Tara Pixley
About
Tara Pixley is a queer, Jamaican-American photojournalist whose work frames race, gender, climate futures, LGBTQ+ and immigrant communities through a solutions lens. Her clients include Apple, The North Face, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, NPR, Newsweek, The Atlantic, HuffPost, ProPublica and ESPN, among many others. She is currently a Fulbright Specialist in Visual Media and previously a Reynolds Journalism Fellow; Pulitzer Center Grantee; IWMF NextGen Fellow; World Press Photo Solutions Visual Journalism Initiative grantee; and a Knight Visiting Nieman Fellow at Harvard. Tara is Vice President of the NPPA Board, a Board member of stock photo co-op Stocksy United, and Executive Director of Authority Collective — an organization by and for women of color visual storytellers, dedicated to establishing equity in visual media.
Scheduled to Teach
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LACP Interviews Tara Pixley
LACP asks Tara Pixley ten questions about their background, career in and beliefs about photography.
Los Angeles Center of Photography: What kind of photographer are you?
Tara Pixley: I am an independent photojournalist and documentary photographer, often working on assignment or commission for editorial clients but also telling longform visual stories about environmental justice, queer community or the experiences of immigrants and people of color.
LACP: How long have you been photographing?
TP: I have been a professional photographer for 20 years.
LACP: Where did you get your training?
TP: I was self-taught for the first several years of my photo career and then got an MFA in Photography at Savannah College of Art and Design in 2011.
LACP: When did you know you wanted to devote your life to photography?
TP: I don’t know that I do want to devote my life to photography. It is just one of many forms I use to interpret the world and express creativity and to pursue my unwavering quest for knowledge: I am equally devoted to writing, filmmaking, teaching, advocacy, research and various other ways of interacting with social structures and people.
LACP: Did you ever come close to giving up?
TP: Yes, definitely. Photojournalism has not been a welcoming or easy profession, especially as a young parent, a woman and a person of color. I had a lot of blockers that I had to maneuver past to make my way in this career and it remains difficult to be legible and relevant as a photographer amid a sea of photographers. But I do things because I’m passionate about them and I want to keep growing, so ultimately those things pushed me forward and I’m glad I didn’t pivot away from photo entirely at any point.
LACP: Have you sacrificed anything by being a photographer?
TP: I sacrificed a stable living and consistent paycheck for a long time. But I do think that in the balance of things I have gotten far more out of photography than I have ever sacrificed. It’s just such a full and enriching career, livelihood and community.
LACP: What have you gained by being a photographer?
TP: Access to people and places I would otherwise not have had. Opportunities to see the world and society through a different lens that reveals as much about our world as it does about my and my relationship to it. The chance to tell stories that impact people and feel a part of the heartbeat of humanity. Photography is an incredible conduit for learning in every direction. It is also wildly powerful and therefore is a great responsibility to wield with care, a recognition that continues to humble, terrify and educate me every day.
LACP: What classes do you teach at LACP?
TP: Intro to Documentary Practice and Business of Photojournalism
LACP: What do you love most about teaching?
TP: I love the exchange of a classroom, where we are all learning from each other. I love an opportunity to talk about ideas and for students to be able to play in a supportive environment where creativity can really be nurtured. Carrie Mae Weems once said to me (after an artist talk she was giving at UCSD) that the space of play is where the real work happens and I believe that deeply. Classrooms are generative spaces of play.
LACP: What advice would you give someone who is thinking about making a career in photography?
TP: I would tell them to go after their dreams with vigor and determination by learning all they can about the human condition through personal experience, deep listening and close attention. Look at all forms of art, read about photography and technology and media, read novels and scholarship and talk to strangers. Consume the world in all its complex glory. Good photographers can make pleasing images and do cool things with gear. Legendary photographers make us feel something that resonates on a level of truth. No fancy camera in the world can evince that feeling, only a truly knowledgeable visual storyteller connected to the flows of humanity can do that. So decide if you want to make nice images, maybe make the cover of Vogue or shoot for Nike, or if you want to shake the world out of complacency. And then, regardless of which you choose, proceed with care.