Every week throughout 2025 we post an image sent to us by photographer Jake Chessum. The images are chosen by Jake and made by him acting as his own personal visual diary. They are created as personal work outside of his commissioned professional practice and explore aspects of form, composition, texture and colour. They deal with the found and the seen, the obvious and the ignored. As the year progress’s a narrative will be formeda story of travel and seeing, of living and recording.

Jake Chessum’s naturally spontaneous and exuberant approach to photography has led to a long and varied career. His timeless and engaging celebrity portraits have appeared in many prestigious publications and the range of celebrities he has been commissioned to photograph span the worlds of film, politics, sports and music includes: Robert De Niro, Johnny Depp, Brad Pitt, Natalie Portman, Jake Gyllenhaal, Michael Douglas, Jennifer Connelly, 50 Cent, Alec Baldwin, Spike Lee, Kofi Annan, Sir Ian McKellen, Bill Gates… the list goes on and on. Born in Croydon, South London, Chessum studied graphic design at St. Martin’s School of Art and after graduating began his photography career in London, where his first commission was for Elle magazine before he started working for The Face beginning an enduring relationship with the title. The Face began to send him to the USA on commissions and by 1995 Jake was regularly flying the Atlantic on assignment for John F Kennedy Jrs’ George magazine. In 1999 he moved permanently to NYC where he continues to live. Jake has published two books: The New York Look Book in association with New York Magazine (2007), and a self published book: Rubbish (2009).  He has recently founded The Faringdon Print Shop with fellow photographers James Dimmock and Chris Floyd to sell prints from their extensive archives. www.jakechessum.com www.farringdonprintshop.com Instagram: @jakechessum

© Jake Chessum 2025


Discover more from The United Nations of Photography

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

3 responses to “‘Randoms’: Jake Chessum, Week 25/52”

  1. Oh yes, coming from that benighted land was no plus; I wonder if Sam Haskins ran into any political isolation on that score, too.

    Barry did get a Pirelli – quite possibly a gentle kiss towards death in his case: such a convoluted, cross-arts concoction… the photography was (to me) sort of theatrically sterile. But then, what could poor Barry do, presented with the awful mistake of being forced to incorporate ugly tyre graphics into beauty? It doesn’t compute, not any more with him than it did with Uwe Ommer.

    For my money, Sarah Moon shot the best one, though the Man at Carlton Hill told me he thought it hadn’t been too well received… when he was temporarily out of the circuit – pretty much straight after the “empty” years of no calendars – the entire concept seemed to lose its way, changing from a calendar that was honest, to one of supreme pretension. That’s what happens when you take perfectly capable, no, extremely talented photographers and then suffocate them with oh so clever art director games and concepts that, once sold to the client, become set in cement, however ungainly they may turn out to look. Jesus, why not just trust the guys to do their thing: you choose ‘em because you think them great!

    It must be a nightmare to get that gig, recognise it for the opportunity it is – or at least was – and know your heart is most likely going to get stuffed.

  2. Reminded me of the iceberg lettuce I had to unpack and wash for lunch.

    Also reminded me of Bailey, which in turn reminded me of how odd it was that he, Donovan and Duffy always got the trade glory, whilst Barry Lategan, possibly better than any of them, was so determinedly overlooked. He could do it all: studio, location, and not only be right up there with the times but also do it with such grace (no pun intended) and, importantly, elegance. Sad ending there, as so often turns out to be the case.

    1. They had the work and a strong competitive group mentality and friendship. Barry was an outsider from South Africa. I think this is worth considering.

Leave a Reply to gscott2012Cancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Trending

Discover more from The United Nations of Photography

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading