Meet the Photographer and Author Fulfilling Her Dreams in Provence: Jamie Beck

Welcome to Second Life, a podcast spotlighting successful women who've made major career changes—and fearlessly mastered the pivot. Hosted by Hillary Kerr, co-founder and chief content officer at Who What Wear, each episode gives you a direct line to women who are game changers in their fields. Subscribe to Second Life on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or anywhere you get your podcasts to stay tuned.

Jamie Beck is an anomaly. At just 13 years old, she took her first photograph, and by 28 years old, she opened her own commercial photography studio in Lower Manhattan called Ann Street Studio. Beck had built a burgeoning business in the industry, shooting campaigns and editorials for some of the world’s top luxury fashion brands and publications, such as Chanel, Oscar de la Renta, and Vogue, and expanding into major tech companies, including Google and Microsoft. As one of the original fashion photographers and "style bloggers,” Beck has been a leading creative in the scene. 

Beck also invented a new technique alongside her husband, Kevin Burg, called the Cinemagraph—a living image that consists of a still photograph that contains an element of movement looped seamlessly to create a never-ending moment. But over the course of her highly successful, bustling career in New York, she couldn't shake one dream: to live in the South of France. In 2016, Beck moved to Provence for what was to be a one-year sabbatical to create a personal body of work. Six years later, it's safe to say France has become her permanent home. In Provence, Beck has expanded her creative body of work that now includes her Provençal Self-Portrait series and her 2020 #IsolationCreation series, where she created a piece of art daily and encouraged others in isolation to do the same.

Most recently, Beck has compiled her dynamic repertoire—from photographs and personal essays to posing tips and French recipes—into a book: An American in Provence. Listen to the latest episode of Second Life to hear how Beck pivoted her career as a commercial photographer in New York into that of a fine artist and author, all spurred by following her lifelong dream of moving to France.

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