VALENTINE'S DAY WITH LA PHOTOGRAPHERS, PIXIE & JESSE

Australian born-and-bred photographers, Pixie and Jesse have quickly become quintessential names in the LA fashion scene and it's easy to see why. Their shots are timeless as they are contemporary; capturing the idyllic Hollywood Hills lifestyle to a tee.

We had a chance to sit down with the couple to chat all things photography, working as a duo, and living on US soil, while also giving us a sneak peek at their current favourite Thrills pieces (dropping this week). Enjoy.

How’d you get into photography?

J: Pixie was working as a photographer when we met and had been shooting for about 5 years prior. I was actually attending photography school. Took us a few dates to realise we both were very much into photography. After I told her I was in school she told me to quit and she would teach me everything.

How would you describe your photography style? How has it evolved over the years and where do you get your inspiration from?

J: I would describe our early photography as a little sexy and edgy especially with our test shoots. More recently, we have been more on the commercial branding side of things and as we work so much this is where we have ended up. If we do find the time to test and create we always find ourselves shooting our style we started with, I guess it's always in you. for me (Jesse) I find a lot of inspiration from Helmut Newton and Pixie is more Zoey Grossman and Annie Leibovitz and I think it shows in our work with the sexy naked strange vibes from Helmut and more fashion eye through Pixie's inspiration.

Was there ever a point where you almost gave up on the dream? Or wanted a change from photography?

J: We have both worked in the shittest jobs you can imagine for next to no money so the fact that we make money doing what we love we have never looked back, for sure theres days where being creative is the last thing you want to do but the fact that we have each other everyday and get to work and push each other theres nothing better.

I see you’re based in LA - what’s that like and how has it been in comparison to shooting in Australia?

J: Working in Australia was amazing and we miss it for sure but we both felt that we needed a change and needed to give it a crack in the big city. It's honestly been the best thing that we have ever done. It wasn’t easy at the start but we stuck to it and we have never been so happy/busy. The difference between LA and Aus is the size of the crews. We used to shoot with just myself and Pix and now we shoot with a team of about 10 from assistants to gaffers to Digi Techs. It was super daunting at the begining but we have learnt so much.

Has COVID-19 changed the way you work or affected anything for you?

J: The major change was the size of our teams dramatically got smaller but now with onsite COVID-19 testing we’re now back to normal.

Have you been working as a duo the whole time? Tell us a little about how that happened.

J: I kind of touched on this before, but after I quit school I was daintily on the side lines running around getting coffee holding scrims until Pixie finally allowed me to start shooting haha. It was definitely hard for her to hand over the camera to me but now she’s behind the man holding the camera and I think now as a creatif director she’s really come into her own. its not very often that we have to split up and do serrate jobs but sometimes we have to and we definitely both miss having the extra hand around the shoot.

What’s it like working as a couple? What are some key things you’ve learnt along the way?

J: Pixie is always right haha. Nah seriously I don’t think everyone could do it but for us it's been incredible. We both live and breathe this stuff; from driving to the shoot to driving home to editing all we do is talk about ideas angles, how we can do better, equipment, etc. We just love it and we love doing it together.

How do you keep your personal life seperate to work life?

J: We live in California so its basically an adult playground. There's always something going on or somewhere to be. Snowboarding right now is for sure on the top of our weekend list and its been a great year for snow so far so that’s where our savings is going right now haha.

Any plans for Valentine’s Day?

J: We have a giant love heart-shaped pizza getting delivered and im guessing we will be watching some kind of murder documentary.