Jessica Dimmock and Moby's "Wait for Me"
You may know Jessica Dimmock from her stunning story The Ninth Floor , which documented a group of struggling heroin addicts who shared a living space in a wealthy Manhattan neighborhood. Dimmock, who is now part of the VII Network, just released the video she and collaborator Mark Jackson worked on for Moby. It deals with similar themes, and is an interesting example of a still photographer moving into video as the tools become more accessible.
I asked Dimmock about her collaboration with Moby, her work with video, and how she felt about the final project. Her answers are below.
Moby ‘Wait For Me’ by Jessica Dimmock and Mark Jackson
I did some work about a year ago for Moby. He had my book and then contacted me about doing some photography for his upcoming album. I spent a lot of time documenting his daily life. More recently he asked if I would make a video for him.
In my stills I like my work to have a cinematic feel and so I have really been enjoying experimenting with video. I am trying to shoot video like a photographer — in other words, shoot in the same way that I shoot my photographs, rather than trying to make myself into something else. Ideally I want my video to look like my photographs.
This was a collaboration between me and my partner, Mark. The original concept of the shoot was about deconstructing a moment. We played around with some different ideas, some of which were more complicated. But we kept on coming back to eyes — what happens to them in this moment, how you can almost see someone depart. We spoke about loneliness. We talked about tight, not necessarily predictable spaces and having the subject present in every single frame of the video. He provided the technical guidance the transition to video necessitated.
I am really happy with the outcome, and really stand behind it. We spent a lot of time with the woman in the video, showing her material, making sure she was comfortable with the look and the edit. I think that was a really interesting and meaningful part of the process, perhaps the part that I learned the most from.
I would love to do more of this work. Mark and I have a few projects lined up.
