Young adults aged 16-21 have a chance to gain free experience in photography alongside established mentors while photographing the 80/35 Music Festival this year. This new fellowship offers more than just an opportunity to learn how better to work a camera. Those involved will have access to workshops, mentorship, info on how to get into spaces to have opportunities and advice on copywriting and the finances of photography, while also capturing photos that will be published.
Jo Allen, owner of Jo Visuals LLC and creative director for 80/35, brought the idea of a photography fellowship to festival leadership in December 2021.
“There has never been a fellowship with 80/35 before. I’m the individual that essentially pitched it. I pitched the idea of, ‘Hey can I create some type of photography program to get kids in?’ — cause my goal is to bridge that gap for them. Instead of 80/35 being on one side of the bridge and the kids being on the other but the bridge is destroyed, I want to build that bridge for them,” Allen said.
“The unique thing about this is they’re going to be shooting a festival,” Allen continued. “The five years that I’ve been doing photography I was begging people most of my time here to get into spaces like that. To get into Wooly’s, to get into 80/35, let me shoot 515. I’m just a kid who is just starting, I just need a way to get my foot in the door. That was never an opportunity for me. It was never something that was possible until now five years later and I’m seen as an established photographer and I am able to get into those physical spaces.”
Allen’s own experiences with photography led to some probing questions.
“Why is there that limitation?” they started asking. “Why are we already placing that barrier of making it difficult and complicated for folks that need the experience but can’t get it because they’re not established? If we continue to run things that way where you have to be with a publication or with the band to be able to shoot it’s never going to allow youth, specifically, to get their foot in the door to start that and follow that passion,” they said.
Although that gap in the photography world currently exists, Allen has a strong feeling that things will change.
“You’re going to get into that space. You’re going to be treated like a photographer, like a creative because that’s what you deserve,” they said.
Allen believes photography is important for creating memories. Without certain photos, many memories are lost and forever forgotten.
“I think it kind of goes back to that sense of documentation. Like being able to grow up and see yourself or see someone like you or similar to you is super important — photography is documentation, but it is also claiming space. Claiming our right to be visible as well as folks in marginalized communities,” they said.
They continue to want to make connections with photography.
“It developed into a passion today of continuing that documentation as well as continuing that documentation for historically underrepresented groups. The intersections of my identity being both Black and queer, I know that I have never grown up seeing people like me. To be honest, I didn’t even know that there was that many Black folks in Iowa until I was at a Black centered event the other day,” Allen said.
“So being able to have this camera and document Black legacy, Black history, Black success, queer success, queer joy, I think that’s something that I learned to really appreciate is finding ways to amplify my community but to also allow them to have these physical photos that document and not only represent their life but their history with communities as well,” they said.
The deadline to sign up for the 80/35 Emerging Young Photography fellowship is March 21.
