Making Money Through Photography with Jovell Rennie

Jovell is a renowned photographer from Alaska and the co-founder of Akela Space, a gallery showcasing contemporary Alaskan art. He uses the power of photography to express himself and connect within his community.

He talks about his humble beginnings in photography, his first brand deal, the negotiation process of pricing your art, and starting an inclusive community to showcase new artistic talent at Akela Space.

Host IG:@itstanyatime

Guest IG: @jovell

Black in Alaska Project

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey money movers, welcome back to money moves, the daily
podcast determined to give you the case to the Kingdom
of financial stability, wealth and abundance. I'm your host, Tanya
Sam and our next guest is the CO founder of
Achila Space, a gallery showcase in contemporary Alaskan art. He

(00:24):
uses the power of photography to express and connect within
his community and beyond. His photography and glimpse into his
life and Anchorage is taking center stage for a recent
addition to the Anchorage Museum, titled The Place I Call Home.
Money Movers, please welcome Joe Bell. Rennie. Hi, Jo Bell,

(00:46):
thank you for having me. I'm so excited to have
you on the podcast today. I feel like I try
to embody this, we the north, but you are really
the north. You are coming to us from Alaska. This
is broby far, I think, one of the first of
this Um money moves interviews we've done. So welcome from Alaska.
I would be remiss if I didn't ask what the

(01:06):
climate is like there right now. Right now it's I mean,
it's not too bad for me, but you know, it's
all relative. I think outside it's like maybe forty five degrees.
We just got some snow on the mountaintops. We call
it termination dust, which means that winter's coming. It's it's
on its way. It's a few weeks out. Wow, okay,
forty five degrees and is this summer there? So like, okay,

(01:28):
we are officially in fall, like we have maybe a
few more weeks to fall and then winter's officially here. Wow, alright.
So to about? Let's start at the beginning. Tell us
a little bit about how you ended up in Anchorage, Alaska. Yeah, well,
it Dang Sher wasn't by choice. Um, from Trinidad and Tobago.
We moved to Alaska when I was just a baby.

(01:49):
I went back to Trinidad for a little bit, came
back here and I've been here, Um, essentially all my
life and a little bit of time in South Carolina,
but Alaska's home. Um, my mom moved us here because
her sister, my aunt, moved up here with her. It
gets a little convoluted. My uncle moved up here for work.

(02:10):
My mom so the islands. Like I you couldn't told
me that there was a lot of training people in Alaska.
What brought him there for work? Because this is a
fascinating part of the story. So Trinidad, uh is one
of the largest like oil and just like as far
as the Caribbean goes, Trinidad has more oil production than
a lot of the other islands and a want that
has oil production up here too. So when word got

(02:32):
out that the companies up here we're looking for employees,
they reached out to Trintuck, which was the company at
the time in Trinidad, to see if anybody wanted to
make the move. So my uncle Washington and was doing
two weeks on, two weeks off in Alaska and Washington
and my mom wanted to come visit. Took a liking
to it. My Dad thought he was going to go
into oil when he got here. He was working at

(02:52):
Trintuck in the past, but it wasn't in the cards.
Working in the oil and Trinidad is a lot different
than working in oil in Alaska. Wow. Well, this is fascinating.
I'm a huge fan of Trini out I try to
play carnival. Um, I don't know if Anchorage even has
a carnival, but really beautiful. All right, so you came
here with your family and you know, Joe Vel, you

(03:12):
are an incredible photographer. I employ you guys to check
out his work. You are, you know, embodying and following
your true passions and artistic endeavors, and this is how
you also support yourself and make a living. So I
want to go back to what really drove you to
get into photography. The initial driver for me getting into
photography was wanting to like connect with my peers and

(03:35):
people in a way that felt good and authentic. But
I was also very shy, you know. I didn't really
know how to be social. I didn't really like to
go up and talk to people. So photography was a
medium that allowed me to express myself, but it also
allowed me to shift back and forth between participant and
observer when I was in a situation. So I could
talk to people when I wanted to, but if I

(03:55):
got overwhelmed or felt that I needed to go back
into my own then I could just kind of take
pick cheers and be in the moment with that happened
to be in the moment. When did you start taking
pictures professionally? Oh boy, Um, I think it depends on
who you asked, since you're asking me. I would have
been a professional photographer full time for eight or nine
years maybe, and did you always know that you wanted

(04:16):
to be a photographer? What really, you know, made you
realize that you could do this full time? So I
I first got into photography when I was seventeen, Um,
and it wasn't until twenty one that I realized that
this could be something I do professionally. Um, the first
time somebody offered me cash for a Gig I was
I was kind of stunned by it. I was like no,

(04:38):
that's not you can't do that because this is fun
and you're not paid to have fun like that was just,
you know, I come from an immigrant family. Like, you're
not supposed to get paid to have fun. That's kind
of the thought process for a lot of folks that
move here. Yeah, this is what I this is why
I love this podcast and be having to explore this,
this idea of getting paid to be yourself, paid to

(04:58):
have fun, paid to fall all your passions. And, you know,
the more and more I interview, you know, really successful
people and incredible entrepreneurs, it's like the secret that everybody
high level talks about. Hey, if you follow your dreams,
the money will come. It is really true, you know,
and it's just sometimes taking that leap of faith that
you know, I can do this and this can, you know,

(05:20):
provide for me, my family, etcetera. So talk about what
was your first picture, I should say, that you sold
and you were and how much did you sell it for,
and when did you really start to take this seriously? Well,
my first, my first paying gig was just pictures for
for somebody, like they offered me. I think it was
like a bucks to take pictures of them, Um, and

(05:41):
that was really fun. The first piece of work that
I sold was probably probably like O G Tumbler days. Um,
my friend and I wanted to do a road trip
or like kind of like a quasi you can't really
road trip from Alaska. You can, but it just takes
a lot longer. But we wanted to go on a
west coast trip and so I was on tumbler saying
like Hey, I'm selling and prints of my work for

(06:01):
like kind of pay with in sliding scale to try
to make some money to go on this trip. And
within a week and a half, maybe two weeks, I'd
raised like two or three Grand Whoa. Okay, hold on,
because I wanted an audience to understand. You know, sometimes
it's like we'll we'll have a range of people on
a podcast or, you know, depending on where you tune in,
it will be like Bill Gates. Let me tell you

(06:22):
how I did it, and it just seems so unattainable,
but this was you're like, listen, I need to make
some money, I need to make it fast, and you
had two or three grand just like that. Like you
just advertise to this community that you had built on instagram.
I need to know all the details. Yeah, so it
was pretty much just a social community. It was instagram
and tumblr predominantly. Um. But I think one of the

(06:43):
things that really helped it was making its sliding scale.
Like throughout the entire process I've always tried to make
art accessible. Um, I have been that person on the
other side of it wanting to support an artists but
not necessarily having the funds to support an art in
a way that they're asking. So what I knew I
could do was like hey, I know that my overhead
for producing these prints isn't a ton. You know, I

(07:06):
can find cheaper resources, I can find something that is
affordable and still at a level of quality that I
want to maintain for my work, Um, and then just
kind of letting people know like, Hey, pay what you can,
like I appreciate that. I already appreciate the fact that
they support me by following my work and keeping up
with if they want a piece of my work to
have in their home or whatever it might be, I

(07:27):
want to make that affordable. I think one of the
things that made me happiest was knowing that it wasn't necessarily,
you know, art collectors. I mean it eventually got to
that point, but it wasn't necessarily collectors who were looking
to buy my stuff. It was like college students who
wanted to decorate their dorms or high school in their lockers.
It was it was people in similar positions as me,
you know, not coming from a lot, but wanting to

(07:49):
have a piece or something that made them feel good. Um,
at what point, you know you've talked about this before,
just that's sort of being torn like hey, this is
something I love to do and then asking able to
pay for your work, to pay for your worth. Um,
have you reconciled that, or or do you still sometimes
struggle with that? Um, I think it kind of ebbs

(08:09):
and flows. I think that as I progress and as
I kind of like level up, I kind of have
this moment where I'm just like, Oh man, am I
worth this much? Am I worth that much? Like, yeah,
I got that in the past, but can I get this?
And UH, some advice that I got from a photographer,
Stephan Venasco, who's like he's he's a solid dude. He's
definitely helped me out a whole bunch. Was, uh, something

(08:31):
along the lines of, like you, you negotiate what you're
worth and the market dictates your worth. So if you
say that you are two thousand dollars a shoot photographer
and you post it online and you tell that to everybody,
this and that, yeah, you can, you can own that,
you can boss up and say that, but until somebody
pays that, that doesn't necessarily be true. And that is

(08:53):
so that you know the nuance of art right. It
is art is you know what people will pay for it,
but you know some wiggle room, but you you might
get that. Um, I certainly appreciate that and I love that.
So I want to talk about just Um, you know
how you've sort of managed to continue to build this
business and you know what you think the most significant

(09:15):
money moves you have made as you've become an up
and coming, emerging photographer in Alaska. Um. So, are there
mentors that have really guided you? You mentioned your one person.
How did you sort of get to this point of
being successful? Um. I think the first thing that I
had to do when I realized that I wanted to

(09:37):
pursue photography professionally, or when I wanted to pursue like
a creative path professionally, was I had to reconcile with
the fact that I may not have a lot of things,
you know, like I had to sort of really put
into perspective what I needed to survive and what I
didn't need, what I considered extra or like not necessary. Um.

(09:58):
So once I was able to, uh, to kind of
like have an honest conversation with myself and really figure
out what is the need versus what does it want,
it made it a lot heier to move through and
navigate and negotiate pricing, because I first kind of came
from mindset of like okay, make sure my needs are met,
make sure my needs met and then negotiate further from there.
Having that come to Jesus moment where it's like okay,

(10:21):
figure out what do you need to survive? And sustain
yourself and be what I'd be happy and what I
consider myself successful if I was just getting my needs
met and that was a big deal. Like once I
kind of had that moment where I was like, man,
I don't care if I'm eating Rama noodles for the
rest of my life, so long as I have a
form in my hands, I will consider myself a success.

(10:41):
But moment knowledge that, I think it gets a lot
easier to to not have to put yourself in a
situation where eating Rama noodles every day. Yeah, I know,
and let you say that, because sometimes it's about the
state of where you're at right so we can constantly
be in this perpetual motion for the next stage, the
better stage, but you sometimes have to enjoy where you're

(11:02):
at and then look back and go because this is
where I came from, this is where I was one
year ago, and I think that sort of gives gives
folks the healthy balance of being an entrepreneur, you know,
being a professional creative and trying to figure out, you know,
how do I keep going to the next level but
find peace with where I am? I think so, and
I think to some level, being comfortable with the impermanence

(11:25):
of things, like, yeah, you might be popping right now, like,
but like that might not last forever, you know. Um,
being comfortable with the fact that it could slow down,
but knowing that I will still be grateful and happy
bare minimum. I think that that brings a lot of
comfort and it makes it easier, Um, because then I'm

(11:45):
not looking at each milestone or each level is like
a new bar or a new standard that I have
to maintain. I'm just I'm grateful to be grateful if
I go past that, but comfortable knowing that if I
go back to the beginning, I'll still be I'll still
sider myself a winner. Oh, I love that. Okay, so
tell us, Um, where people can find you on instagram? Yeah,

(12:06):
on Instagram. You can find me personally, Um, at Joe Vel,
J O v e l l, the business, the gallery.
You can find that at a keyless space, A K
E l a space, and the project. You can find
the Black Alaska project at black in Alaska. Um, pretty
much all socials. Okay, so tell me what inspired you

(12:26):
to start, for like photographing your surroundings. Um, what was
sort of what drives you in that sense? I mean
the first thing was was football. I played football poorly
in school, um, but it was a lot of fun.
I wanted to take photos of kids making cool catches
and getting tackles and all that sort of stuff, to
give it back to them, to be like Yo, look
how cool you look, um. But from there it went

(12:49):
from taking photos of playing football to taking photos of
people off the field. Two, starting to hike and find
cooler locations to take photos. But then me hiking and
getting outside kind of like reignited that passion that I
had for Alaska, because initially, you know, I was like
a lot of young people. I couldn't wait to get
out of Alaska. I was like, I grew up here,
I don't want to be here anymore, I want to

(13:10):
go to a big city or somewhere different. But then
when I started to take those trips and get out
to the city, I missed the mountains, I missed the snow,
I missed the wildlife. And so once, once that kind
of clicked that I was like, Oh, I don't need
to be ashamed of these things. I was outside left
and right and from there being outside photographing things in nature,
also being a black man in nature. We didn't see

(13:32):
as much of that in the early days of instagram.
It gained traction. A lot of people were interested in
and keeping up with my work Um, which is really cool,
and that led to brand deals and partnerships and opportunities
to do travel work and just kind of raising that
bar for for what type of work I was able
to produce and be a part of. So I think
this is something like I think all of us struggle with.

(13:53):
You know, you get on instagram and it's one thing
to see, oh my God, these people are doing all
this fabulous stuff, but then you'll be like, okay, so
people are really using this as a tool to monetize,
to make some money, get brand partnerships. Do you feel
like a lot of those came to organically, or was
there anything that you can point to that was like hey,
this was the secret to my success? I think in
the beginning some of it was organic, but we also

(14:16):
we weren't really educated on how to navigate those conversations
and negotiative so we'd be doing deals for a free
backpack or or like, you know, merchandise or exposure bucks
like that's not stuff that you can pay the bills
with Um and so what I think was really a
turning point was some friends of mine we got together
and we um. So we were pitching ourselves to brands

(14:39):
and the thing that we would get back a lot
is like, oh wow, this is really good work, but
y'all are babies. We were, we were three Um they
they didn't think that we were old enough or mature
enough to work with them or to produce work of
a caliber that they deemed like worth. And so we UM.
We took all of our same portfolios, all that same

(14:59):
work that are senting out to those brands, and we
put it on one website. We made a website called
a Keyla collective, and we sent that back out to
them and we said we are a creative agency with
the roster of talent that can meet the needs of
your brand, and we sent that back out to those
same clients and we started getting yes is left and right,
and we kind of joke about it. I don't know
if you've ever seen the movie little rascals, but there's

(15:21):
a scene they go into a bank and it's just
like two or three kids in a trench coat pretending
to be an adult, and that's that's kind of how
we felt, you know, we were sending the same portfolios
that they were saying no to back in this like
glossy website, uh, kind of puffing up our chest and
acting like an agency, and we started to get more

(15:41):
work from that. Um, we realized that those brand deals
were worth a lot more than they were saying they were.
So from US getting those deals, we wanted to figure
out a way to like give back to other creators
and photographers and videographers. So we started a keyla collective
as a way to manage and represent a lot of
those creatives. So somebody would say like Hey, I've got

(16:03):
this brand deal, can you help me negotiate it? We
would negotiate on their behalf and oftentimes get them five, six, seven,
eight times more than what the brand well yeah, I
mean if the brand is only offering two hundred bucks,
it's not too hard to get them more than that. Um.
So we would negotiate on their behalf and take a
cut as like an agency. So we would take and

(16:26):
then we squirreled that away and after a few years
of doing that, we open up the physical space, the
keyless space, as a way of giving back to our
community that had helped us to stain, like sustain our business. Oh,
I really love that. You know that there's something really
powerful and I think you know hearing that messaging of
you know, People Think, Oh, I've got to claw my
way to the top by myself. But you know, once

(16:48):
you guys figured out the Road Map, you're like, let's
open this up to others and help them make money.
And of course you can take a percentage off the top,
but you were helping so many other people. So that
is that is really a beautiful thing. So you have
quite a few exhibitions and a lot of your work
is on display in anchored Alaska's can you tell us
about two of those exhibitions and shows? The first exhibition

(17:10):
that I have up in the Anchorage Museum right now
is the place I call home, which is my dedication
to my home. Um, it's largely in Anchorage, but there's
also scorches of Alaska and other things around there. But
that is my dedication to the people, the place, the textures,
the things that really make at home. Um. So it's
it's photos of landscapes, it's still life's, it's minutia, it's

(17:33):
small moments, big moments, it's people in my life, whether
they be passing through or like longtime friends. Um. So
that that is the first exhibition that I have. And
then the second exhibition is a project that my business
is doing in collaboration with the Rasmusen Foundation, which is
a philanthropic foundation here in Alaska. But it's called black
in Alaska and it's a project of like dispelling the

(17:55):
stereotype that there aren't black people in Alaska. We've all
heard the joke, and I think diddy was the one
that need to joke about, how that there's no black
people in Alaska, Um, but that that's simply not true.
Like there are black people here and we're not just existing,
we're thriving. So that project, Um, is statewide. We traveled
quite a bit around the state for it, but it's
telling the stories of black people who are living in

(18:16):
Alaska and living well, thriving in their environment, Um, and
just the many reasons why we're while we're here. You know,
it's it's a lot of fun. Oh, I love that. Well, Jovell,
we don't have in a lot of time left, but
I want to close out on what's next for you, Um,
really focusing on the gallery and doing programming here for
the youth in the city Um, taking the black in

(18:38):
Alaska project on tour and hopefully getting out of the
state Um and just in front of many other people
so that they realize like, we're here, we're existing, we're thriving. Um,
more opportunities to tell stories of the people in my
community or in communities in Greater Alaska and just working,
working with youth, working with people who are emerging Um,
trying to figure themselves out. Like it feels good. I

(18:59):
think that's next. That is great. Well, money movers, that's
all the time we have for today, but make sure
you follow jovel on his social media handles black in Alaska.
Make sure you check out all his incredible images of
life in Alaska. And if we have helped you make
your money move, please make sure to let us know
by sending us a like, sharing the knowledge and or
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(19:21):
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