Daily Inspiration: Meet Jeremy Whiting

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jeremy Whiting. 

Hi Jeremy, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
My name is Jeremy. I am a photographer based in metro Detroit, and I have been doing photography for over 10 years at this point. I love to explore my interests through the camera- from cities, to sports, to transportation, to parkland and public space. Most of my personal projects are shot on film.For almost as long as I can remember, I have been a creative person. I grew up in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and my parents divorced and remarried when I was very young. My early years were probably more difficult than average, but despite some bad experiences and a less than typical family situation, I also enjoyed an amazing amount of art and culture as a child. All four of my parents are creatives, and at least two of them are very spiritually inclined – You could say I was raised by a violinist, musicologist, four writers, a visual artist, a priest, and a church pianist, and you would be right. 

For a while, I gravitated more towards sports and TV, video games, and other typical kid stuff. But as I got into my teen years and 20s, I slowly realized that the only constant in my life was creativity and expression. At first, it was endorsed by my family – piano lessons (which I am eternally grateful for) and youth theatre summer camp (which I hated), but the first medium I fell in love with was the drums – I played in public school from 5th grade onward, as well as in rock bands – I still play weekly with a couple friends of mine in a band called Jeb Busch Lite. 

In addition to music, I was also always drawing, making imaginary maps and cartoons, and designing sports uniforms. I remember also using disposable film cameras as a kid and taking photos whenever I was on a vacation or trip somewhere. At a certain point, someone gave me a really basic early 2000s 35mm point-and-shoot camera, which replaced the disposables. Still, I never found photography super interesting until I got a bit older. 

Around the time I turned 18, I remember getting an obsolete digital camera from one of my step-grandfathers, who was a photographer. I took the camera on a trip to France, and I also began driving over to Detroit to take photos. This was right around 2007-8, some of the very last moments before the downtown area began to be rapidly gentrified. I realized that I got as much pleasure from composing images in the viewfinder as I did from playing music, and it was a big moment. I got my hands on a used DSLR and around that same time, I decided to go to college at Wayne State in Detroit, majoring in Urban Studies. I immersed myself both in the city and in other distractions as most 20-somethings would. I was taking a lot of photos at first, but very quickly school, partying, a serious relationship, and then music all took my attention. I went a few years rarely picking up the camera. But I did take in a ton of life experience, read a lot of books, and came into contact with countless ideas about Detroit, art, music, climate, the future, and cities in general. 

After I graduated, I was feeling completely burned out from my degree, realizing I had no desire to go to grad school. I also had recently quit a band I was playing in. My degree was useless without going to grad school. My day job was a student job that hadn’t fired me yet, even though I had graduated months ago. They sometimes sent me on special projects and one day, since they knew I had a digital camera, they sent me out to take some very basic photos of sprinkler heads and things like that inside parking garages. Of course, I also took advantage of the fresh air to take frequent cigarette breaks, and take purely creative photos on the roofs of the garages. When I got home that afternoon, my girlfriend Emily, who is now my partner, told me it was the first time in months she had seen me happy. That was the moment I began seriously trying to learn how to do photography properly- reading books, picking up gigs, trying all sorts of different kinds of photography (you name it, I’ve tried it). And in the meantime, I quit my office job and started coaching soccer with a local after-school program, because that would at least get me outdoors. 

As Emily and I began our life together, moving out of our college neighborhood, I began taking classes at Oakland Community College, where I got outstanding advice on technique, as well as life, from the legendary Rob Kangas, as well as the para-pros and the other students in the lab. I fell in love with analog photography and spent hours every week in the darkroom. I began working on my “Density – Detroit Double Exposures” project (https://www.jeremywhitingphotography.com/detroitdoubleexposures) and realized I could explore the subjects I studied at Wayne State through a different lens. The entire process of creating the project felt like an alternative dissertation. It was a way to create my own reality, a version of Detroit where sprawl and segregation had never happened. 

At the same time, I decided I would try to be a “professional” photographer at any cost, and started scouring Craigslist, college bulletin boards, and classifieds for any paying gig. My logic was, I know I have a lot to learn – so let me get paid to learn. And doing things like inventory photography, low-paid food photography, school photos, mall Santa photography, and all kinds of one-off gigs taught me a ton. Some jobs were fun, others were grueling. 

To make a long story short, I have been living and working as a photographer ever since then. Slowly but surely, I have picked up fewer menial gigs and more meaningful ones. I still have a day job, but it is a job that includes photography as one of its main tasks, and it is a great place to work. I recently had the opportunity to share some of my Detroit Double Exposures in an online magazine, as well as in galleries around the state, and am currently working on new fine art projects that I hope to show in the coming years. 

And I am doing more freelance work every year. Recently, I have started doing more sports photography, especially soccer. This has been super exciting – photographing a sport that I am a huge fan of. It is something I plan to do for a long time. 

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It has not always been smooth – if I am being honest, I have put a lot of hours in, and learned many personal and professional lessons the hard way. I am also still learning every day and always trying to improve my craft as well as my life skills. 

I have always struggled with mental health and achieving balance in my life. As I have gotten older, it has been increasingly important for me to practice self-care- which for me includes working on my analog photography, playing music, gardening, and lots of physical activity, especially outdoors. As someone who relies on creative expression as part of my mental health routine, it is sometimes frustrating that I have chosen to do photography as a career. When you are doing a job for a client, there will always be another layer involved that prevents it from being a purely creative or therapeutic experience. Making sure I am still giving myself time for personal creative projects is important. 

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I am photographer based in metro Detroit. My personal /fine artwork is pretty much all shot on film and edited on a computer. Some of my favorite themes to explore include humanity’s impact on the environment, cities, public space, geometry, and nature. 

I am also a sports photographer, and passionate about soccer. In addition, I work for a local parks and rec department, shooting photos of their parks, facilities, and programs for marketing and promotional purposes. 

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.jeremywhitingphotography.com/
• Instagram: @jeremywhitingphoto AND @jwhitingsportphoto
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jeremy.whiting.photos