Justin Gordon Finds Opportunities as a Pro Photographer in Milwaukee

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Photo by Justin Gordon

Photo by Justin Gordon

Photo by Justin Gordon

Justin Gordon is a photographer specializing in many aspects of the medium including portrait, wedding, lifestyle, street and more. Born and raised in Milwaukee, he has worked with cameras since his senior year of high school. Eight years later, his calendar is filling up with shoots and he’s traveled around the country doing what he loves.

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Photo by Justin Gordon

Photo by Justin Gordon

Photo by Justin Gordon

Gordon explains that he started doing photography when his older brother gifted him a camera. “He wanted to do music at the time, and he told me I was going to do his music videos,” he laughed. “I actually did like cameras because I’d taken a video technology class and I was part of my school’s news station where I used iMovie for the first time … I thought it was so cool. I was also part of the school newspaper where I was a photojournalist and I’d shoot our sports events; I vividly remember taking photos of our school’s swim team taking home the conference title and people still share those photos to this day.”

After high school he left Milwaukee for one semester of college; abhorring it, he dropped out. “Going to a rural area in Wisconsin from the inner city of Milwaukee was really different and I didn’t like it,” Gordon said.

Finding His Niche

Happily returning to Milwaukee, Gordon surrounded himself with musically talented friends and was eager to find his niche. “At the time I was kind of fascinated by street photography,” he recalled. “People were making Milwaukee look like Gotham City or something. I wanted to be a part of that.”

When his friends would play shows, Gordon started coming out to take pictures. Shooting live music, posed models and the city’s architecture all got his portfolio starting to come together. Then one day his family offered to pay him to take their portraits, and that was the moment Gordon realized the value of what he was doing as a career. “I was going to clock into work the next day, but my family was going to pay me more,” he laughed.

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Photo by Justin Gordon

Photo by Justin Gordon

Photo by Justin Gordon

Perfecting His Craft

Not wanting to go back to college, Gordon spent the next few years studying how to perfect his craft. “I cannot recommend the books by Tom Ang enough,” he said. “If I ever meet that man, I want to shake his hand because he’s helped me succeed so much in this industry.”

Gordon was able to spend this past summer doing photography full-time around Milwaukee and Chicago. Recently Gordon did tourist shoots in both New York and LA, and it was his first time in both cities. “I used that time as like a diary to myself,” he said. “It brought me back to my roots of wanting to be part of that street photography clique so badly. For a while I’d strayed away from that type of work, so when I was in those cities I got to see everything from a new lens.”

On what brings him the biggest joy in his work, Gordon said, “I find it really hard to hide my emotions; when I’m really excited about something, I let it show. When the setting is right and the subjects are doing exactly what I’m asking them to do, once I have that frame it’s like a celebration where fireworks are going off in my head. Just this past week I did a maternity shoot and that’s exactly how it felt.

“I also feel that way when my pictures get featured at award shows; people could choose any picture they have of themselves but they chose one that I personally took,” he continues. “The fact that they appreciate the work that I’ve put time, effort and years of knowledge into is the joy that I get out of it. If I get love from the community then I feel like I’ve won at something, and I’ll never sell myself short for that.”

In 2023, Gordon will teach an introduction to photography class at the Neighborhood House of Milwaukee. “Hopefully I can help build up the next generation of photographers with knowledge that they’ll take with them,” he said.

All of that said, Gordon hopes that he can help eliminate the stigma that there’s no opportunities here in Milwaukee. “We live in a large city in the Midwest that seems small, and we’re surrounded by talented people of many different creeds and backgrounds. I owe a lot to the individuals who I’ve met in the scene, whether it’s Amanda Evans for making me her go-to wedding photographer, or Tonda Thompson for allowing me to help her with her videography, or Hi-Five Studio for allowing me to work in their space and take pictures of all the artists walking through there … the list goes on. I want people to know that Milwaukee will continue breeding talented individuals for many years to come.”

Visit Justin Gordon’s website here to view his work or book a shoot.