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The Photographer Who'll Jump In A Lake, Jason Janik

The Photographer Who'll Jump In A Lake, Jason Janik


Jason Janik | In Residence

—by Lauren Owens

Jason Janik has felt a deep connection with photography and music for as long as he can remember. His father, a music enthusiast and hobbyist photographer, helped fuel these passions. Childhood memories of photographing his family members and reenactment scenes with model toys turned into a strong dedication, and he began to carry a camera to photograph his everyday life. But, it wasn’t until he went to a car show with his family as a teenager and saw a live performance by Davy Jones of The Monkees that he got the to merge his love for both arts.

In college, his passion for photography grew exponentially. He served as editor-in-chief for the school paper and started photographing at live music performances, hosting a website where he would post these photos. The internet was still new to the world then, and there wasn’t much content out there about local music in Dallas. Many viewers gravitated to this website, which in turn helped Janik get noticed by and form connections with some of the bands he photographed. A lot of these artists would grow in fame, even outside of the Dallas area.

Throughout Janik’s career, he has  photographed and connected with many renowned musical artists, such as Bowling For Soup, the Old 97’s, Erykah Badu, Vanilla Ice, and more. 

Erykah Badu and Vanilla Ice, photographed by Jason Janik, included in "For The Love."

Music photography is Janik’s most driving passion when it comes to his art. However, he also works on other ventures, such as photographing families at the Texas State Fair and his recent NTX100 project, in which he plans to photograph 100 North Texans, each aged 1-100. 

K.Co Press title For The Love’s lead photo is Janik’s candid shot of  Kettle’s founder Frank Campagna taken during one of Janik’s shows there, meaningful due to how it displays Frank’s honesty and his authentic, trusting nature.

Man smoking a cigarette.
Kettle Art founder Frank Campagna, photographed by Jason Janik.

Also notable are photographs of the Old 97’s taken in 2004 and the members of Bowling For Soup shirtless in a lake during a snowstorm. Janik says he loves capturing the essence of people in his photos, and the works included in this book definitely show it. His drive and passion for the Dallas music scene and art of photography is brilliantly shown in each individual photo he shares with the world.