The Sevan Podcast - #16 - Jim Jordan

Episode Date: November 18, 2020

How do you become a successful photographer? Jim's story is unique and his skills in human communication are profound. The Sevan Podcast is sponsored by http://www.barbelljobs.com Follow us on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/therealsevanpodcast/ Sevan's Stuff: https://www.instagram.com/sevanmatossian/?hl=en https://app.sugarwod.com/marketplace/3-playing-brothers Support the show Partners: https://cahormones.com/ - CODE "SEVAN" FOR FREE CONSULTATION https://www.paperstcoffee.com/ - THE COFFEE I DRINK! https://asrx.com/collections/the-real... - OUR TSHIRTS ... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Let's go seize the night. That's the powerful backing of American Express. Visit amex.ca slash yamex. Benefits vary by car and other conditions apply. Yo. Dude, look at that backdrop. You look sick, Papa. Why do you look so dark, Jay?

I look dark. Do I look dark? You look tan, buddy. You look tan. You look like you live in LA is that your cat yeah my cat yeah over there dog I built this studio for you do you like it I love it. I love it. I just, I just watched your interview with Scott Clary. You watched the whole thing? Yeah. And you know, what's crazy is that I'm friends with you and I've known you a long time. And that was, um, that was awesome. I was kind of like, I was actually, um, captivated. I didn't know a lot. I didn't know a lot of that. Yeah. That's hard. That's, that's like,

you and I have something in common that I didn't know where, where, uh, we were both homeless. something in common that I didn't know. We were both homeless. It's what shaped our soul. That's what made us hungry and that's what made us run for the prize. You were homeless in Italy with a stolen

passport at the age of 15. I was homeless in Santa Barbara with a joint at the age of 22. I love it. You can go back and give it to me. Give me one sec. Thank you.

Yeah, but it's good to reconnect with you. It's been a couple of years, but it feels like, I feel like the last time we kind of hung was in Hawaii. Has it been that long? Yeah, like since me and I haven't seen your wife since then. My wife?

We got divorced years ago, Jim. Shut up. You're married now. I'm 100% happily married to the same lady. Hey, that was a long time ago. I think she was pregnant there. Yeah, she was. And she was doing muscle-ups pregnant in the yard.

Jim, so you are a L.A. kid who loved hair and makeup. And now, I don't know exactly how old you are, but 45 years later, 40 years later, 45 years later, you parlayed your love for hair and makeup into three companies, production company, talent management company and um

what's the third company what do you call that um jim jordan photography yeah i didn't have a mad love for hair and makeup i had a mad love with transforming things to let people see how i saw the world and i used to transform trees and bonsai bushes and climb in trees that had no shape or form and make these masterpieces out of them to get people's attention and even even pets right even people's dogs you gave dogs haircuts you transformed a dog anything that had hair or anything like hair dog horse hair manes tails was doing crazy shit. So it parlayed into finding girls and guys and models that people I thought could be models that the world wouldn't have recognized it. And I would do their hair and makeup and beg my next door neighbor, Greg

Glassman, to let me use this camera or let him use the camera to take pictures of these people. And that's how it started. And he got really sick of it really fast and kind of gave me his camera and begged me to, and I didn't want to take it. I didn't know how to use it. It scared, intimidated me. So he grabbed me in a headlock and showed me how to put film in it and use it and i was kind of off to the races running scared to death that i didn't have somebody doing all the technical stuff for me um for anyone boy people should really go listen to that podcast it It's the Scott D. Clary podcast. I'll put a link in the bio. It is really, on one hand, it's kind of that cliche story that never gets old. It's someone who is put underneath a ton of pressure and a ton of hardship. And instead of, well,

even for years of maybe playing the victim, he overcame it and kicked ass. Right? Yeah. What is the most common question you hear from people? Hey, I love pictures. I want to get into photography. I mean, do you hear that just over and over and over? I hear it a lot.

And I hear a lot of people that come to me over and over? I hear it a lot. And I hear a lot of people that come to me that want technical advice and what kind of cameras to get and what they use. And they like a lot of people are like, you have the coolest job. I want to do what you do. And I don't know. First of all, when they ask me what kind of cameras to get, I don't really even know the exact camera that I shoot with. And I'm really like the most untechnical camera savvy guy there is.

I'm really surprised still that I have a label or a badge that says I'm a photographer. When I did hair and makeup and I was traveling the world with Elizabeth Taylor, Whitney Houston, Kurt Russell, Nick Cage, Jeff Bridges. I was surprised that I was even a hair and makeup guy. I didn't understand that label that I carried around as well. And so why the photography thing, it's just kind of an extension of my hands and my arms and just how I live my life. And I have that piece of metal in my hand to capture the moments in my life, like kind of journaling or the way I see people. And it's more about what I love about taking pictures is the connection, the interpersonal connection I have. It's kind of like Simon says, they get people to tell me things and do things

that they would never give or share with anyone else. So it's kind of like an intimacy that I share with people that I can, when it's over, it's like, okay, it's over. And I like that, I did over. And I did that. And I don't know how to put that into words or to express that, but it's really fun. And I really like doing that. When we used to hang on a regular basis, I remember sharing those with you. Like, holy shit. I had a

nickname for you. I wish I could remember what it was, but it was something about freedom setter. I, everyone always felt free around you. Like everyone always felt free around you when you're, when you're, when people leave high school, you know, I remember people would say, oh my God, I'm so glad I'm out of high school. It's just a popularity contest. It's just a popularity contest. And now that I'm 48 years old, I realized life is still just a popularity contest, but what people value has changed. And so although Jim Jordan may have not been the most popular kid in high school, he's figured out what makes him lovable likable and popular now right for sure like it was becoming successful was the way i got to be cool and the way that people accepted me and the way that it was okay to be me and sometimes that's still not okay for certain groups and

people's in circles you know by that i i i also mean like you are not like like you said before like in that podcast you said it was, like you said before, like in that podcast, you said it was very interesting. You said, um, I'm not, I still trouble. I still struggle with people. You know, you filmed all these famous people. You've made a career. You live in a beautiful home in Calabasas, California. You're successful. You have these three companies, but you still can't even, you still struggle with the fact of calling yourself a photographer and you didn't use your technical skills. That's the fascinating part about you to get where you're at. You used your people skills. You made friends and you made, you made friends with famous people, but not only that, but you made them feel comfortable whatever you did you you made them feel the way other people don't make them feel or can't make

them feel yeah and what is that do you ask them do you convince them to be themselves i think it's the way i share myself and the vulnerability i have, that when I'm giving everything of myself, it mirrors back to me. And so when I'm jumping in headfirst to get vulnerable and to share my brokenness or my passion or my love or my everything, people feel safe to kind of let their walls down to let us have this engagement and that's really what my the way my life has always flowed and why I've attracted some great things and jobs and careers and opportunities because of the I don't want to say

it's just I'm very like I'm very loving and I want to see life and meet people like I'm a young kid. And I want to not have opinions or expectations. I grew up with a brother that was very right and folded his arms and had the answer to everything. And I lived a lot of my life like that. And I knew when I was right and had the answers for everybody, it's where my life ended up stopping. And when I gave up my opinions and how life should look or be, and that's when the miracle started to really happen in my life. And I'd always been that way as a young kid. I've always been really very social and very loving.

And I used to ask a million questions to everybody. And everybody used to always say, my sisters, my family, you ask so many questions, get away from us. Stop asking me questions. And the whole, my whole life, I asked everybody questions. And I questioned everybody just because I was interested in them. Not asking questions to find stuff out about them, but honestly interested in people. And people like to, it's like, I like, I like knowing about

people. I like hearing people and people like to tell stories about them. And I don't think a lot of people get to share that enough for people that are that interested in who they are, but I'm a really good listener. And I, I really have a heart for people. I love people and being intimate with people on every level. on every level and you have you you walk into a room with someone someone famous who deals with tons of people all the time and and how how long is a shoot let's say let's say you have a shoot with with someone famous let's say whoever and you've never met them before how long do you have with them and before you, like the second you walk in, you have to already be in that headspace to start becoming intimate with them, to let them

know you're safe, to let them know it's okay, to let them know you have your best interest. And can you tell us how you do it? I mean, you touched on it a little bit. And what if you're not in that space when you walk in the room? First of all, whenever I have a shoot, I'm nervous. It never goes away. I'm always nervous, kind of like have a little bit of not anxiety, but I'm nervous. I'm wanting everything to be perfect. So my nerves aren't like, I don't know what I'm doing or how I'm going to do it, but I'm always a little kind of, I hope this goes amazing and great. And what are they going to be like? Are they going to like me?

Am I going to have to write all of it? And like, if it's a shoot here in my studio, my home, it starts with greeting them out on the driveway, meeting them at their car, like open arms and loving. And they're like, whoa, you're like barefooted. And this kid, like, this is your place. And they're like like this is so unexpected a lot of people are like used to be like wait you're like you live on a boat or in a motorhome

or you live in a van and they were just like you're so my style of who I am how my house is my studio my cleanliness everything's like uh when you come in my place they're like wow and it's just my wrapping my arms around people letting people feel my heart and feel like i'm just giving it and being kind and looking people in the eye and i'm not trying to win anyone or look good or be cool i'm just i just, I don't need anything from anybody. I want to give. And that's how I feel I come off, to get people to put their guard down. Or I might go on a job like in Mexico for a seven-day job with Zendaya.

And I meet her in the airport in the terminal. And she's the biggest actress in the world right now and I meet her mom and her dad and her grandma are there and we get on a plane and fly to Puerto Vallarta for a seven-day job and then the meeting is right there it just starts taking place so it's always different the circumstances is how much time I have prior to them getting in front of my camera. And a lot of times they're in the hair and makeup room getting their makeup and hair done. So I remember as a makeup artist, the models and the hair,

the actress would be in the makeup room for the first two hours with me. Photographers never even came in to say hi. Then the model actress would get done and go out to the set and meet this total stranger and I'd always be like that's so weird like they don't come in and try to connect with the talent while they're getting their makeup done just to kind of be fun and chill and hang out and I always knew when I was going to have that opportunity to be a photographer my relation started there it started being involved and in the room

with them and becoming like the tribe the fun the team and so when i used to work with big famous models cindy crawford and them and they'd walk out and be meet the photographer the first time they were always like looking at me off set instead of the photographer they're like hey talking to me and i'd be like don't talk to photographer. They're like, hey, talking to me. And I'd be like, don't talk to me. Talk to them. Like, I don't want to get in trouble. Like, give him the attention.

So I knew those relationships happened early in the game, mostly in the makeup room. And so I learned a lot of tricks of how to connect with talent. And, you know, I did hair and makeup 15 years. Now when I'm doing photographing a movie stars or a model, supermodel, whatever, I'm in the makeup room saying, here are my vision boards. Here's my boards. I have these, I have these boards that I'm constantly making. I don't know if it shows. And I go through these boards with my models or the actress and I say

here's my vision for this shoot here's how I want your hair and I'm articulating that to the makeup and the hair people and right away the model or the actress is like whoa this guy he cares this guy's like an artist he's not just a photographer like he's he's guy's like an artist. He's not just a photographer. Like he's, he's, he's got finite inspiration and detail for the clothes and the makeup and the hair. I don't just leave the things up to everybody coming on the set,

which a lot of shoots and photographers do. They hire great makeup and hair people and stylists, and they just check out and go, you guys do it. Like Picasso never let other people touch his canvas. And I work the same way. If I have an idea or a vision in my head, I'm responsible for that. I can have people help me and I need other arms through as extensions of my eyes, my arms to help me articulate and execute it. But ultimately, I'm the one that's going to be in trouble if the pictures don't look good or the makeup's bad or the hair. And so coming from the behind the scenes, doing makeup and hair for 25 years has really helped me have a detail eye for detail in every intricacy of my photos.

And hone your, um, and hone your intimacy skills and your talking skills and your comfort skills with them. Um, Jim, I, um, two things I want to touch on about being nervous and then also about not needing anything. You said not, you said not only do you want to make people beautiful, but you don't need anything from anyone. When I was homeless, I realized that people will love you as long as you don't tax their shit. Don't ask them for a cigarette. Don't cook their food. Don't drink water out of their cups. And, and people it's, it's amazing how much people will like you. If you don't put any demands on them, you patiently wait until they would give or offer. And even then you should say no nine out of 10 times, but not on top of that. You said that you don't want anything from anyone.

So that makes people feel so free. But then on top of that, you only have one objective, but then on top of that you only have one objective right to give to them to make them to make them see their own beauty you want you want you see beauty in them and you want them to see the beauty right absolutely i don't really even like people asking me a lot of questions about myself and i know i'm sitting here being interviewed and talking to you you're my friend but i don't have photos in my house on my my walls of things I've taken. I've never had a birthday party for myself. I've never had a, come look at me. I've never had an exhibition or a gallery because that people coming to maybe celebrate me or come look at what I do is really awkward and foreign to me and uncomfortable to me. And I think that part of my personality, that's why people love to tell me everything and people

love to share because I'm a really good wrap my arms around people and love them and hug them and love them back to like to happiness. I have so many kids, people calling me like, you're the only person I know in my life that would listen and hear me and really care for me. Jim, when is the last time you've taken a day off? This year. Have you ever taken a day off? I don't.

Like my life is all about work. I manage about 50 models. So I'm always on the phone day and night with them. And I just booked out to go on vacation December 23rd to January 3rd. So that'll be. But I'm going to Miami and I'm going down to the Keys. So I'm going to be taking pictures and I'm setting up shoots while I'm there. But, and thank God, like my days off are really with the camera in my hand and creating art.

Like I go crazy just sitting on a vacation with, like, I don't know what to do with myself. Yeah, I have gone on vacation with you and you don't take vacations right and i understand that because i don't i i my life doesn't really have that in there either i don't i see i guess do you see all of life is maybe a vacation or would it do you think it would be important if you took vacations i mean i know of you as a complete and utter workhorse i mean you are your team of horses do you like that um is that a vital to success i love what i do and i can't like my life the beginning of my life and vacation and work it's so it's so fits perfectly like a puzzle. And your religion.

It's all one for you. Yeah. Life, work, religion, spirituality. So it's almost not even a fair question to ask you what you're saying. It's like it's not relevant to your life. Right. Like I've been so thankful to do what I found. Like I don't even know how I got into doing this.

I wanted to make people look and feel beautiful and turn them around and be able to chop their hair off and do their makeup and turn them around and look in the mirror. And I'd have girls like start crying. And I'd be like, there's nothing to me better than that you wouldn't scream at him and say your makeup smearing

knocked that shit off or transforming somebody and seeing something I did to help them see themselves in a different way like that's a vacation to me like that's there's nothing more to me and I love doing that all the time like that's a vacation to me. Like that's, there's nothing more to me.

And I love doing that all the time. Is it stressful living in Los Angeles? I had some friends recently. I had a friend who was an acquaintance friend who is a model actor leave LA because he said it just wasn't conducive to being married. He had just gotten married. And he said that the, just the, he wasn't bad mouthing it, but the pressures and the lifestyle and the mating game. And he said, it's just a lot. Yeah. For somebody married with a family. Absolutely.

There's so much temptation and it's so fast. And, you know, I live in Calabasas, like in 45 minutes from Hollywood, which keeps me sane. And I always said to myself, if I didn't plant myself this far out of the city, I might not be where I am today. And I might not be even alive today. And I know that it's kept me out of a lot of trouble. And it's not for everybody. And it is fast. And it spits people out quickly. It chews them up and spits them out, especially in my business, in the entertainment, the acting, directing, filmmaking, modeling, it's fast. And one of the reasons i helped open my company white cross was to foster kids that were being chewed up in this business and i wanted to grab a hold of them and wrap my

arms around and protect them and love them and speak life into them because the whole world was speaking death over them and they had these desires and like i like, I want to get a hold of them. I want to help them. And so I had a really good success in doing that. I had a kid today, one of my boys, like walked him off of, you know, literally committing suicide, calling me bawling like freaking at the end, and like just being able to be there for him and speak life into this kid that's super successful he's just like in the battle in the fight literally i had one of my models a girl 18 years old girl 5 11 the most beautiful long red hair

she hung herself in her dad's trailer in front of her house. Like, dude, the things we see. Like one of my best friends, Mitch Rogers, is a model. He's 42 now. His career ended like 10 years ago. And he just OD'd and took pills, and they found him dead in his shower last Monday. shower last Monday. So as far as hard living in LA, being in this business, not having the right people or team around you, it can be devastating. Or having the right tribe around you. Or possibly you're just kind of in the fire alone, you know? Do you have a best friend there? I have a few really great friends, yeah.

People that I can be completely transparent with. And I have a lot of different friends and a lot of different circles of friends. I don't know if it's because I'm older, but I have lots of sets of friends that I grew up with, kids when I was a kid, my entertainment, you know. I have maybe 10 sets of friends throughout my life, and I have a great family. My sisters are in Santa Barbara, my brother, my family's really loving. I don't see them as much as I'd like to, but I have some really strong foundation of people that I know love me. And I got a really cool team of people I'm with every day in my, in my company that I sit with every day and,

and can be really real with that get me, you know, When you see someone who's beautiful how do you distinguish between and maybe beautiful is not the right word you fill in whatever word it is how do you distinguish between what jim jordan finds beautiful and what you know will present to the world and the different mediums will find beautiful like photography film and is there a distinction between the two there is and i think that i developed an eye to spot it before the rest of the world might be able to see it is because of my my gifting doing makeup and hair and then me my gifting as becoming a photographer and seeing people the way a camera might see somebody or seeing what's under the veil and I

can look at somebody's bone structure and they might look alien and really horrible with no makeup and be bullied and picked on. But I can see past that. And that's why the people, the girls, the supermodels I've discovered that have been the five of the biggest models in the world in the last decade were because everybody saw those girls, but nobody saw them in the way of this girl is a superstar. And I think those were the gifting that i had by my by my experience is it is it better to better as mine might not be the right word

um when you when you found taylor hill is that correct is that am i am i describing that situation right when you found taylor hill she didn't want to be a model right she was just some kid somewhere right yeah she was in a dude ranch in a barn in grandby colorado she had a baseball hat on her in glasses and i saw this girl she was 14 at the time and right away when i saw her was like no way and I could see her through the baseball cap and she had clear like reading glasses on and I went up to her I was in scouting in a barn and I said hi what's your name she's like Taylor and she was looking at me like who is this man talking to me I go is your mom around she goes yeah she's out there so I went and talked

to her mom I go i think your daughter could be a model on the fashion photography i'm here shooting for macy's and i had my crew was all around such they saw okay i was gonna be like man doesn't that freak parents out like who is this guy and they grab their kid it does freak them out big time that's why i always like being with someone else when i'm there with a woman or something. So I discovered Taylor, you know? So my question is, do you prefer to work with someone like that who, who didn't have aspirations to be a model or do you prefer,

and what are the different types of personalities or do you prefer to work with the 18 year old kid who moved from Omaha or from wherever Nebraska, and it's their lifelong goal to be on the cover. With the people that have never expected it. I say that again. Sorry. I saw would rather work with the people that never had any inclination. That's what they could even be. And for me to have vision for them, the way I see it. And to, to connect with them to speak my vision

so they could start to see it for themselves there's nothing better than when my vision that's so big for somebody a lot of people have such big vision for they look at me and they're like me you see all that for me like that's crazy like no what you think i i can and then we're after working with them watching that them start to grasp even to see to see that for themselves is the best part of what fulfills me and then when i actually see them stepping into that gifting it's it's all i it's more it's it gives me it makes me so happy and that's what i do but then the flip side is that when they start getting that vision and it's huge and they're making a ton and ton of money and then everyone's clamoring around them then they start being like getting cocky and the world starts getting on them and then that's not so fun but it's just

keeping people grounded and keeping them humble and there's the ones that don't stay humble and get really not so nice and there's the ones that will always be, no matter how rich or famous they are, they will always be. And I think staying, staying rich and humble and kind is why a lot of people get super Uber successful. But they're the ones that aren't that become assholes. And you spot that.

Can you be like, okay, I met this person. They're're great i know we can do a lot of work together but i also know six years down the road this shit is gonna crash and burn like you and me and my team always are talking about it like we put bets on it which we know it we see it a mile away it it's it's almost like a script right we're just human so once you see it happen in three or four people you're like okay they're showing the signs that they're going to get choose this path absolutely it's so it's very clear i i interviewed ben

and we can see the opposite we can see the ones that are going to just be humble from the inside out forever. And that is clear to see too. Some once in a while surprise you, you know? um he wrote a book called chasing excellence and he's been the coach of a superstar um crossfitters and i was i told him i said hey every time right before i start a podcast like 10 minutes before a podcast starts i start pace well even sooner like an hour before a podcast starts around starts i start pacing around the house saying i wish i wouldn't have scheduled it like what the fuck am i like every time but like a week out out, I'm so excited. Oh my God. I can't wait to talk to Jim Jordan. This is going to be the best. Oh my God. I can't believe he's coming on my podcast. And then an hour out, I'm like, man, I could be doing something else. Where are my kids? Where are my notes? And I, it's, um, I almost feel like I have to grab myself by my neck

and slam myself in the chair. And then when I'm done, always I'm high as a kite, right? And, and so I kind of relate to that. A month out from a big shoot with Leonardo DiCaprio, you're pumped. But an hour, an hour before you're like, holy shit, what is the cough? Is the coffee machine gonna break? Are they going to turn the power off? Because it's windy in LA? Like, what the fuck is going on? That's exactly how I feel. Same as you, my man. Every time.

He said it's a good thing. He says if you don't feel that nervousness, that means that you've become complacent. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I used to always work with Nicolas Cage. I'd do his hair and makeup for a lot of his stuff. And we'd be on trips. He just won the Oscar. And I was in Las Vegas.

And I was doing his hair and stuff. And he was just starting a new movie. And he was talking about how nervous he was. And I was like, dude, you're like an Oscar. You just won an Oscar. What do you mean you're nervous? He's like, dude, I get so nervous. Like panic attacks.

Every movie. Every job. And we're like, dude, why? And he's like, I know if I'm not, there's something wrong. And I always remember Nick at the prime of his career was how mortified nervous that he wasn't going to be good, that he sucked, that he didn't know how to act, that he forget his lines, like he just didn't feel like people were going to like him. And I was like, wow, it's every creative, I believe, has that wanting to have the excellence for themselves, you know? And that's interesting what he said that kid what you just told me yeah um

has it always been people you've shot did you ever do cereal boxes or landscapes or cars yeah i do i've shot cars i've done car commercials car campaigns for bmw and mercedes-benz and i shoot a lot of jewelry still like jewelry but not like mostly lifestyle type of thing so if i shot a jewelry campaign i'd shoot the models and then some product on location in the desert or laying in the sand or kind of artsy kind of product shots. I love shooting landscapes. I love that. Like if I'm on vacation, I shoot landscapes. Cause if I don't have models around, I'll shoot the lake or the clouds or whatever I can find, you know?

But yeah. In the interview with Scott Claryary you talked about this black box and the black box was filled with photos that you i've been on a photo shoot before and you've told everyone hey i better not fucking see anyone take a picture um i've i've heard i know the rules when there's a big time shoot going on and um you would um as a young hair and makeup guy you would steal photos not steal other people's photos steal your own photos while they were taking a break you told a story of running down the beach with cindy crawford at lunchtime and then i'm being like hey can i take some pictures of you and she accommodated you and

then you had dozens of stories like this and this box over the years, and you didn't share the photos. And over the years, you filled this black box with these amazing photos of beautiful, not beautiful, famous, not famous, but your favorite photos. It sounded like, and you never showed it to anybody. And then there was the story of, you know, know, finally someone said, Hey man, we know you're taking pictures. We demand to see the photos. And it's sort of like a Cinderella story and your career takes off as a photographer. But what I want to know, is there a black box now and what's in it? Is it those landscape photos or are there photos you take that you like but you're still to this day to it may be insecure as an artist still to share or like i feel like you know me so clearly I have in my computer I have an active folder and an active folder is an issue

that I do that I haven't put out to the world and it is so long and it's so risky and it's so personal and it's so like even the thought of what I would even put out it's so like I just sits in there because I'm like and it's like what do I want to reveal of myself what are people gonna think I don't want to be compared to or but yeah I have a lot of pictures and art that I I'm really wait and I don't know why but I have yes do you think that's I don't know if this is true but I heard when Prince

died he had more he had a vault full of more recordings that he had never shared than recordings he had published do you think that's the same thing for musicians too like they have that active folder, but they just can't. Absolutely. So good. So much. Yes. So the insecurity of being an artist and being judged never goes away. I don't think so. I don't know. I don't think so. It's just like the, in the bandwidth of the people I have that can help me even get it out for how fast and how much I'm shooting.

Like these days, I shoot so much, as you probably do and know. It's just endless. It's so overwhelming, like what to grab, which one. It's just, I have so much so much to do like I'm doing an exhibition in Monaco at the Prince and Princess in Monaco is doing an exhibition an all green printed all green exhibition and I'm doing these series of naked people in trees and then i'm doing one with uh underwater with seaweed these seaweed naked people wrapped in like seaweed like part of the ocean so i'm doing these galleries and just the thoughts of like which images to pick and which image to display and to share it's like

that's oh it's daunting task to me like have you already have you already done those shoots i've done the shoots and i'm still shooting for them but yeah i've got eight hun i have yes hundreds of shoots that i've done that i'm paginating and being bugged to kind of okay let's get it going but i'm But I'm always dragging my feet. I'm always like, oh. It's just not like, I don't know. I'm working with the editor of American Vogue is curating the project.

Ivan Shaw, he's the head of Condé Nast. And he's always been bugging me. He's like, hey, why don't you ever add a gallery? Out of everybody I know, you out of everybody should be having exhibitions. And I'd be like, I don't want people coming to a place and he's standing around like, makes me uncomfortable. I don't have birthday parties or shows and come look at me and buy my work. he goes well what if i curate a show for you and i do it and i'm like how could i say no the editor of american votes can he curate my first exhibition and i go i could never say no to that he goes well if that's what it takes for you to get your art and for people to see it so he's been pressing me for a while to do these exhibitions. So that's kind of where I've been pressed and having accountability from him to kind of get my ass in gear and get my shit out of my black hidden

treasures, you know? Is the point of doing an exhibition for notoriety, brand value? It's both. They say it's very hard for commercial photographers, fashion photographers to break into the art world. It's such a different world even though we're artists and we're creators. So I'm just interested in exploring like figuring out how i get over that hump if that's even possible so if someone wants if someone wants to be in front of the camera

what advice would you give them? In front of my camera? Sure. In front of any camera. Let's say someone wants to be a model. Let's say someone... It seems like it's like... For those of us not living in LA, it seems like it's something that only happens in LA. First of all, is that true?

No, not at all. Okay. And then is that, is that just the toughest career in the world to bank on your looks to be like, okay, I'm going to use my face to make money. It's pretty, it's pretty risky. but but if you have that right face it could be pretty incredible and i always say to the girls that i discover and they find and i say you're first in line and you've got 900,000 girls behind you like that's how picky i am and i think the odds to have a face like that is for a reason and I believe it's I think it's kind of like destiny like I think that I think God makes people look a certain way because they're meant to be in front of people and they're meant to be a voice for people that don't have one whenever I whenever I help kids, I always say that to them.

I go, you don't look the way you look because this is a mistake. I believe you look the way you look because you're to have a voice for people that don't have one. And they're like, and I believe that. And that's what I, those are the kind of people I want to help. And those are the people I want to get behind. Even if they don't see it for themselves. Do a lot

of these people take their voice or their power seriously? Do they take their influence seriously? 50% of them. The other 50% want to party and hang out and just be players and be in the social scene. And they're still insecure, so they don't take the power by charge. They're still trying to fit in and be accepted, opposed to just like, I'm good. And I've seen people really do it powerfully.

And I want to be involved with those kind of people. I want to be a catalyst to help people change the world and make this place a better place. It don't happen that often. I'm going to put you on the spot here. Who is easier to work with men or women and you have a stable of a pretty vast stable of both men are easier to work with because there is not it's not as demanding for men

Because it's not as demanding for men. Women are harder to work with because there's so much more involved with it. In the way of work and being a woman. In the way I protect. In the way I manage. In the way I want to hold people's hands. It's easier to work with men as far as managing and helping and branding and pushing them out into the world and putting a bow on them and wrapping them up and dressing them up and sending them out. Women, it's harder sending a 16, 17 year old girl to Milan to be on her own

and walk in the streets and going on 10, meetings a day and the mothers are calling me like what's going on with her and like that's very challenging in the way stresses you out you're worried about them yeah absolutely so in the circles i work in in that if you're meeting or if you're talking about working with a woman on set as in front of my camera as a model or an actress it's definitely women women are way more there's way more intricacies and details with women with their hair with their makeup with the clothes with the way it's pinned and styling and the way they're moving their body and posing guys are just like what's up they could just stand there and be cool it's like an art it's like a dance it's like a movement and timing and capturing that moment when she's in the perfect

dance so yeah greater greater demands on greater demands on the women and maybe more threats out in the world. Yeah, absolutely. Are there models, actors and actresses, who you see them and you're like, oh my God, how's this going to work? They have no presence. They're insecure. They have blah, blah, blah.

And then the second they get in front of the camera, it's a completely different person. And you're kind of like, holy shit. Absolutely. It's incredible. Can you give me an example? What's that look like? Shoulders forward, you pull the camera out, shoulders back? That's to me like the love of the game for me is what excites me.

Like the girl playing Jane Sally walks up the driveway to the shoot, no makeup and no hair. She disappears for an hour and come, you walk in and you're like, what? Who is that? And she's all hunched over and she's like, what's up? And then she walks out, puts the heels on and walks out on set and pulls her shoulders back. boom she's this completely different thing and you're like whoa and I remember when I started doing makeup and hair for Hama Newton and Herb Ritz and all the biggest photographers and working with those like supermodel girls where you see them with no makeup on and you'd be like she's not even a model and And then watch that transformation. I would just sit back like, I'm watching the best movie I've ever seen. And I was in awe, like, whoa.

Even how they moved and they got into their woman and their girl. And the camera shuts off and they're just like, they fall like, like they're a puppet that just lost its strings what and then boom the guitar picks up the camera she steps back on set and flying through the air like oh my god you're like what it's like the best movie or actress you've ever seen and And that's what's so fun for me. I live for it. It excites me just talking about it. That's one of the best things that ever happens on set and working with people and watching the transformation. What is something, do you have a list of things you want to do? And if so,

what is something in this long career of yours that things you want to do? And if so, is what, what is something in this long career of yours that you haven't done yet that you're like, man, I really, I'd really like to do that. I want to make documentaries and I want to make some really dope short films and documentaries. I apologize about your love for documentaries. That's a don't go. Don't do it, Jim. Don't do it. Like short ones, like 15 minute ones.

Okay. I approve. I approve. Like 10 minute documentaries. And I want to tell stories. I want to share things. I want to really share things on how I see things. People are like, you're so good with actors.

You're so good with people. You should be directing. Let me send you some scripts to read. And I'm like, I never want to go away for a year and film somebody else's movie. Like it never interests me to do that. What about your movie? What about writing your life story? It's fascinating.

I have been. I'm working with a woman named Joan Riley Ford. She's a 10 time New York times bestselling author. And she's writing a biography about my life. And we're probably on the 13th chapter right now. And it's going to be a screenplay and it's a film. It's going to be a film and it's a documentary. And we've been, I've been writing it for like the last nine months, about 11 months with this woman. And it's pretty nostalgia,

like bringing all of that life back of where I am. So when you say a film, would you direct that film? I don't know. I don't think I'm going to direct it, but I want to. My film is kind of, it's a segment of my life of what the movie would be about. It's about a young coming of age kid that kicked on and didn't fit in anywhere. And he got abducted and was taken away by a guy that was ostracized by society, which made him so angry at the world that he was out hurting people. And we came together in the perfect storm.

We were both outcasts. And my movie is kind of like Kate fear and monster Charlize Theron's monster and kind of blow the movie blow. And it's kind of a feeling of those three films together being i'm sorry that that's your life but that sounds like a really fucking good movie yeah so i wanna so i'm gonna try to piece that together that's kind of my next big life's project is that guy still alive he just died a year and a half ago we heard and so what's kind of my goal like you asked what is my next dream or things like i never thought i'd ever have a book or a story i met a psychic

this guy one of this kid called me real quick story i was in chipotle and i saw this kid walk in chipotle and i turned into a really handsome kidotle and I turned in, he was a really handsome kid, like set 18. I turned to my team and I said, hey, do you think that kid could be a model? They're like, oh my God, he's so cute. So I'm like, my gut was like, I don't want to work with him, but he's cool, but he's not a fit. He comes in line next to me, I shake my, stick my hand out like, hey, what's your name? He goes, Eshaan. I go, hey Eshaan, are you an actor or model?

He goes, no. I go, what do you do? He goes, I'm like, hey, what's your name? He goes, Eshaan. I go, hey, Eshaan, are you an actor or model? He goes, no. I go, what do you do? He goes, I'm a musician. I go, you live here? He goes, today is my first day moving to LA. I just moved here from Grass Valley. I go, what are you doing down here? He goes, it's my Hollywood dream, come and be famous, be a writer.

So I said, dude, you should be an actor and a model and do music. Do everything. You're cool. Let me give you some names of photographers, get pictures. Here's some agents. Here's my name. Sit with us. Do you have friends here? Because I don't know anyone. You're the first person I met. I go sit and have lunch with us. He sits with a super nice kid. I go, dude, here's my card. Call me. You need anything. I'll help you. I'll even take pictures of you to help you. But I sent him on his way. Three years later later I get a call at six in the morning this is recently a year ago it's been three years since I talked to him hey Jim this is Eshaan do you remember me

I'm like Eshaan of course are you okay it's six in the morning he goes I called to thank you for everything you've done for me and he goes I've.A. for three years and I've never met anyone that ever wanted to help me do anything. And he says, I want to see if I could take you to dinner tonight. It's Friday and there's a restaurant in Calabasas called The Six. And I'm meeting a friend that I'd love you to meet my friend. And I'm like, who's your friend? He goes, oh, he's a medical intuitive. And I go, what does that do? He goes, oh, he's a medical intuitive. And he's like, what does he what does that do?

He goes, well, it's a long story. He saved my mom and dad's life when I was a kid. And he goes, I'd really love you to meet him. And I'd love to buy you dinner. And thank you for what you've done for me. I'm like, I was thinking, I don't want to go. It's six in the morning. Three years.

I go, why don't you call me? It's Friday. I don't know what I'm doing tonight. Call me at the six in the morning. I haven't seen him in three years. I go, why don't you call me? It's Friday. I don't know what I'm doing tonight. Call me at the end of the day. I get off work at five and I'll see if I can make it. I'll look at my calendar. Six, 5.30, I'm upstairs just jumping in the shower. He calls.

Hey, Jay, you asked me to call you. It's Eshaan. Can you come to dinner at the six? I knew right then I needed to go. I just knew. No question. Jump in the shower. can you come to dinner at the six? I knew right then I needed to go. I just knew, no question, jump in the shower. I go down there and this six, 50, 60 year old man sitting there from London. Hi, Jim. Hi, Eshaan. I give him a big hug. He goes, can I tell you why I called you at six

in the morning? I'm like, I thought you called to tell me and thank me for being so kind to you and nice. He goes, no, that too. But I got a call from him at 530 in the morning. And he said to me, who's a guy named Jay or JJ? It starts with a J. He helped you on your very first few days when you moved to LA years ago. Who is this guy? He goes, Jim Jordan, JJ. He goes, you're to call him when I hang up the phone. You're to call him and thank him for everything he's done for you. And you're to invite him to dinner tonight. There's a restaurant I think I'm picking up of a name called The Sixes, the number six or something. It's in Calabasas and he's going to show up. I'm getting on a plane this afternoon. I'm flying into Burbank and you're going to pick me

up and bring me to the dinner because he's going to be there. And I'm like, I'm looking at this old man. I'm like, wait, you called him at five 30. Where do you live? He goes in Arizona. And I'm like, that's crazy. I go, what do you want? Am I dying? Like, what do you want to tell me something? He goes, no, I've come to hear your story. And I'm like, what story? I go, dude, I got so many stories. I don't even know where I would begin. He goes, well, it's seven o'clock. This restaurant don't close till two. I think we got some time. Why don't you just start from the beginning? So I start from the beginning and share my life. He starts crying.

He's like, dude, like, I was told and obedient to be here to hear your story. He goes, your story is going to help a lot of young kids, especially kids that are suicidal and have lost their way. And he goes, there's somebody coming alongside of you. And I don't know if you've ever decided, ever thought about writing a book, but someone's coming alongside of you. They're not in your life now, but you're going to be writing a book and a screenplay about your life. And it's going to save thousands of kids' lives. And I was like, I wouldn't even know how to write a book. He goes, well, this person's coming along, so get ready. So I tell this man all these things about my life, and I said, how do you know all this?

Like, why me? Why you're in Arizona and I came? He says, last Monday was the three-year anniversary of your father's passing. And I was like, and I grabbed my phone. And my sisters that week, I didn't know when it was, but they sent me a picture of my dad. They were like, we miss him. We can't believe he's been gone three years. And I look back to that Monday, and that was the day.

And I looked, and the picture was there. I start crying. And I'm like, that Monday, and that was the day. And I looked, and the picture was there. I start crying. And I'm like, how do you know that? And he goes, your dad came to me this morning and woke me up. And I just stared at him like, what? He goes, your father is so proud of you, and he told me that I needed to meet his son and that he has an incredible story. I'm like, this is crazy. Cause I want to know what the significance of Calabasas and your father is.

And I was at a restaurant and I could see out the window. It was like 10, 11 at night now. And I started pointing behind the guy in out the window. And he turns around and he looks. And he goes, What are you pointing at? There's nobody in the restaurant. I go, Do you see outside across the street that restaurant called the sagebrush cantina? He goes, Yeah, I go, my father owned that restaurant. And that's why i'm here in calabasas he bought that when i was four years old and it's a landmark and my dad was very involved with calabasas he goes okay that makes sense so i was like that's crazy so i start talking and then i was representing

jeremy meeks the hot felon the prisoner yep. And William, I got a call like six months later from William Morris. And William Morris said that there's a writer, New York Times bestselling writer that wanted to do a documentary on Jeremy Meeks. But she wants to meet Jim Jordan because she thinks he's like the Jerry Maguire behind all these superstars.

So I was like, I got lots of book deals and offers and I turned everything down. I'm like, well, William, I'm with William Morris. They're pretty legit. Maybe I should meet this New York Times bestselling. So we're like, have her come out. So she comes up the driveway, beautiful four 35 year old dark hair, blue eyed girl, New York Times bestselling author gives me a big hug in the driveway walk in. She goes, am fascinated with jeremy and his story and being in prison and you made him like the biggest star in the world i follow everything about him she goes i want to know about you like tell me your story how did you find all these supermodels

and do all this this is incredible so i start sharing my life and my story and she starts crying she goes can I hug you she gets up in my office and gives me the biggest hug and she's like oh my god like your story is so touching and it's so like honorable what you do and how you help people and she goes for some reason I don't think I'm here at all to write Jeremy's story she goes I feel like I'm here to write your story it is so much more profound like this is insane so I go Joan I have to how would you write a book do you just I talk and you just write she goes no my's so sore. I'm supposed to have a shoulder surgery. I record everything and I put it in a computer and I just fix the mistakes. I go, I have to tell you a story, Joan. I met this kid named Eshaan in Chipotle and I met this dinner and I went and told her exactly what I just shared with you.

Yeah. Yeah. Do you mind if I get him on the phone? I want you to meet him. So I get him on the phone. I haven't talked to this man in six months. So I FaceTime him. He answers, Jim, how are you? And I'm like, hey, Andre, what's happening? I go, I want you to meet a friend of mine.

Her name's Joan. Will you meet her? So I turn the camera to face Joan. And he goes, hi, Joan. She goes, Hi, Andre. Nice meeting you. He goes, Joan, what's wrong with your right shoulder? You look like you're in a lot of pain. And she goes, Oh, my God, I was just telling Jim, I'm supposed to have surgery. I have a fucked shoulder. And he goes, Do not get surgery. He goes, Don't get surgery on that. I think I can help you.

And then I'm like, Andre, remember I met you six months ago, and you told me someone was coming alongside of me to write a story about my life? He goes, yeah, JJ, that's her. And Joan's like, oh, my God, this is crazy. And so that's how my book started to happen because of this woman's writing my book. Is your whole life like this? I don't know. It's kind of like. Like fortuitous and synchronicity.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, it is. Like I did the artist way when I was in my young 20s and I was a makeup artist, so frustrated. And I wanted, I knew there was much more to my life. And I was stuck like doing makeup and hair. And I was working with all these entrepreneurs, photographers, rich people. And I just felt like I was this little peon on the sidelines. And I knew I had such a bigger call in my life. So I got the artist way by Julia Cameron. And I started that work, that 12-week workbook.

And I started journaling every single day. And my third week, you know, journaling for three weeks, seven days a week, I became a fashion photographer. I got an agent in New York. My whole life shifted. Boom. It's a magical book. Dude. And then the sixth week, I fell in love with the love of my life

and was in a 15-year relationship with her my sixth week in the book and i never had a long relationship ever like that spent 15 did i ever did i ever meet her no spent 15 years with her met her did you get i met her get married yeah i married her under the stars in joshua tree naked under the stars with her she had a big turban sheet on her head and like a saran topless we got married we got married on the jumbo rocks under the stars like between me and her and god we didn't have a big wedding it's like ceremony it was just a between us and i spent i never knew and she changed my life. And we used to travel with the Smashing Pumpkins. Her best friend was Billy Corgan from the Smashing Pumpkins.

And me and her were inseparable. And we used to travel around the world with Billy when he was just became famous. And right then is when I became a fashion photographer. Long story short, like she got addicted to heroin. And that's kind of was the demise of our relationship. And I had to kind of move on with my life because she couldn't kick it. And so that was kind of a really big lesson learned and a lesson to learn on how I knew I could love somebody that way.

And then how painful it was losing that. And it scared me so bad. I never wanted to really go there again. I never wanted to fall that madly in love with somebody because I so lost myself in that. And it took me so many years to kind of find my way back to myself that when it ended, I was like, I don't know how to find myself. That's scary. Yeah, it was so scary.

Jim, this story you told about Ishan and the book and this lady coming into your life to write the book, is that happening to everyone but you're just aware of it?

I think it is. I think a lot of weird stuff. And I think some of it's spiritual. And I think like the world thinks, and I think on a spiritual level as well and I think that everybody in their life even passing or sitting next to us in a restaurant is there for a reason and I think that when I am aware of that and I start reaching out to say hi to people and to find out why they're around me is when miracles and things happen. There's this phrase, people who don't speak to strangers don't speak to angels. That's insane. You're amazing, Sebi. God, Baba. I heard Matthew McConaughey came out with the book, and he was on Howard Stern. And unfortunately, I only listened to like 10 minutes of it. But he said something so interesting. He said that once he became famous, he was just surrounded by the same people all the time. And I'm not sure exactly how he worded it, but I think he said, and so everyone around him was mirroring him perfectly.

him was mirroring him perfectly. And so basically he was, it sounds like he was going to go into the fact he was losing touch with reality because he was never seeing strangers. He was never getting new feedback into his input. And I bet you it's like that for a lot of famous people, right? And it seems like you go out of your way to make sure that doesn't happen to you. Yeah, dude. It's so important. And every time I'm conscious of that, like these people around me or a couple, maybe one out of 10 is here for a divine appointment. introduce myself and just give my love and care for people, I'm sure enough. Like I go out to a club or I go out to a Hollywood party or a polo lounge for dinner or wherever. Every time I come home, my team can't even keep up with the networking, life-changing people I've met. And they're like, Whoa,

that's crazy. Like what's the guy's name? How did you meet Logan Paul? The other night I called my friend and they're like, oh, do you want to go to dinner with Rupert Murdoch? We're going to the Bel Air Hotel to have dinner in his suite. Me, you and Shane and my boyfriend. And I'm like, because at that time, I'm like, this is a divine purpose and appointment. And even some of the jobs that come to me, like, like, like for instance, you know, my story with Greg, right. Right.

And like 30 years, I lost touch with Greg. And then you called me and said, is this Jim Jordan? Like that's another one of those moments, those things. Like, I lost Greg as one of my best friends as a kid. There were no cell phones or anything. And he just kind of vaporized out of my life after he was one of the biggest influence in my life and really a kid that cared for me. Yeah. I did some crazy shit. We did as kids, but you said he called me and kind of helped circle that whole closure. You know what I mean?

Or that whole open up that door to something that was really crazy. Do you still do crazy shit? All the time, but no one knows about it um uh it's a it's a it's a i i i'm almost um hesitant to open this door because i i didn't do my research on this specific subject but you you you work with or are friends with logan paul i just know him from instagram and actually I'm a huge fight fan. And that's really how I found out about him because I started seeing advertisements for his fights. He fought some other YouTube guy.

I'm good, really good friends with Logan Paul and Jake. How does that, that fascinates me in the fact that it's a whole different generation on, you have stories with, um, uh, Helmut Newton and Elizabeth Taylor and Farrah Fawcett, but now you have stories with Logan Paul. I mean, it's almost like not even the same planet. There's so much time between the two, right? I mean, there's black and white film, and then now it's like not even film. It's digital.

How do you do that? Aren't they like, who is this old fart? Like, what are you doing? Go back to 1960 or 70 where you came from. Do these kids just love you or what's the deal? It's crazy, yeah. Like my old agent, my agent is the CEO of Jake and Logan. And so he put me and Jake and Logan together because he wanted to create a business with me and Logan.

He wanted me to open a model house and he wanted Logan and me to be partners in a model house because he does the Team 10 house and the Maverick house. So he was trying to use my house as a model house where me and Logan would go to Amsterdam and Holland and he would tweet out to his 190 million followers I'm going to be on the corner in Amsterdam on this street and Saturday morning at 10 in the morning you want to be a model show up I'm with Jim Jordan biggest model scout in the world so we were going to go all over the world and do these pop-up street corner want to be a famous model and use Logan as the platform to get the marketing and then flying out to LA, moving in my house here in Calabasas and start this whole building these brands.

And so that's how me and Logan started off. And then I started photographing Logan and hanging and going parties. And it just like, it was awesome. hanging and going parties and it just like it was awesome for me in miami on new year's eve and i just started connecting with this tribe his mom his dad his brother jake and just really feeling like family you know just really loving he's the sweetest guy ever so kind and interested and smart is so smart and like i was feeding off learning from him and he's learning from me yeah what what a great synergy right world happens so fast and the whole influencer world it's immediate and he can do he just everything's so instantaneous and i've learned

to adapt and when i shoot, I know what to expect. It's got to be quick. It's got to be fast. You know, in our world, like the fashion business, it's way a slower pace. And you wait three months till the things come out. Their world, their movie studios, their actors, their film producers, their editors, their copywriters,

they're doing everything. They're their own movie studio film producers, they're editors, they're copywriters. They're doing everything. They're their own movie studio like you are, Sebi. And boom, it's out that night. And 190 of their followers are seeing it. Yeah. It's really impressive he's able to keep his shit together. He looks phenomenal. If you see what the fight he's about to do, he's able to keep his shit together. He looks, he looks phenomenal. He's about to do it. You're going to freak out. I can't even talk about it.

It's so groundbreaking, mind blowing on who he's going to be fighting next. You're going to trip out. So he's really embraced the fighting. Yeah. And Jake has a fight. He's opening up for Mike Tyson. In the pre with the Roy with the roy jones jr fight why are they getting into fighting they're good they like it they train every day they're boxing real huge olympic boxing rings in their living rooms and they have the best trainers and they're amazing do you give them advice on like the temptations

on like what shiny objects to stay away from I've been able to speak definitely into their life more into Jake's life for sure like I've sat with Jake many nights just heart to heart,

like not want nothing from this kid. Cause he's, when you're at those levels, everybody wants something from them, a shout out to be a scene in their photo. Right. Something from them. And they don't know who's who.

Just say my name so I can get some followers. Yeah. And so I became good friends with Logan first, and then I became friends with Jake. And me and Jake really have a great friendship and a trust. Like, I don't have to see him every day, but when I do, it's like not one day has gone by, you know? And I know they care for me, and I really got their back. I don't want

nothing from them. It's awesome. Jim, thank you. You're awesome. Love you, man. Thank you. I good to see you.