Jake Baggaley
From immersing himself in the action to framing striking compositions, you can guarantee photographer Jake Baggaley will capture the genuine emotion of the moment. A commercial outdoor, lifestyle and adventure photographer based in Bournemouth, Baggaley's work is a true reflection of his wild heart and free spirit. We asked him a few questions about his love of the outdoors and the importance of staying true to yourself.
Hi Jake, let's start with the beginning. How did you fall into the world of photography?
Both my parents were into photography while I was growing up, we had a makeshift darkroom at the back of our kitchen and my father is now a photography PHD and lecturer. So I had a good grounding growing up playing around with cameras. After studying commercial photography at Arts University Bournemouth, I went on shooting a number of social documentary travel stories for editorial use, including Chernobyl, Aokigahara suicide forest in Japan and The Gates of Hell gas pit in Turkmenistan. I loved the storytelling but my career really took a different direction when my passion for the outdoors combined with my work.
I began to specialise in outdoor, lifestyle and adventure photography, as this allowed me to introduce my passions for trail running, the mountains, motorcycles and more into my work. This also gave me the opportunity to work alongside some iconic brands that I feel very privileged to have on my clients list, including most recently Adidas, Canon Europe, Royal Enfield, Finisterre and Wiggle.
The pandemic was an uncertain time for many freelance creatives. Did you complete any passion projects during this time?
During the first Covid lockdown, I used my excess time to set up a personal project I had wanted to shoot for a while- photographing a father daughter motorcycle aeroplane ‘race’. Chelsea Borchete and her father Peter had built the motorcycle and stunt plane themselves, both with beautiful classic styling. We then rented out an airstrip to get the shot of them driving and flying alongside each other for the first time! It was a really special and logistically challenging shoot and I am so happy that we managed to pull it off!
Where is your happy place?
Anywhere outside. I love the sea, and I love the mountains. Locally we are so lucky to have the stunning Jurassic coast on our doorstep, and I feel so at home running around the hills there. My favourite thing to do on a summer morning is wake up to capture first light at Durdle Door, train on the hills and have a swim alone under the door before the summer crowds descend on the beach.
Switzerland was the first country I travelled to alone and the mountains of the bernese oberland will always have a special place in my heart too!
Which lesson has been the hardest to learn?
I think the hardest transition for me has to be learning to say no, and to stick to my guns on pricing, it’s been pretty ingrained from my early days as a freelancer to take anything and everything and for whatever price the client is willing to pay. So it has been a difficult transition into only accepting the jobs that I feel represent the direction I want to go in, and knowing the value of my time from how quickly I get booked and to understanding the value of taking time off to recover and catch up on retouching work!
What is your creative vision for Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole?
I think BCP is making some moves in the right direction, more and more awesome indie businesses are opening up here and it’s becoming the vibrant exciting place it should be, with great communities in the outdoor and fitness world too. I’ve seen some plans for artificial wave pools popping up and I’m fully behind those opening up to make up for the lack of surf we have here most of the year!
Do you have any advice for people who want to follow in your footsteps?
It’s a tough competitive market these days being a photographer, particularly in the outdoors space where the lines between influencer, content creator and photographer are so blurred, but competition can be fun and there’s tonnes of work to go round, so in terms of advice I’d say just do what you love, shoot stuff for yourself that’s the kind of thing you want to be getting paid for and if you’re consistent the work will come! I’ve been doing this for 11 years now and only really the last 3 or 4 have I been able to support myself fully and consistently with photography earnings, so it takes some work, but it is definitely possible!
Instagram → @jakebaggaley.photographer
Website → jakebaggaley.com
