Daily Inspiration: Meet Jeffrey Hersch

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jeffrey Hersch.

Hi Jeffrey, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I started photographing in maybe 7th grade and have basically never stopped. Along with writing, it was my way of expressing myself. this continued through years wandering Europe,Asia,North Africa and South America, along with USA. In my travels, I met so many people and witnessed so many things happening around me, that photographing what passed in front of me was a natural bridge from the experience; one flowed into the other. The recorded images were for me, and anyone else who might see them and interpret them in their own way.
My art seemed to fit my lifestyle , just wanting to experience–whatever came my way. I’d like to think it has given me a certain amount of emotional wisdom I didn’t earlier have; it has also made me very comfortable meeting total strangers and conversing about virtually anything. that probably all played into my vision and what my art looks like. I have no particular message in my work–only here is what I saw, it meant something to me–does it for you?

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
If by smooth road one means commercial success or even some bit of financial stability, the answer would be no. My art doesn’t sell itself in the current market or even that of the last decades, as it is somewhat of a black and white unadorned throwback to a past era when I went to school, As far as a non commercial road, in a way it was smooth, because it required little money, no staff, just me ,a camera and my legs — that’s a pretty smooth road –even if the physicality of the road was anything but.
My style is somewhat documentarian, unaltered except by the fact that what I see will always be subjective—-tinged by my perception.
I have won quite a few awards, but I don’t show in any gallery and don’t sell particularly well, even when I have won best of show. To some extent, I have come to accept that–I can’t work any other way.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I write short stories and also photograph. Moslty I work in black and white–no specific subject, it can be anything that captures my eye and interest, very often people in larger landscapes, and much shot in my years in Nepal, India and Tibet What sets me apart is my particular vision–way of seeing things translated to my photos; in a way that could be called your “style” but it should go much deeper than that word, something identifiable as “you”.
If your work is honest, the art becomes an extension of ones temperament, and thus should set you apart

short stories or pieces in Sun magazine and also Travelers Tales Nepal O’Reilly press

In terms of your work and the industry, what are some of the changes you are expecting to see over the next five to ten years?
If by “industry” you mean the world of photography. I think commercial photographers might be in trouble unless they are also very good business people–with camera phones, AI and all the inventions coming at an increasingly fast clip. The days of magazines like Look, LIfe, and others of my youth is also gone, for documentary photographers, so that avenue became limited long ago. For myself, my ambitions are scaled to a small world from local galleries, to cafes, friends and my flat files. Nothing stays the same, perhaps black and white documentary photography will make a comeback, maybe something good will happen to my thousands of negatives after I am gone. If so, try to send me a message; I’d appreciate that.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://jeffhersch.com

Image Credits
NA these photos dont require any written permissions