Today we’d like to introduce you to Jared Moossy.
Hi Jared, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
After finishing high school, I spent nearly a decade working as a carpenter, constructing homes and exploring various corners of the globe. I often found myself sleeping in garages or backyards, building houses to fund my travels until my money ran out. After about ten years of this lifestyle, I made the decision to return to school, earning nearly a full scholarship to Parsons School of Design in New York City to study photography, despite having no prior experience in the field.
While studying in New York, I learned the art of photography and, during a break between my junior and senior years, I traveled to Afghanistan, marking the beginning of my journey as a war photographer. After graduating, I continued to document conflicts around the world for the next decade. My big break came when I was invited to work on an HBO series directed by Michael Mann, which premiered at the Venice Film Festival and propelled my career forward. I began to branch out into commercial projects and narrative filmmaking, but documentary work remained my primary focus.
However, my life took a dramatic turn ten years ago when I was hit by a drunk driver while riding my motorcycle without a helmet. The accident resulted in a traumatic brain injury, and I spent two months in a coma. It erased my memory and had to relearn everything as if I were a child—starting from the alphabet to walking, and even rediscovering my identity and personal history. My recovery process took a couple of years in rehabilitation, but with the help of a few colleagues, I created a film about my experiences for Time Magazine, which won a Webby Award. Since then, I have gradually returned to my passion for filmmaking.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
As I noted earlier, my primary struggle has been trying to restore my life to its pre-accident state. It was a constant grind for me. I was always on the lookout for job opportunities, having previously built a solid career working for prominent magazines and newspapers, as well as networks like HBO and Netflix. However, with the rapid evolution of the industry—from film to digital formats, and now to cutting-edge 6K and 12K footage—keeping pace has proven to be quite challenging.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
The previous two questions I somewhat answered this one, but The last two questions were quite similar, but I can elaborate further. I am a filmmaker and photographer primarily focused on documentary projects, although I’ve also ventured into commercial and narrative work. Additionally, I create portraits. Recently, I crafted a vintage-style camera inspired by designs from the late 1800s, which produces traditional black and white direct positive prints. I’ve been experimenting with this on Instagram under the handle @AFGBOXC, named after a camera I brought back from Afghanistan.
The camera I brought back from Afghanistan was crafted by locals after the Russians left and is made from the lens of an old large-format camera from the darkroom era. Unlike conventional cameras, it lacks standard mechanical features; there’s no shutter speed or mechanism to capture an image. Instead, you have to manually remove the lens cap to expose the picture. The original camera was primarily used for capturing moments rather than personal use. After spending over three years getting my photographs taken by a talented photographer there, I decided to purchase his camera and bring it home. I then used it as a template to build my own version, equipping it with a proper lens. The result is a unique creation: a dark box camera that produces one-of-a-kind 4×5 direct positive black-and-white prints.
Pricing:
- 75$ print
- 100$ Print and framed with some of the scrapbook that I had left over from the camera built I made frames
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.jared-Moossy.com
- Instagram: @Jaredmoossy
- Facebook: @Myafgboxc
- Twitter: @20btb15
- Youtube: All instagram handles
Image Credits
Michael Christopher Brown
Eros Hogaland
David Guttenfelder
