The Essential List: Jessica Antola
New ideas mix with ancient customs to create fascinating frontiers in photographer Jessica Antola’s work. Bold, colourful expressions fully engage her audience in a world that is distinctly her own. Her personal project 'Mother', documenting her mom in her favourite vintage fashions proves the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. “My mother’s vivid sense of style and love for prints have always been influential on my photography,” says Jessica, “and we share a mutual love for sourcing pieces while traveling.”
Jessica’s frequent trips to Africa, exploring people’s connection to their environments, inspired her first monograph, Circadian Landscape (Damiani, 2018). Her imagery has been the subject of solo and group exhibitions internationally, and has been recognized by Communication Arts, American Photography, PDN Photo Annual, the Exposure Award, the International Photography Awards, and Prix de la Photographie, among others. She lives in Brooklyn.
The clients she's worked with include Goop, American Express, Apple, Facebook, Vanity Fair, Vogue, British Vogue, Architectural Digest, Conde Nast Traveler, i-D, New York magazine, and more.
Lifestyle
o Place of birth: Santa Monica, CA.
o Hometown: Brooklyn (primary) and Los Angeles.
o Staycation: In New York, driving upstate to the Hudson Valley or out east to Shelter Island. In Los Angeles, driving out to the desert (La Quinta) or skiing and hiking in the Sierras.
(Hiking in The Sierras, CA)
o Vacation: I’ve been fortunate to travel a lot for shoots and checked off my 100th country when I turned 40! As much as I enjoy returning to places, there’s so much more of the world to see. Favourite adventures include Ethiopia, Antarctica, West Africa, Japan, Syria (circa 2001), Patagonia, India, and West Papua, Indonesia. I lived in Paris for five years at the start of my career and try to go back a couple of times a year.
(A favourite travel shot from Benin, West Africa)
(Behind the scenes in West Papua, Indonesia)
o Pet: Pets have never worked with my travel schedule, but I now live with my boyfriend and his massive Siberian cat, Mickey.
o Place of work: When I’m not on a shoot, I work out of my house in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn.
(Antarctica shot from a Russian Ice Breaker)
(Antarctica shot from a Russian Ice Breaker)
(On location in Paris)
o Place of workout: The Fit In Bed-Stuy, an amazing local Pilates studio.
o Side project: Painting, collage, and home/garden renovations.
(Collage example)
o Mode of transport: Subway, foot, and taxis in NYC and my 1988 Mercedes 560 SL in LA.
(Jessica in her 1988 Mercedes 560 SL in La Quinta, CA)
o Bonus travel essential: My watercolour set.
Culture
o Artists: Rosy Keyser, Kerry James Marshall, Peter Doig.
o Musicians: It’s a long list that ranges from ’70s West African to John Prine to the Yeah Yeah Yeahs to Nina Simone.
o Film director: Agnés Varda.
o Photographers: Viviane Sassen, Sally Mann, Philip-Lorca di Corcia.
(A Viviane Sassen shoot for Dries Van Noten)
o Film: The Sheltering Sky takes me back to the wanderlust of my formative years.
o Series: My Brilliant Friend.
o Commercial: Hermés ads always inspire me.
o Music video: LCD Soundsystem’s Drunk Girls. Many friends came together to shoot this low-fi, funny video that reminds me of my early days in Brooklyn and our crazy times partying together.
o Video game: Tetris on my original Game Boy.
o Board game: Scrabble.
o Book: One of the most impactful from a young age was To Kill a Mockingbird.
(The cover of Jessica's book, Circadian Landscape, published by Damiani, with images from Ethiopia and West Africa)
(The cover of Jessica's book, Circadian Landscape, published by Damiani, with images from Ethiopia and West Africa)
(Jessica's Paris book release party at Ofr, her favourite bookstore in Paris)
o Podcast: 'Smartless.'
o Newspaper (off or online): The New York Times.
o Magazine: T Magazine and Cabana.
o Bonus culture essential: BAM or Lincoln Center for the ballet and opera and The Brooklyn Botanic Garden.
Food and Drink
o Breakfast: Coffee and my homemade granola with yogurt and fruit.
o Restaurant: Frenchette in NYC always feels special.
(Frenchette, NYC)
o Cheap bite: Warude, my neighbourhood Japanese taco spot.
o Working lunch: If I’m home, I’ll usually make a hearty salad.
o Favourite dish: Perfectly prepared pasta.
o Signature dish: Marcella Hazan’s Bolognese.
o Snack: Almonds.
o Guilty pleasure: See’s Scotchmallows.
o Bar: Long Island Bar, Brooklyn.
o Booze: Negroni.
o Not booze: Genmaicha, Japanese brown ricegreen tea.
o Bonus food: The Crispy Spicy Tuna sushi at Trad Room, another Bed-Stuy favourite.
o Bonus beverage: A delicious French or Italian red wine.
Kit
o Phone: iPhone.
o Computer: MacBook Pro and 27” BenQ Monitor.
o TV: One that’s smaller than the wall!
o Headphones: AirPods.
o Cameras: Canon and Hasselblad.
o Soundsystem: We have smart speakers throughout our house and a vintage Bang & Olufsen system for spinning records.
o Pen / pencil: Basic Uni-Ball fine pen with black ink.
o Where you document an idea: Sketchbook or iPhone.
o Casual clothing: Rachel Comey, Doen.
o Smart clothing: Dries Van Noten.
o Footwear: Marni, and my sneakers are Off-White or Adidas.
o Watch: Cartier Santos.
o Collection: Wyeth in Sagaponack, NY. My boyfriend, Paul, makes and restores the furniture for this gallery/store owned by his brother, John. They have an exquisite collection.
(The Wyeth showroom in Sagaponack, NY)
o App: Sun Seeker.
o Website: I sure spend a lot of time updating my own, Antolaphoto.com.
o Favourite social media feed: Instagram.
o Work program: Capture One.
o Digital work tool: Samsung Portable SSD hard drives.
o Analogue work tool: Linhoff 4x5 camera or Hasselblad 501cm.
(Jessica's Linhof 4x5 camera)
o Morning grooming / makeup essential: True Botanicals face oil.
o Bonus kit essential: My fragrance, Melograno, from Santa Maria Novella.
