Stephan Jarvis

I was born in Southwark, London in 1978 before my parents relocated to the suburbs of Bexleyheath. My dad was a nightclub doorman and my mum, a Yugoslavian/Croatian immigrant, was an au pair. Neither was interested in the arts, although I consider my dad quite creative. I enjoyed drawing from an early age but wasn’t introduced to photography until I was 11 when I joined my primary school’s so-called camera club. However, the experience was short-lived, and it was only when I attended Ravensbourne College of Design and Communication in 1996 to undertake a BTEC Foundation Diploma in Art and Design that I discovered the medium properly and purchased my first SLR, a second-hand Pentax P30T.

Those early days — learning the basics and developing and making black-and-white prints in the darkroom — were extremely pleasurable. However, misguided advice led me to pursue a BA in Graphic Design at Coventry University instead. Photography was still on my mind throughout those years although nothing progressed beyond the occasional bit of dabbling, particularly with a Lomo LC-A.

In 2003, I decided it was time to follow my passion. Through a contact, I landed a position as an assistant to Eva Mueller, a New York-based fashion photographer. It was an eye-opening experience that U.S. immigration deemed I’d had enough of after three months. Disheartened by being back in England and fueled by intrigue in Japan’s aesthetics from my graphic design days, I relocated to Tokyo. Unfortunately, this also meant taking a non-photography-related job.

Years of bad decisions and bad (but fun) living followed before I pulled myself together and enrolled in a Master’s degree course in Documentary Photography and Photojournalism through the London College of Communication, graduating in 2012. It was the grounding experience I needed, but it took me a long time to realize this wasn’t the right path for me as a photographer.

As was the case for many people, a big change came during the coronavirus pandemic. I was infected with COVID-19 in early 2020 and was left with debilitating symptoms (long COVID) for several years after. Accepting that my body could no longer handle the rigours of being out and about on assignments, I turned my attention to studio photography. I had always been interested in still-life, but time, cost and space kept me from exploring it more seriously. With the circumstances as they were, I saw a chance to try and make it work.

I am still on this enjoyable journey and I currently have a small studio in a high school where I teach photography and continue to develop my skills and style.

Some people, places and things that influence me and my work:

David Hockney, Martin Parr, Bobby Doherty, Ernst Haas, Elaine Constantine, Michel Gondry, Chris Cunningham, Darren Heath, Nick Fancher, Lindsay Adler, William Klein, Saul Bass, Saul Leiter, Rankin, Ukyo-E, Star Wars, LEGO, the Mediterranean, Summer, Impressionism and Brutalism.

Korean Air, Japan House London, &Asian, METROPOLIS, Tokyo Weekender, The Japan Times, TIME and RISE Corp.