Hello. I'm Alex, co-founder of Shutter Speed Platforms.

I am a photographer (@ajazz16, @ajazzprints), a video artist (@salinorshow), a television post production professional (IMDB), and sometimes a silly musician (@salinorband). I enjoy making very crappy comics (@_crappycomics), and indulging in the art-form that I call street foodtography (@unforchfoods).

I'm a participant and organizer of @nycphotostroll where photographers gather together in NYC to explore the city, take photos, and participate together in community workshops and events. I've met some really wonderful people in this group, and I'm very thankful that I did!

Primarily, I love documenting the streets of NYC where I blend street photography and reportage.

Photography has the ability to bring people and communities together, and it's one of the reasons why I love it so much and will continue to help find ways to support this community.

My grandmother was an art teacher from New Jersey. She would teach me about new artists and art forms during my visits and mailed me clippings from magazines or newspaper articles about interesting art. I have her to thank for my appreciation of art today.

She was also an avid biker, and one day while biking on a camping trip in Vermont, she gave me a quick lesson in composition. I remember her handing me her Olympus film camera (with a really nifty pop-up flash) and showing me how to compose the Adirondack mountains in the distance using a pair of trees in the foreground to create a natural frame.

I often think back to this lesson when I’m making photographs today and recall this as the moment where photography truly clicked for me. Using a camera wasn’t just about pointing and pressing the shutter to capture moments in time anymore, it was also a way to express yourself if you thought critically about what you included in the frame.

I started Unforch Foods in 2017 during my commute to work. I found the amount of food waste in NYC to be both appalling and strangely beautiful––very 'unforch' as I coined it. So I began documenting the ground food that I felt told a story. It didn't take long for other people to start sending me their unforch encounters too––they still do! So the feed became a mishmash of unforch foods from myself and from the new unforch community.

I'm still running the account today and have adapted the project into a 16 page mini zine. If you're ever unforch enough to receive one, you'll get a small zip-loc bag filled with various foods, the zine, and an Unforch Foods sticker.

I have been a member of an experimental improv band since high school called Salinor. We like to explore different techniques to create music whether it’s with an iPhone or electronic bagpipes. Most of all we like to just say, “Go!” and see what happens during a recording or a live performance.

In 2012-2013, we got the bright idea to bring some of that improv energy to the small screen. That's when The Salinor Show was born. When we sang together, new characters would appear seemingly out of thin air. The same thing happened while filming on set. We started out with very short form videos and eventually evolved them into full blown 12min episodes, which was long enough to fit perfectly into an Adult Swim time slot. 13 episodes later we felt pretty good about what we made.

So what exactly did we make? We made a comedy show about a one-armed talk show host named Chad Salsbury, and his journey about getting lost in the TV. Along the way he meets Dr. Pooper and his friend Helper, Pat Kapnatsky the ipecac slinging Italian restaurant owner, an entire block of random commercials such as The Break It Bros. and Extreme Grapes, as well as what it was like for Chad to disappear and the devastation it brought to his family and friends.

Okay, maybe it's not that dramatic, but if you decide to watch it, you can figure out for yourself what you just watched.

Crappy Comics started as a blog on my website, ajazznetworks.com. We produced podcasts, web comedy (The Salinor Show), radio dramas, and a ton more. The whole idea of starting Crappy Comics, for me, was to improve my drawing skills and by the end, I'm pretty sure they got even crappier. This project was also another community project. My good friends who helped me run the website were contributes too. I also turned this project into an Instagram account and into a mini zine.

I love street photography. It can be very challenging and there's really no right or wrong way to do it. You can find yourself focusing on light, shadows, and texture one moment and all of a sudden a demonstration comes along and you're in reportage mode. It's improvisation––you have a giant canvas to work with, all the paint is laid out in front of you, and then all you have to do is pick up the brush.

In 2019, I photographed the chefs of Chinatown and created a small photo book about it. My goal was to grab candid frames of chefs while they were outside taking breaks. Some of them would browse on their phones or have a cigarette. I wanted to respect their personal space and their time while on a break, so I discretely used an iPhone to capture the moments.

I'm very happy with the results of this project and frequently think back on it. It taught me that certain subject matter requires the correct tool.

Don't spend time worrying about what other people think about your work. Art is supposed to create conversation whether it is positive or negative–it's part of the deal.

Make what you love and act on what inspires you. There's nothing wrong with imitation either. We all imitate one another, and eventually if you imitate long enough, your work will develop into its own style.

A camera is a tool just like a paintbrush. Forget the brands, the focal lengths, the film stock––the gear.

Know your tools. Know them until it becomes second nature. If you're in the middle of a shoot, you don't want to be caught dead fiddling around with settings. Read the manual––twice. Watch enough tutorials until it becomes an extension of yourself.

Respect communities and and the people within them. When photographing in the streets of Manhattan for example, you learn what to expect when you walk through different neighborhoods. Know when to put the camera down and when to raise it, especially if your subject is incapable of giving consent.

Nature photography, especially macro, requires a different kind of patience, but it's similar to street photography. In both cases, you might find yourself waiting a long for the perfect moment to come along and when it does it's magic.

I began shooting macro photography in Pennsylvania in my back yard and during camping trips to Vermont. You don't need a ton of equipment to get started––an iPhone with a macro lens attachment is more than enough, in fact, it's my preferred setup.

Be respectful of the plants, animals, and insects' community too. Don't snap a branch just to get the shot. This is their home. You're just a giant invading it. Observe it silently and respectfully.