Author and Photographer Jamie Beck is a breath of fresh air and a visionary in the world of visual storytelling. Known for her natural, romantic, and expressive style in her self-portraits and still lifes, her work is inspired by her adopted home of Provence, France and the grand masters of art such as Cézanne, Van Gogh, Botticelli and others. Her best-selling book, An American in Provence, is a feast for the senses as much as it is about the art of photography. I can't wait for her new book, The Flowers of Provence., to be published on October 23. It was an honor to have her part of this series.

What does visual storytelling mean to you?

I think one thing I learned around visual storytelling came from when I was creating my first book, An American in Provence. It was an intense study of braiding visuals to words in a cohesive enough manner that can fully communicate an entire picture of a life. This means that photos of our daily life one might think at the moment are insignificant, are actually important to the telling of a story. It's all in the details and creating this book was a reminder to pay attention to those fleeting moments of life around us.

2. When did you start to develop your own style as it appears now?

I really started when I came to Provence during my sabbatical year. I already had a commercial photo style and was known with my husband, Kevin Burg, for creating the cinemagraph. However, it was when I was in France that I began to re-discover what it meant to take a photograph. Using the natural light and the way it shifted through the day across my studio wall. Mother nature and French culture became prominent subjects in my first photographs developed during that time. Archives of my life changing before my own eyes through my work documented right down to my first Pastis. I think the fusion of my inspiration from daily life and classical art and nature fused together so naturally.

3. Do you feel like the style of your work is a “product of your environment/home?”

Absolutely! My work shifts during the year like the seasons. I create art differently during each one. I remember the day I photographed the cheeses from Clément at the market; it ignited a creative fire in me. It was instantly like, what else is around me I can photograph?! I began to play with the objets in the room, from the daily market, with what was in my closet, the light as it moved through my living room. There was so much to discover and capture. So many stories of our daily lives I wanted to tell through my lens. I would wake up each day not knowing what that day’s photograph would be, but rather, go about my day living it until that moment of inspiration struck. As the years went on and my body of work in the South of France grew, my walls expanded. What first began in my little apartment expanded to the market, then when I got a car, I was able to go further. Out into other villages, farms, and landscapes. Instead of using something handed to me, I was out there hunting for it. Hunting for the pieces to make the photograph that ultimately tells a specific story.

4. Your work has a painterly quality to it… was that always there from the beginning or did it slowly evolve with you? Were you always influenced by the masters?

I was always appreciative of art and loved everything old. When I lived in New York I had access to some of the most fabulous museums where I could discover them. I always knew I wanted to create art that felt bold and rich in color and textures. Something I had done back in my film days through black and white contrast. I do think it evolved over the years. I had to break free of my commercial mold and get back to what I feel France has given me, the true version of myself.

5. *When crafting a visual story of a place or space for a client, where do you begin your creative process?*

I always start with inspiration. Flowers, paintings, the landscape. I sit and write down memories in my travel journey for my daughter Eloise to one day read. The same goes when crafting something for a client. I always want to tell a story and show the beauty of life. I also thrive within constraints. I truly believe that the less we have the more creative we can become. A creative truth even Leonardo Da Vinci recognized, "Art lives from constraints and dies from freedom".

6. Storytelling is so subjective; everyone has a unique eye and creative voice. How would you suggest new photographers to define theirs without being swayed by new styles or trends?

Stay true to yourself. First, some of the greatest artists in history whose paintings adorn world renowned museums and sell for millions of dollars at auction never sold a single piece in their lifetime. Take Van Gogh and Cézanne, they never knew monetary success but that’s not why they made their art. You make art for you. Because it feels good to you. It’s healthy for you. You have something to say. Whether others respond to that or not is not up to you. Always be true to yourself and you’ll find your own joy in the work, not in the public “success”. There is so much we can not control, I find it’s better to spend your day doing the work that makes you happy, evolving through that work, than thinking about selling or the work being ‘liked’. I promise you though, when you do what you truly love, the money will always follow.

7. Does sensitivity play a role in your creative process?

It most certainly does. I think being sensitive to my surroundings is what allows me to draw beauty and inspiration in my everyday life. It is one of the reasons I must work alone, to be able to have my sensitivity to everything heightened with distraction or influence from others. When I create a photograph it is as if I have a perfect dance partner. We can move through a space, an idea, and pas-de-deux through the light effortlessly together. I also think one thing I have always brought to my social media life is transparency and a display of authentic sensitivity. It is what allows people to connect to me through my stories and the way I tell them right down to how I create photographs.

8. In the creative planning process, do you map out every detail or leave room for spontaneity and play?

When I’m creating, I’m usually trying to put in frame what I already see in my mind. I begin with an idea, absolutely, but through the change of the light, or the collapse of a still life I just spent time building, I find that playfulness is the key to embrace the hiccups and use them to inspire me.

9. What is your favorite type of light to shoot in? (Although I think I can tell!) And does that carry a specific emotion for you in general?

Natural light. Either outside or within the walls of my studio, I try to harness the power of the natural light and beauty here in Provence. For me, the emotion depends on the moment, the season or what I’m trying to capture. I guess you could say, it’s a serendipitous mystery and light is absolutely one of the subject matters to the photograph. There are two kinds of natural light I love most. First is shooting just before dusk in the early evening when the sun is low but bright giving you ample light but casting deep rich shadows. The other is a very particular kind of rainy day we get here in Provence. A sort of sun-veiled rain. Where the clouds are just thin enough to allow the hint of golden light in making your photographs absolutely sparkle. You never know when the moment will happen but when it does, it can only be described as MAGIC.

10. Is writing an equally important part of your creative process?

The process of writing for me is so vastly different than when I photograph. When I create a photograph it is as if I have a perfect dance partner in photography. We can move through a space, an idea, and dance through the light effortlessly together. When I write, however, it feels like being drowned in a river. Fighting for air, grasping at words you can hold on to, not quite sure what’s around the riverbend. When I’m writing…. I’m never quite really sure how I’ll get there. What interests me most about using words is to illustrate what I was so accustomed to doing through photographs. Writing gives me an opportunity to explain what these images mean to me personally, and how and why they came to be. It was also a nice opportunity to share my process and explain the steps that brought me to this time and place and this particular body of work.

11. So much can be said in the composition of photograph; how do you let the scene “live” naturally without it feeling overly styled or contrived?

It sounds so contrite but I just know. It’s a feeling I have deep within me, as I’m building I’ll add things and take them away. I’ve found the perfect harmony for a still life and had it topple over just as I was preparing to shoot it. I think that composing photographs is like life. You just have to know your path and your inner self to find that a-ha! Moment. Taking time to listen to what nature, the light, or my gut tells me.