Model Experience: How old were you when you first started shooting?
Jill Willcott: 17 I believe
ME: What made you start?
JW: My whole life I've taken photos of my friends so I don't think it was a matter of when I started, but more of when I decided to get a better camera and take photos with a model and concepts, etc.
ME: What camera(s) do you have?
JW: Minolta Maxxum, Minolta XG-1, Polaroid 600, and a Canon T1i
ME: What has been your favorite photoshoot so far?
JW: Probably this one (http://www.flickr.com/photos/jillwill/4490567833/) It's one of my photos that looks the most conceptualized and thought-out, when really it was possibly the most spontaneous. We had just finished a shoot upstairs in the house and had packed up, ready to go home, when I passed that room on the way out and thought it would make such a good set. I mean, it was a disaster before we cleaned it up but I think it worked out quite nicely.
ME: What has been your hardest photoshoot so far?
JW: It wasn't successful at all, but this one (http://www.flickr.com/photos/jillwill/4292143544/) was by far the hardest. Basically everything that could've gone wrong, did, and I ended up racing the sunlight in a foot deep of snow wearing only socks. It was freezing and terrible but those shoots happen every now and then. You deal with it.
ME: What do you want people to take away from your work?
JW: I want my photos to make people stop and notice them because it hits them with a feeling. It doesn't matter what feeling, just something. Something to make them think.
JW: Music, weather, nostalgia, daydreaming. I can't really tell you why, it just does.
ME: What do you love photographing most?
JW: Definitely people. I think I find them so intriguing because everyone portrays a different story. When I look at a photograph of a person, I subconsciously make up plot lines and situations. I find it a lot easier to relate and interpret photos of people so I guess that's why I choose to shoot them so much myself.
ME: If you could have the perfect photoshoot what would it be?
JW: Oh my lord, this is so hard to pick and probably changes from day to day but right now I would probably choose a group of androgynous looking females and place them in a luxurious cabin in the middle of winter. With a big lake, and lots of snow.
ME: What is the most common misconception about you or your work?
JW: Hmm, I don't really know. I like to think I leave my work open for interpretation.
JW: I don't like to plan that far ahead but as long as I'm doing what I love and I'm happy, I'll be satisfied.
ME:If you could go back in time and give yourself advice when you were first starting out, what advice would you give?
JW: The best advice I have to anyone is to try out film. If you don't like it, fine, but at least try it out. My art teacher in grade 12 made me shoot film even though I was pretty resistant but it was hands down one of the best things to happen to me. Maybe I would've told myself to start shooting film earlier in life but I really wouldn't change anything even if I could.
ME: Finish my sentence:
The best part about being a photographer is....
JW: ...all the awesome people I get to meet.
ME: The worst part about being a photographer is....
JW: ...how abused it gets because of it's cliche.
*Small fun fact:
Jill and our last model we interviewed, Madison Taylor, have worked together! You can see some of the pictures here
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