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Jeffrey Gamble – Confessions of a Hip-Hop Photographer (Part 1)
Interview By: John Kennedy
 A cross section of the Crown Heights area of Brooklyn would likely reveal a community infatuated with life’s glitz and glamour and dedicated to non-traditional means of fulfilling these materialistic yearnings. But outside of the athletes and hustlers, the neighborhood breeds some who take a more conventional path in life, an example being Jeffrey Gamble, a Caribbean-born photographer driven by his passion for capturing life’s moments on film. Amidst some of the neighborhood’s harsh realities, there was Jeff, snapping picture after picture, recording history in still life.
 His passion for photography became a career, which is still steered by an enthusiasm for his craft. Along the way he was able to capture shots of DMX, Usher, and Faith Evans. But his claim to fame is a momentous photo shoot with the Notorious One on the night that Ready To Die went platinum. These photos, locked away safely for a decade in Gamble’s portfolio, have finally come to light months ago, as the Biggie Duets project neared completion. Trace magazine featured the photos in its December 2005 issue, with a striking 10-page layout, capped by an unforgettable, symbolic cover shot of the Brooklyn-bred lyricist.
Jeffery Gamble’s monumental cover shot stared upward from a coffee table in his Manhattan photo studio, as Nobodysmiling chatted with the promising photographer about his career, his historic photo shoot with Biggie, and why the rap game reminds him of the snap game.
NobodySmiling.com : When did you first become interested in photography and start actively taking a part in it?
Jeffrey Gamble : The funny thing is that I got exposed to photography in my home country, which is St. Lucia, back in the early 80s. I didn’t really mess with photography until I got into high school here about 10 years later, which was about ’92. I was always an artist – I was always drawing, getting an award in art, and doing different things. I didn’t know photography was going to be my medium of expression. Going into the ninth grade I just did it one time and I got hooked. I had won an award for a photograph I took in my neighborhood in Crown Heights and that allowed me to win an award of $150 or a dark room setup. So I told them, I don’t want the money, just give me the dark room setup. I stored the dark room in my bathroom and I was just printing away all night long – literally from 12, 11 at night to 5 and 6 in the morning for months and months. So that’s what really gave me a foundation. I was doing a lot of portraits of people in the neighborhood and that’s basically how I built my confidence in dealing with people and business and photography. That was roughly about ‘92 to about ’95.
NobodySmiling.com : Coming up in Crown Heights, a lot of people are into rapping, sports or not-so-legal things. What was it about photography that drew you into it?
 Jeffrey Gamble : It’s funny that you mention not-so-legal things as well as sports, because growing up as an artist in Crown Heights you basically get exposed to all of those elements and you make a choice. The choices were upon me, I probably got involved in some and realized that wasn’t for me. Whether it’s negativity, whether it’s doing different things on that level – it wasn’t for me. Something kept telling me in my heart, why don’t I allow my spiritual side to get involved in things? I had read a poem from a guy who sent it to a lady in Crown Heights – he was incarcerated – and he wrote a poem about the community. It was so heart-touching that it really changed my view of how I looked at the community. It really changed my life, because at that point I had started writing poetry and then combined it with photography. But at the same point where the negativity once was in Crown Heights, for instance Franklin Ave., is the same negative aspect that certain individuals were hiring, which turned a negative into a positive. So even if you’re around certain individuals who may have been doing negative things, they needed photographs. Things were happening and they were like “I have a young artist,” or “I have a group” or “give me a family portrait.” Things like that. Or one of the major aspects was that there may have been a death of a close friend and everybody was celebrating the day [of the funeral], and I started taking a lot of photographs that people weren’t taking, like images of coffins and things like that. So from that point I started to think, either I love this or I have a talent for this. But mind you, this is before learning [photography] in high school. This was a passion.
NobodySmiling.com : Like shooting with a disposable camera…
Jeffrey Gamble : Yeah, I would pick up film from Pathmark and just have fun with it. I’d try to get the best Kodak film and just start shooting around, and that led to the interest in doing photography. But like you said, in the community of Crown Heights versus other communities, sometimes people have dreams or they see things on TV in terms of what they can achieve and they don’t want to take the hard road. They want to get it easy. This is a lot of work. I'm talking about in the first days I was on the hustle for 16 hours a day, 10 hours a day. An average 15 hours, you know what I mean. Just making it happen. But I always saw things with longevity. Coming from the Caribbean, I saw things globally, not just community. Not just Brooklyn, I saw things in London. And having those views allowed me to take the photography into that realm.
NobodySmiling.com : Do you think it’s fair to say the rap game is similar to the photography hustle?
Jeffrey Gamble : Very similar, especially when it comes to the business side of things. You have to realize that a rapper is an artist. A photographer is an artist. The rapper will create music or write music and will have the rights to that. The photographer will take a photograph and have the rights to those images. Now along the way, you may have someone come in – a company – come in and say “we’d like to utilize this, and pay you this much.” Now we, being the artist, don’t know the business side of things. You could just sell all that you have or get involved in situations that are more difficult to get out of further down the road. A perfect example happened to Jadakiss with Puff. You know, signing 50 percent because he was hungry in the game. And sometimes that’s the difference between hungry and understanding the business. Because sometimes you can be hungry and just go find something, which can help you – like 50 [signing with Eminem & Dre]. Or you can just say, “I'm hungry but I’ll hold off and make sure my paperwork is right and have more value.”
Basically the comparison between photography and music that I always used to tell a friend of mine in the music industry is that I'm a product of my environment, of the rap world and I create images that go out there. I have to create a buzz for myself or companies have to come on board with me to help create a buzz, which is a lot of times magazines. The same with the rapper – it’s almost like getting a deal. If you get the deal, you have marketing, you have promoting. With the photographer, if the magazine is not with you, you have to do it yourself – do your own promotion, do your own networking. And that’s a lot of the stuff I did because I did a lot without an agent. I knew certain aspects of the game, the business side especially, and that was one of the things that helped keep me grounded and keep people from taking advantage of me. If you don’t understand certain things in the [photography] game like work for hire, basically you will just sign off your life and then people will be utilizing your talent and you wouldn’t know.
When it comes to the promotion and the building they’re very similar. You just have to know your game and know what agents are expecting of you. For instance, you get a deal or you get a good contract, not only is your manager dealing with that. You have to understand your game, understand your market so you can say “let’s review this” or “let’s not go with that.” So it’s very similar, especially in terms of marketing and distribution aspect.
NobodySmiling.com : So you’ve photographed icons like DMX in the hip-hop world and Faith Evans in R&B. Who was your favorite celebrity to photograph and why?
Jeffrey Gamble : Well, I have two actually. One was Ron Isley, because not only is he an icon who’s been doing this [music] for 50 years, but by photographing him I was able to learn about life. The aspect of longevity, the aspect of working hard and being able to save and put money aside to take make sure your family is happy – things you learn as you go along. He’s pretty much twice my age and the way he brought things to me and the way he explained certain things made me look at everything in longevity. Where have I been? Where am I right now? And where am I going? And this is a guy who’s been in the business since the Beatles age. He’s seen Marvin Gaye come and go, to the 2pacs – he’s just seen so many individuals and I think by me working with that kind of mind that was so free and creative it helped me to envision my career, in terms of being in this business for 40 years and 50 years. I see myself being in this business for 50 years or at least 40.
 Coming back to the main question, the second artist would be DMX. And one of the reasons is because he was just so real. He was so down to Earth and a lot of people don’t know that. He wasn’t really about the jewelry; he was who he was. He was wild and I had to kind of tame him down. But he would share something that he had. He didn’t feel uncommon to him being such a celebrity and me being something opposite. He was just real.
That’s as far as the guys. When you consider women, I would say Faith was the best I’ve worked with thus far of the females. Because of who she is and what she’s done in this life, but also how focused she was in front of my camera, how she he helped me create a beautiful image of her. She felt my spirit, my vibe. And I felt hers. So that allowed good chemistry.
But each one has their own quality. And in a sense, even if you are with them for 30 minutes or an hour or two, I always try to grab or learn something from an artist because they have something to bring to the table that other people don’t have. They’re unique in their own way.
NobodySmiling.com : Is there any one celebrity in particular that you would like to work with?
Jeffrey Gamble : I would definitely like to work with a Janet Jackson or Sade. There’s so many. Gwyneth Paltrow, Naomi Campbell. And there are different markets and different sectors when it comes to celebrities. One of the major ones who I would like to work with immediately is Janet Jackson, because I would like to bring my expertise of natural beauty with a team and create my own vision of her. But there are several, Tom Cruise, Katie Holmes, Madonna – Madonna would be ultimate because she has so much to bring to the table. And I would’ve loved to have shot Madonna for the Trace cover; that would have made me feel so proud because that’s, again, a person who’s has been doing her thing for so long and believing in her look, believing in her image. Things like that determine who she is, what she thinks she should be. And those are the kinds of individuals that I like to be associated with. Prince – those individuals that have their own style and their own unique taste of things. I would eventually like to work with them. I know through their minds and through their souls they have something they could share with me that I can take with me on as I go, and eventually pass onto others.
NobodySmiling.com : What do you enjoy most about your job and what is most difficult about your job?
Jeffrey Gamble : The aspect I love most is working with people. I like dealing with people, I like making people look good, I like learning and growing, and I like the fact that I am an entrepreneur. I’ve been an entrepreneur for the last 10 years of my life, supporting myself – not necessarily a routine nine to five. There are a lot of photographers, but not everyone has the same eyes. No one has Jeff Gamble’s eyes and I don’t have anybody else’s eyes. So that alone makes me unique. I like that because it’s not like science where it’s a guaranteed guess or result. You know, what may come through Jeff Gamble is not what you’re going to get from another photographer. I love dealing with different elements of people, different minds, people of different backgrounds, different nationalities, and just ultimately creating beautiful visions and making people look good and feel good. Making people look good is a tough job, not only that but making people believe that you can make them look good.
The most difficult part is the business side of things. If I didn’t love working with people, I wouldn’t be doing this right now, simply because I have high hopes and dreams for myself and my family. I have a wife and three daughters. At this stage, there are no ifs, ands, or buts – you have to work. So when you’re dealing with certain individuals that try and get over on you on the business side, I'm not really feeling that. I don’t like that. Just come to me up front and say, “Listen, this is what we have to work with. What can you do? What do you want to do?” I don’t like conniving people, and in the early days, you have to work with that a lot. Eventually you get to a certain point when you can kind of smell it. And there are certain aspects of the business have been going on for the past 50 years that I can’t change. Getting paid in thirty days and things like that. And sometimes as an entrepreneur with a smaller company coming up, the bigger companies try to take advantage of you and if you’re not smart, the business can suffer. So that’s one of the only things that I don’t really like about it.
NobodySmiling.com : What advice would you give to an up-and-coming photographer who is starting to get where you are?
Jeffrey Gamble : I would say research, intern and assist. When I say research, if you don’t have an idea of the photography you want to get involved, look at other photographers, go to libraries, look in magazines, look around you, find your niche, find what you like to do. When you find what you like to do, give it all that you have. If you want to work with people then start shooting people, start shooting upcoming artist. Just do it. Just gradually shoot, shoot, shoot. Just keep shooting, don’t worry. That’s what I kept doing. Also envision where you see yourself in 10 years. I remember being in high school 12 years ago, going to class and a lot of students would just knock me around, laughing. Or when I’d try and set up a shoot, they’re laughing. I’d go to the library and sit down in the corner, reading photography books. “How to Be a Photographer.” Doing those things a lot of people laughed, but I can’t recall one out of five of these people that are doing photography right now. And that’s high school. College was the same thing. Some laughed and made fun, but out of my class of 22 people, probably five people are still in the game. And I can’t recall how many are actually photographers, maybe three out of five, from the class of 20. So what I'm saying is dream big. And look at the picture globally. A photographer can be like a plumber – you don’t have to work in this market. You can work in London, you can work in France, Amsterdam, Germany - wherever you have the freedom and the guts to go. And you have to assist a photographer. I assisted other photographers for five years. I wouldn’t recommend doing it for five years; I would do it for maybe two and a half or two years and then start shooting by yourself. The reason I say that is because as an upcoming photographer, you may get involved in assisting people and helping them and gaining knowledge from them but there comes a point where you have to leave that behind. If you don’t leave at the right time, you may not have the confidence to do your own thing. A lot of times some people just end up assisting to make a living. Because assisting is one thing that will gain you a lot of knowledge, but when it comes to shooting by yourself, it is another level.
To Part 2: Through the Lens of Jeffrey Gamble: Remembering Biggie
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