Jonathan is a Los Angeles based photographer born & raised in California. He started shooting and developing black and white photography as a teenager with a Pentax K1000 and a darkroom provided by a local high school teacher. He has worked in photography, publishing and print media for 20 years. His media portfolio includes art and production work with long standing publications including The Los Angeles Times and Backstage Magazine.
Eventually leaving the Mojave Desert where he grew up, he worked in various portrait studios and as a freelance photographer while attending college. After graduation, he took a job with The Los Angeles Times Magazine where he worked with an award winning art team. He now shoots on location and out of studio in Hollywood and Woodland Hills.
Outside of photography, Jonathan is also a print artist with a particular passion for Van Dyke Brown prints made on an old Ikea desk converted into a UV light printer. Nature is his greatest inspiration and he is no stranger to living out of a tent for long periods in the southern Sierras. He is a UCLA alumnus and a collector of labor movement art.
Other Professional Work
I continue to work as a freelance print production manager, photo editor and licensing consultant for various brands and media outlets. Below are some of brands, publications, and stories of which I’m proud to have been a part.
Ideas of Order
Ideas of Order is an annual print and digital magazine put out by California Closets. It’s in its 4th issue and covers aspects of art, design, and lifestyles. I am the Photo Editor for this publication and responsible for sourcing and licensing the photography and other art. Our first issue won the prestigious Project of the Year from the Content Marketing Awards as well as Best in Print Magazine (editorial) and Best in Print Magazine (design) from The Content Council’s Peal Awards and it was the Platinum winner from the Muse Creative Awards.
The Los Angeles Times Magazine
Also known as LA Magazine (not to be confused with Los Angeles Magazine). This was the LA Times‘ lifestyles glossy magazine distributed monthly with a circulation of about 400,000. Under the creative direction of Rip Georges, it put heavy priority on maintaining a fine art aesthetic. This publication featured original content commissioned to some of the best photographers in the nation. I started at this magazine as an intern in the art department and was hired onto staff. I did the print production for this publication from 2009 – 2012. Additionally, I worked in tandem with a fantastic photo editor, Hannah Harte, producing photo shoots and conducting photo research for articles.
Backstage Magazine
Backstage is a long running trade publication for the acting community. It mostly runs articles aimed to give advice to aspiring actors and general industry news. It also features a large list of casting ads for working actors. I was the production manager for this fast paced publication which puts out 51 issues a year as well as several other print publications on a quarterly basis. My last contribution to this publication was creating, designing and managing their Ipad app. I published their weekly issues through this app by converting the print layouts to a scrolling digital layouts.
