Jacob John Harmer: Catching the Moments of Everyday Life

Artistic Background

Jacob John Harmer is a filmmaker, photographer, and director born and raised in England. After graduation at London College of Communication, he continued to work on his photography and filmmaking projects, learning analog photography. Jacob’s is well known for his art photography and documentary films, but he also works commercials for Nike, Topshop, Nespresso, Microsoft, Armor-Lux, Sperry and RAINS. His work is published in online art and culture portal Nowness, and he has had films shown at The MFFF, AIFFF and The Bafta Accredited Aesthetica Film Festival.

Return to the past – Saga About Optimism and Trepidation

Jacob was interested in film since he was a little. During the ’90 he spent a lot of time watching science fiction and horror movies. He noticed a similarity between the movies and games he played with his brother and father – the games about monsters and pirates. The young photographer soon realized that film is a great medium for creating interesting stories.

Jacob’s latest project called “Lost Ones” is the photographer’s vision of adolescence.

I wanted to explore the beauty in naivety. That period in our lives when you can’t wait to grow up but are still incredibly unsure about what the future holds.

The project took him back to Hasting, the place of his boyhood. There he documented the life of local kids and teenagers, evoking memories of childhood and the shared space for hanging out. These pictures tell us a story about the most vulnerable period of one’s life but also the period of big dreams and high expectations about life.

Everyday Ambient and Creative Imagination by Jacob John Harmer

It’s not only the imaginary world of movies and childhood influenced Jacob’s work. The rainy days in the U.K., especially in his hometown Hasting, impacted Jacob’s vision on photography.  In one interview he described the role of the sun and the wind as crucial for his aesthetic:

It is this connection to our atmosphere, the stars and beyond, that create a constant subtext within my narratives and continue to inspire my work.

He catches the moments of everyday life, sequences of the ordinary world surrounded by the fascinating environment. The pictures have dramatic look and expressing unreal, sometimes even transcendental motifs.