Meet Jonathan Warren Schreiber | Photographer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Jonathan Warren Schreiber and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Jonathan, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
Well, I’ve started a number of businesses ranging from house/office cleaning to a coffee shop to social media marketing for coffee shops in the state of Arizona to now running my photography business. I’ve always been passionate about photography and design since I was a young lad — thanks in large part to my two grandfathers (one an architect and the other an artist) and my father who was a gifted artist himself.

At this time in my life, now forty-five, I feel this is a good time to do something different than what I’ve done and accomplished in the past. Photography gives me the opportunity and freewill to explore different mediums ranging from food/beverage, abstract, street, landscape, real estate photography and more. My plan is to shoot small townhouses/condos and medium to larger-sized homes for real estate purposes in hopes of getting noticed on sites such as upwork, fiverr, linkedin, social media outlets and local real estate agents. My thought process is that real estate photography is the easier route for a photographer to master and earn a solid income compared to other mediums in this profession. There are a plethora of gifted photographers in the world today — my hope is to be bring something unique to the lens. People always say if you love what you do, it’s not work.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
So…I started taking photography classes back in high school — three total. I believe that being unique should always shine more than anything else that is taught by a teacher or someone who knows more than you do — for the simple fact that we are who we are for a reason and shouldn’t shy away from that. I think learning new areas, shots, filters, lenses, etc will obviously help someone in the photography profession long term, but any photographer, including myself, should never stop creating new material that’s based on why we are expressing what our thought and design process is before snapping a shot.

I take street shots when I can, but I think what sets me apart from most photographers is my “ant perspective.” Essentially, I lay on the ground and take shots, from, well, an ant’s perspective. Are the photographs as stunning as landscape photography? No is the easy answer, but they’re fascinating and rather interesting depending on what subject I’m focussing on. I think just like macro photography, while they’re not the most beautiful photographs, they make you think — how, why and when? Is it not an artist’s job to make people think more about their craft, their art, their work? I think so.

I would love to call myself a professional photographer, but I honestly don’t believe I’m at the level yet. Sure, I photographed pretty much everything there is to shoot at Songbird Coffee & Tea House in Phoenix, Arizona for over four years, but that consisted mostly of brand, street and food/beverage photography. While I enjoyed every second of it, there was still much more for me to do and experience as a photographer — especially other mediums. As my photography skills grew and grew, I started to get noticed more online (I think social media outlets certainly helped me in my case via instagram and Facebook, to name a few).

Whether or not I ever become a professional photographer — especially if a mass amount of people refer to me as that, then that will be the day I will let it sink it. Until then, I still have things to learn, but like coffee, there’s always new things to comprehend on a daily basis — the learning process never ends.

I’m not entirely sure there’s necessarily a brand connected to me. I just try to use the uniqueness I was gifted with and the art, design and photography come into view naturally. My story is likely like most — I do what I love as a photographer. I shoot what I shoot and if I’m not satisfied, I shoot again and again until I am. A perfectionist? Basically. So was my father. It just runs in my genealogy. My passion started as a kid, continued through my teenage years and through college. Considering I wasn’t ever compensated for my work up until 2012, I never stopped being fascinated with the art of photography and I never will. Let’s just say if my grandfather didn’t move his family from Chicago back in 1946 to Phoenix, I wouldn’t be answering this question at all.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
The first place I would take him would be Durant’s — hand’s down. I think it’s the best overall steakhouse, not only in the city of Phoenix, but the entire state of Arizona. It also has great seafood options and decadent desserts — not to mention the cocktail lounge, atmosphere and ambiance is amazing. It’s an old-school vibe with excellent food and cocktails.

Itinerary:

Sunday: Durant’s.

Mon/Tues: If he’s here for seven days, well, we’re going to the Grand Canyon for a few of those days to start.

Wed: Stay in Flagstaff, head to ski for a day at Snowbowl and visit some local breweries in the area. Flagstaff is widely known to have a pretty solid brewing scene.

Thurs: Grab a nice breakfast at Vovomeena or Welcome Diner, take a break, head to the Japanese Friendship Garden, grab late lunch at LGO (Le Grande Orange) or perhaps Cornish Pasty. From there, a drink at Palma. Afterwards, dinner and a drink at Little Rituals.

Friday: Breakfast at Vovo, Welcome Diner or Matt’s Big Breakfast, take a break, walk around downtown PHX and/or Roosevelt Row for a bit, then grab a late lunch at Cocina Madrigal. Moving on, a drink at Pedal Haus, a drink at Casey Moore’s and dinner at Cibo with drinks.

Saturday: Breakfast at Vovo, Welcome Diner, Matt’s Big Breakfast or Snooze, followed by the Phoenix Art Museum. Next,, grab a sandwich at DeFalco’s then a cocktail lounge crawl to the following: The Womack, Teddy’s Preserve, First and Last, Wren & Wolf, Bar 1912 and Pigtails, dinner in between at Pedal Haus…and of course, water.

Sunday: Breakfast at Vovo, Welcome Diner, Matt’s Big Breakfast, Snooze or Ollie Vaughn’s, followed by a nice hike at South Mountain, a break to relax at the Garden Bar, a late lunch at LoLo’s Chicken & Waffles, a drink at Sin Muerte and dinner at Comedor Guadalajara.

Most fun/interesting/places or things to check out: Have to roam around Roosevelt Row, walk around downtown PHX, visit the Phoenix Art Museum (Wednesdays are free, but you don’t get access to EVERYTHING), First Fridays on Roosevelt Row, Try to Hike Camelback (most likely fail), go to Durant’s for dinner or just have a cocktail there, Casey Moore’s in Tempe is a must, walk around Old Town Scottsdale, check out the bar scene/nightlife (my personal favorites: Rusty Spur Saloon, Pattie’s, The Coach House, Citizen Public House, AZ/88, Cafe Monarch, The Mission, Frank & Lupe’s, Cien Agaves, Evo, Diego Pop’s, Grimaldi’s and the Grapevine (karaoke).

Bike the greenbelt (from Tempe to North Scottsdale), visit and walk around Arizona State University (main).

Check out Papago Mountain and the Hole-In-The-Rock.

Coffee shops: Futuro, Kream Coffee and Valentine, to name a few locals.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
My grandfather was a prominent architect here in the Phoenix Metro Area and the first architect in the state of Arizona to design and build townhouses and condominiums. Without his background in design and architecture, I likely wouldn’t have a photographer’s eye and interior design that I have today. I just see things differently. I think that’s what makes amazing photographers unique and distinct compared to all others. Hopefully as time passes and I continue learning new things about photography, perhaps there’s a chance I’ll join the elite one day.

My grandfather was Arthur Henry Schreiber — a very successful architect, who was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois and moved his family to Phoenix back in 1946 due to his ongoing asthma issues. I remember him always having eclectic “things” in his residence that made me smile, ranging from architectural plans to three-dimensional glass objects to old miniature model cars to his suspenders and trousers. Everything was about design and how he looked at things. I do the same thing because of him.

Website: www.jwschreiber.com

Instagram: www.instagram.com/jonathanwschreiber

Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanwarrenschreiber/

Image Credits
Jonathan Warren Schreiber