About

Jackson Couse, documentary photographer Jackson Couse, aka T-1000.

Professional history

I started doing photo documentary work in 2004. I now do documentary work primarily, focusing on issues relating to community, identity, belonging, housing, and health.

Essentially, I see my work as translating and explaining the experience of one people to another. The most important part of what I do is understanding what makes individuals and communities who they are. Talking with people is a very important part of my photography.

I have worked as a commercial photographer, multimedia and web producer, analyst, and essayist. My background in commercial photography gives me a methodical approach to visual communication, but I am a photographer because I love pictures as art.

A few of my clients include Health Nexus, Gallery 101, and the National Housing Research Committee.

Education

I have a diploma in photography from Algonquin College.

I have a long-standing relationship with photographer Pedro Isztin, who I consider a mentor and a friend. Pedro is a master portraitist, an expert in capturing people in the context and meaning of their environment.

I had the good fortune to work as in intern with Larry Towell. As a photojournalist, Larry has a long history of covering land and identity, landlessness, and refugee issues. I photographed over 1000 artifacts for Larry's book "The World From My Front Porch", which I highly recommend.

Personal history

I grew up and live in Chinatown in Ottawa, Canada. I became homeless as a teenager, and continued to be homeless or marginally housed for 8 years. My childhood in a polycultural neighborhood and my experience of homelessness as a youth heavily inform my documentary interests.

I speak French.

I am named after the American abstract expressionist painter Jackson Pollock.

Being There blog

Being There is a blog about using photography to understand and talk about the world.

As both a producer and a consumer of images, I think this is an exciting time for photography. More people than ever are photographers, and more people than ever are consuming photography. I write about images and current events, examine the construction meaning using images, and try to understand the increasingly important role visual culture plays in life.