JESSICA HAYDAHL RICHARDSON EMBRACES THE TRADE

Jessica Haydahl Richardson sits in her home studio in Stevensville, MT, two walls arrayed behind her like the embracing arms of her trade—one features a grid of framed magazine covers; the other a set of shelves upon which sits part of her collection of film cameras, single- and twin-lens reflexes and rangefinders, softly lit from above and behind. Her first camera, a 1978 Minolta SR-T 201—given to her by her mother in middle school—still has its place among the collection. Her mother, Josi, an artist, realized there was something worth encouraging after seeing several rolls Jessica had shot with an old point-and-shoot.

Though her mother’s endorsement is perhaps an argument for some innate gift, Jessica’s not dogmatic on the point. “I’m not the person who believes you have to be born with an artistic eye,” she says, recounting those initial forays behind the viewfinder. She backed up any nascent abilities with a dedication to learning the craft in whatever time she could sneak away from her first passion—hockey. Her primary objective in high school was a hockey scholarship, but due to injuries she missed every major scouting tournament that could have put her on university recruitment lists. All was not lost. During a gap year after high school, her father—a tugboat captain around their home waters of Vancouver, BC—built a darkroom for her.

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