I've lived in Minneapolis, LA, and Phoenix. Each of those cities gave me something real. New York is different, and not in the way people say when they're performing their love of New York.
It's different because of who's here and the specific density of it. The way the city throws people into contact with each other constantly, without asking if the timing is good.
What the City Actually Does
I've met more people who changed the direction of my work in the last few years here than in the decade before it. Not because New York is magic, but because the concentration of people who have decided to take their creative life seriously, and to do it here specifically, is unlike anything I've experienced elsewhere.
The person you get into a real conversation with at a picnic turns out to run a studio you've admired for years. The photographer you cold-DM'd to ask about assisting becomes someone whose opinion on your work you trust more than almost anyone's. The client you meet through a mutual connection sends the referral that changes the scale of your practice.
None of that is random. It's the compound interest of showing up consistently in a city that rewards showing up.
What This Means for the Work
I'm not a neutral observer of this city. I'm embedded in it. I know the studios, the spaces, the light at different times of year. I know the people — the creatives, the brands, the communities — and those relationships shape what I make.
When I shoot something that's meant to feel like New York, it does. Not as a pose, but because I actually live here. That's the difference between a photographer who can approximate a city and one who knows it from the inside.
The Honest Part
New York is genuinely hard. The cost, the pace, the specific exhaustion of a city that never fully pauses. I won't pretend otherwise.
But the thing the city keeps giving me, the collisions, the conversations, the people, keeps making the hard parts worth it. I don't know a version of my practice that looks like this without having done it here.
If you're a brand that wants to make something rooted in this city, see the portfolio and reach out when you have something you want to build.
FAQ
Where is Jillian Lenser based?
New York City. She works with local, national, and global brands and has shot in cities across the US and internationally.
Does being based in New York matter for brand photography?
For brands that want imagery rooted in a specific cultural moment or urban context, working with a photographer who actually lives in that world produces something different than someone approximating it from the outside.
How has New York shaped Jillian Lenser's photography?
Through access to a concentrated creative community, high-caliber clients and collaborators, and the specific texture and energy of the city itself. New York has accelerated both the technical and relational development of her practice.
Read more
/ How I Became a Commercial Photographer: From a Kodak Disposable to Shooting Global Brands
/ Sun Your Buns: What a Park Picnic Club Taught Me About Community
/ Recreating the Home Office: On-Location Product Photography for Logitech in Manhattan
/ Book Launch Photography and Corporate Headshots for Penguin Random House
/ How a TikTok Search Led to a Full Brand Shoot with Flewd Stresscare
/ Lifestyle Photography for Pacific Foods at People Inc.'s World Trade Center Office
/ On Location with Rifle Paper Co.: Photographing Travel Products in Manhattan
/ Multi-Week Shoots for Thymes and Capri Blue: Candles, Models, and Full Production
/ On Living in New York and Meeting the Most Interesting People
/ On Location with Hasbro: Photographing Play-Doh and Toys with Kids and a Video Team
/ Inside a L'Oreal Matrix Hair Shoot: Afters, Affidavits, and What It Takes
/ Shooting Dairy Queen's Social Campaign at K2 Studios: Mint Chip, Snowdrift, and Valentine's Day
/ The Outspoken Artist Podcast: What We Actually Talked About
/ Building Kaplan's Brand Asset Library: Employee Photography in Brooklyn and Fort Lauderdale
/ How TikTok Changed the Way Brands Find Photographers
/ On Location with Bissell: Lifestyle, Video, and UGC Photography for Pet Cleaning Products
/ Sparkling and Set-Styled: Social Content and GIF Photography for Waterloo Sparkling Water
/ What It Actually Takes to Run a Full Production Brand Shoot
/ On-Location Headshots for the Center for Reproductive Rights: Powerful, Real, and Human
/ On Being a Commercial Artist Who Keeps Thinking About Moving to the Woods
/ What Becoming President of ASMP New York Actually Means
/ Behind the Lens: Photographing Assouline's Archive Library in Manhattan
/ Long-Term Brand Photography for Caribou Coffee: Lifestyle, Social, and In-Store Campaigns
/ Speaking at Index Space: Creative Showcase V5
External
Sigma / Travel the Alps with SIGMA’s Lightweight 18-50mm & 10-18mm Zoom Lenses
Sigma / Behind the Scenes on a Fashion Shoot with the Sigma BF
Sigma / Why I Choose SIGMA Zoom Lenses for Studio Photography
Sigma / A Fresh Look at Berlin Through the Sigma 12mm F1.4 DC Contemporary Lens