.
Passion is secondary to curiosity. Hell, passion isn't even necessary. At least, not in that "wake up with a passionate, fiery heart" kind of way. What you wanna wake up with is a desire to discover. A sense of exploration. An open mind. By definition, passion constitutes a closed mind. Curiosity promotes an open mind. And the fuel that curiosity provides burns both hot and slow. You can run on fumes for many miles on curiosity. Not so much with passion. You'll find yourself on the side of the highway, burned out and ready to quit.
9. On what occasion do you break the rules?
I'd love to be able to answer this question by saying "any chance I can get", but that is unfortunately not the case. But, I'll say this: as a commercial portrait photographer, I embrace constraints and rules. Patterns and trends are what we are paid to know about.
Though, I do break the rules with certain things. Quite a bit of it is in post-production. I am 100% self taught in Photoshop, so I break the "rules" more than I'd care to admit while working inside that program. I had to make up my own rules, as I didn't have anyone there to teach me the way. And there's not much that I do that any professor out there would condone.
10. What do you most like about your life?
Tricky question. I don't know what it's like to be anyone but me, so I suppose what I like most about my life would be my experiences, my health, and my mind. I can't imagine anyone else would feel differently, though.
11. What is the quality you most enjoy in someone you work with?
As a portrait photographer, I most appreciate someone's willingness to buy into the process. To not take the session too seriously. To be willing to get the bad shots, as a means for getting the good shots.
It's easy to get caught up and nervous about how the photos will turn out. I tell my subjects that it's not unlike fishing. You don't go to the lake, drop the hook in, and expect to pull it out after 5 seconds with a huge catch. You gotta be patient, trust the process, kick your feet up, be present and willing to participate. It's possible to get good photos hastily, but it's just not worth blowing the overall experience.
Take your time and listen to your photographer. Let it be collaborative. Buy in. Breathe.
12. Which words, phrases, or gestures do you most overuse?
Oh man. Ask my wife, I have so many phrases. "The cobbler's children wear no shoes" might be my all time phrase. It eerily applies to just about all occupations. Essentially, it means that whatever someone does for a living, they are reluctant to do it outside of work.
I didn't come up with that phrase, of course, but my other favorite phrase is one I did come up with: "There are only so many things to care about in this life." We are asked by society to care about 1,000 different things, and we outwardly feign as if we do. But, in order to adopt a new thing to care about, you will unknowingly be forced to let an old thing go.
It's just not possible to care about everything. So, choose your things carefully, and then stick to them. You can adopt new things, but do it mindfully and with due diligence.
13. What or who is the greatest love of your life?
My wife Whitney, my son Rhys, and the art of Photography. What else could a man ask for.
14. When and where are you happiest?
I have two tattoos: a compass and a clock. "Time and location". The compass was my first tattoo. I got it when I was still in art school in San Francisco. I was about to graduate, starry eyed about what was to come.
I landed a plush, fantastic in-house photo job shortly after graduating that came with all sorts of traveling gigs and other perks. I moved back home to Dallas a few years later, and ended up getting a portrait gig that also required LOTS of travel (over half the year). I worked with this company for 10 years. I was gone from home far more than I was comfortable with. It was like the tattoo was a bad omen. It tore me up.
I say all that to say: my happy place is at home. I don't mind traveling, but I'm all too familiar with the annoyance of traveling and all the things that can go wrong. I endured it for so many years, and to have this travel be forced upon you... it's just not the same as when you travel for leisure. It became a trauma for me. Being home is my happy place, without question. Now that we have our boy here, doubly so.
15. Which talent would you most like to have?
I'd love to be able to play the piano. In fact, I'd give up every bit of photographic talent I have to be able to play piano moderately well.
And, it's funny, we have a piano at home. It's right there in our living room. Not a baby grand or anything. It was Whitney's grandmothers wall piano. But it's great, has a nice sound to it. My friends come over and play it sometimes. But, I just can't seem to muster up the courage to learn it. I will someday, I know in my heart that I will.
Only so many things to care about in this life.
16. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
I could probably benefit from a little more discipline, but couldn't we all? And, after all, hyper disciplined people are boring.
17. What do you consider your greatest achievement?
Perhaps a cop out of an answer, but the life and career I've built. I've taken an improbable route to get here, and I wake up everyday so grateful to be here living the life I live. It's not a luxurious life, but it's a life of purpose, duty, and creativity.
18. Where would you most like to live?
Well, I suppose if money was no object, I'd want to live in London. Best city in the world, hands down.
19. What is your most treasured possession?
I've had to stop and pause at this one. I really don't know the answer to this question.
I guess part of the reason it's so difficult is because I don't often think of the things I own in this way. As things that I "possess". To borrow the term "the things you own end up owning you". In our modern world full of temporary crap, I can sense, now that I've given this some thought, that I have perhaps trained myself to not emotionally hang on too tightly to things.
I still have plenty of things that hold sentimental value, too many to mention here. Some of which are quite silly and absurd. But, I don't know if I treasure any one of these things more than the others. They are all just things that I've gathered through the years. Or, at least that's how I currently see them. This could very well change and, in a way, I hope it does.
20. What is your favourite way to spend your time?
I genuinely love my job, so I obviously love photographing people, and all of the ins and outs of the business. When I'm not working, I have quite a few hobbies. To name just a few, I love taking care of my many plants, playing chess, playing fantasy sports, and of course being with my amazing family and friends. I have the best people. I'm very lucky. Also, and I know this sounds crazy, but I've recently become obsessed with game shows. Old ones, new ones, can't get enough. Oh no, I'm getting old, aren't I?
21. Who are your heroes in real life?
My mother, for starters. She's been through quite a bit, but she's extremely resilient and still keeps her humor and kindness at the forefront. Also, my mentor, Gary Bishop ( garybishopphotography.com ) taught me to channel my curiosity over anything else, and I still use much of his advice to this day.
22. What is your ultimate dealbreaker?
An inability to discern right from wrong, overly craving attention, and not being able to read a room.
23. What is your greatest regret?
Strap in, it's story time.
My first week of school at San Francisco Art Institute, I go into my first class taught by the great Debra Bloomfield, a landscape photographer whom I’d already known of and greatly respected. It was a Wednesday. I was full of nerves and trepidation, had no idea if I was doing the right thing by moving to California in search of a degree for something that very much so doesn’t require a degree.
The chairs and tables are laid out in a U formation, with Debra sitting in the middle of it all. I’m sitting front and center to her, I always liked to be up close because of my bad eyes. There was one empty chair in the room, and it was next to me.
The door opens, and a face entered that I knew. He circled the U, and made his way to the only open seat... that was next to me. Class was already in session, as we were all introducing ourselves. As it turns out, I was in the middle of my introduction when this person came in, and now it was his turn to introduce himself.
“Oh... oh ok well hi everyone ummm I’m Brian. Umm I’m a first year student here.” Thats all he said, from what I recall. He very likely said more, but when he said “I’m Brian”, it confirmed what I had thought: this guy sitting next to me was Brian fucking Gaberman.
Brian Gaberman was a big inspiration to me. I got into photography through skateboarding, and Brian was an unsung hero in the industry. He was a pro skater who became a photographer, much like Jason Lee did a few years later (though obviously, Jason Lee had his stint with that whole acting thing, and incidentally is also now a photographer).
After class had officially ended, I turned to him and gushed. I told him how big of a fan I was of him and his work, that I had read his B&W magazine article a million times, had Thrasher and Slap Magazine articles and photos of his on my wall. “Oh wow, thanks man! That’s so cool. Hey, speaking of Thrasher... you sticking around campus for a bit? Phelps is coming up here.”
My heart sank. The editor in chief of the longest running and most popular skateboarding magazine in the world was coming up to my school... and I was being given the password to open this door. Before I left for SF, I had already printed out a portfolio: a leather bound 4x6 box with a collection of some of my favorite skateboarding photographs. It was in my locker. I just had to go get it and have it in my bag... just in case the timing was right to show Phelps.
I went and hung out somewhere else for awhile, until the time Brian told me to come to the courtyard area of the campus. The campus was very small, and I wouldn’t have a hard time spotting Phelps if I saw him. His long shaggy hair, thick coke bottle glasses. And bam, I saw him and Brian standing by the Diego Rivera Gallery, talking and laughing. These guys were already bros, it was evident.
“Sup Brian!” I said as I walked up to the both of them, standing certainly much closer to Brian, but feeing awkward that Phelps was trying to make eye contact with me, while I definitely couldn’t commit to that with him yet. “Hey Jordan how’s it going? (Turns to Phelps) So this is Jordan... he’s a skater and a photographer.” We shook hands, and the three of us talk about the ever changing landscape of skateboarding. After about 20 minutes, Phelps goes, “So...Whatcha got?” I say, “um like do you wanna look at my stuff?” “Sure”, he said.
iPhones didn’t exist yet. In my pocket was a Nokia phone that didn’t even have a color screen. He was asking me if I had prints, ready to show him... and by god I did.
He flipped through my portfolio I had created specifically for this exact situation. It was all coming together. This whole San Francisco thing couldn’t have been a better idea. Shit, maybe I wouldn’t even need to be in school and I could just drop out?
“You should come by the office and bring some more and we can talk! Loving what I’ve seen so far. Here’s my card...” I have in my hand Jake Phelps’s business card.
A few days pass, a week passes. Several weeks turned into months.
I couldn’t call him. I couldn’t go to the office. I couldn’t do it. There were several reasons why I didn’t do it, but as I sit here and think about it, none of them really make any sense. All in all, I was scared to succeed and I knew it. I was frightened at the possibility that what I wanted could’ve been achieved like this, almost eerily and serendipitously.
By that point, after so many months had passed, Brian had already quit school. He ended up dropping out because...well... he didn’t need to be there. He was already a well established photographer. He didn’t need anyone else at school telling him what works or what doesn’t, what’s art and what isn’t. He had the culture of a billion dollar industry backing his instincts, and that’s not to mention the prohibitive cost of SFAI tuition. I have his number laying around somewhere. I’ve thought about emailing Brian and telling him this story that he most assuredly doesn’t remember.
I’m not upset that things shook out this way. I wouldn’t be where I am today without the failures, rejections, and missed opportunities I’ve had. SFAI taught me how to refine my style, how to question my work for the better. I’ve met many and done much that helped form whatever it is I’ve become, and I dig it. But I do sometimes think about the very cool photographs I’ve could’ve possibly taken of some of the great skateboarders of the world. Well, that is, if Phelps did give me the chance. He was a bit of a known asshole, after all. But, I like to think he might’ve let me shoot my shot, and it's fun to ponder.
24. What has been your favourite journey?
As cheeseball as it may be, the journey to find my wife is quite the tale.
We met in the summer of 2015. We quickly came to find out that we actually went to the same junior high school, but did not ever meet. She was two grades below me, but I remember her older sister and her cousin, who were both in my grade. Her best friend lived on the same street as me, but a block over. She likes to tell people that her and her best friend used to love walking up to the college to watch the boys skateboarding. And that 100% would've been me and my friends.
After high school, without having met, we went to opposite ends of the country: me to San Francisco, she to New York. And we both burned ourselves out, and came home to regroup at around the same time, but ultimately ended up staying in Dallas.
And sure, I'll be the first to admit: it didn't feel like a great journey leading up to meeting her. But once I found her, I was able to look back at it all retrospectively, with a new perspective of it all. And I can't say I'd change anything about the way it all transpired. We both ended up exactly where we were meant to, through thick and thin.
25. What kind of legacy would you like to leave?
My whole life, I'd never really cared to think about such things. As artists, we inherently inflate our importance and impact, perhaps beyond what any healthy person should allow. And I never wanted to get caught up in any manner of wild thinking about what my work would mean when I'm gone. Maybe it will, maybe it won't. I won't be around to know. I just wanna make the work.
But, now that I have a son, my perspective on all this has changed. Not about my work, but about the young man I will be raising, and the lasting impact I can have on him and that he can potentially make in the world. And, still, I don't want to inflate my importance here. However, I believe that fathers have more responsibility than ever to raise these kids right.
If legacy is what we wanna call it, I just want my son to be happy. Like, truly, truly happy. So many young men are losing their sense of purpose and happiness. There's one little bugger right here that I'll be seeing to.
For more information about Jordan Fraker and his photography you can find him at: www.jordanfraker.com and also view his work on social at: Instagram
