Photographer Justice Howard
Justice Howard has worked hard to become one of the best photographers in the business. While best known for her erotic imagery her work is edgy and unique while delivering photographs with undeniable honesty to them. Justice shoots women to portray empowerment, freedom, and inner strength. Her works have appeared in over 25 countries around the world in everything from museums, magazines, exhibits, and hardcover fine art books. She is also credited with capturing the last living photographs of Waylon Jennings as well as documenting musicians Dick Dale, Marilyn Manson, Billy Idol, Dave Navarro , Steve Jones (Sex Pistols), Willie Nelson, Xene Cervenka and many more..
Did you always have an interest in photography?
Not really. I did however, have an interest in imagery and images and realized that photography was a good way to document them. From about 10 years old and into my teen years I would have images that popped up into my head that for a long time I thought that they were possibly schizophrenic hallucinations because some of them were really wacked! Then later on when I picked up my camera I realized that these were the building blocks of my art, and it all became very clear at that point.
How did you first become a photographer?
I studied for a long time to become a knowledgeable artist and I have a 2 and a half year photography apprenticeship from a master German photographer who had actually photographed Marilyn Monroe. I worked in the darkroom, (both color and black &white) worked the counter with customers, and photographed all under his tutelage. It was a remarkable time and a wonderful learning experience. It was this knowledge that allowed me to move forward as a professional in the art and business of photography.
What advice would you offer aspiring photographers?
Four words. Learn the Fucking Craft! My biggest peeve is people who immediately want to become an artist, and they run out and get a business card with a photographer stamp on it along with their phone number, and voilà! This however, is not how it works. You need to get the knowledge first, and then proceed. You need to learn about lighting, you need to learn about composition. And now it’s even more difficult than when we shot with film because you need to learn all about digital and all these software programs that accompany it and about resolution and sharpening for output and file sizes etc, etc. And if you don’t understand the premise of exposure you are dead in the water.
Why do you think you deal mainly with women? Do you enjoy having the chance to show them in more powerful roles than you usually find mainstream?
I love women. I love the comraderie of strong women who know their own spirits and their sexuality. I have always loved the strong woman cartoon character like Wonder woman or Cat woman or even Joan of Arc. Women who could rip your eyes out, tear you apart in the second and then fuck you silly after that. That kind of strength is what I like to portray in my photographs. I think that’s what Helmut Newton did in his fashion and erotic work. So I love that and continue to document it. Anyone who digs what I do I am thrilled with. I will do the smallest magazine and the smallest website because I feel that if just one more person knows who you are and what you do well that is a very great thing. 
Your work has appeared in everything from French Vogue to Easyriders, why do you think it has such a wide appeal?
I think that is because I’m not a one trick pony. I can shoot anything across the board. I can shoot CD covers, erotica, rock stars, celebrities, fashion and the very same day I can shoot for you a great family portrait. So my work is very dichotomous which is a double edged sword. Some people love it, and some people just don’t get it.
When you first started your career did you ever imagine it would appear in so many different countries in so many varied forms? What does that feel like?
A big hell no! When I first started out I was basically just taking pictures of my girlfriends for fun, and because all of my girlfriends were stunners the photos were really hot. So it really was at the insistence of other people who pushed me forward to take photography seriously as a career choice. And luckily I had my 2 ½ year apprenticeship and all the knowledge gleaned from that, so more than nothing else that was my greatest asset in moving forward artistically.
What was it like to capture the last photographs of Waylon Jennings? What was he like?
Well here’s the Waylon Jennings story. Sonny Barger the Hell’s Angels president is a very good friend of mine, and he was also a very good friend of Waylon’s, and Waylon was coming into Las Vegas to do a show at the New Orleans casino. So Sonny hooked it up for me to shoot Waylon before his show. This was about four months before Waylon passed into outlaw heaven and he still looked great but he was in a wheelchair. So we met, and we sat for a while and chatted, me on the couch, and he in the chair. We chatted for about 20 minutes and of course all he wanted to talk about was Sonny and that was fine with me. So I then I asked him a” do you mind if I shoot your portrait” and he said no that would be wonderful. I told him if he wanted that he could just stay in the chair, as I really didn’t want to inconvenience him and he says” no way I’m getting my picture taken in this mother fuckin chair. I hate this mother fuckin chair!” So he stands up and I notice he’s a little bit wobbly, so I just took about 25-30 frames very, very quickly as to not inconvenience him or tire him out because I knew he had a show to do. It just so happens that a good percentage of those frames are awesome. And so was he.
There’s a great story about Waylon that somebody told me I can’t verify if it’s true or not but I’m guessing it is. Apparently Waylon was under contract at one of the casinos in Las Vegas and he hated performing there so he was trying to do everything he could to break his contract and leave. The story goes, that one night he actually brought cocaine and was snorting it right up on stage while trying to get out of the contract. This sounds like something he’d do so I’m guessing that this is accurate.
You have also worked with icons such as Mamie Van Doren and John Gilmore. What are those two like? Do you enjoy having the chance to honor the work of others through gorgeous photos?
Mamie is a pinup legend so of course it was amazing to be able to shoot her now that she is in her 70’s. When you consider her shots are basically unretouched and that I did everything primarily with lighting, well I think she looks pretty good. My idea was to shoot her atop her star on the Hollywood walk of fame so I got her just to lie on the sidewalk and I brought a ladder and shot straight down with my assistant holding a flashlight so that I could focus. I shot her again at Julie Strain’s house, and another time at Mamie’s house in Newport Beach, and then another time in my Hollywood studio. As for John Gilmore, well what can one say? He has my heart. He wrote an amazing intro for my book that is in design at present. Mamie wrote one too. Hers is a little more comedic and John’s is, well, just magnificent.
Your pictures often have a delightfully vintage feel to them. Do you think most of today’s photography seems to lack that?
Sometimes I will style something like a George Hurrell photograph and of course he shot all of the movie stars for the studios in the 1940s so the shots themselves are very stylized and highly glamorous. That is actually one of my favorite things to shoot. I recently did some shots of Sybil Danning and they had that old Hollywood movie star feel to them. This is very hard to do as the lighting and styling is very specific and a lot of shooters don’t really understand it. The shots of Sybil are some of my very favorites.
Is there any one subject or theme you prefer over others?
Yes I think the wilder edgier content is some of my favorite to execute. Or if it’s something I’ve never done before that’s pretty cool too. And of course the old Hollywood glamour is one of my favorites to document.
When you first started your career did you ever imagine it would appear in so many different countries in so many varied forms? What does that feel like?
Fuck no! I actually thought I was not really that good so it was amazing when I found out that everyone really loved what I was doing. I was so stoked. To have anyone gravitate to your art is truly a blessing.
What little know facts about yourself can you share with our readers?
I choreographed a number in a Las Vegas show and not a lot of people know that. The number got Best Number in Show after opening night review and the show director was so jealous he pulled the number right after that. I mean what the fuck right? Why did the pussy let me choreograph the friggin number in the first place when he knew how good I was?
Also, I love puppies and if I see one on the street I’ll drop my groceries to go over and bond with a new dog friend. Also, I’m a huge Tom Waits fan and an old school classic heavy metal fan and I love the smell of expensive new leather. That’s all I can think of.
How do think you have changed most as an individual since you first started as a photographer?
Sometimes I have to meet someone who I’ve never met before and in 20 or 30 minutes I will have to do an icon shot for them. In order to do this you have to get to know someone’s spirit and absorb and understand it very quickly so you can then document it photographically. So I would say that I know more about people now than I did when I was in my 20s.
What one subject do you have yet to cover that you would most like to?
Oh my God there’s tons. But if I mention them all here people will steal them all so I think I’ll just keep them under wraps and you guys will have to wait until I do them and then you can see them!
What projects are you currently working on?
A hardcover art book in Berlin entitled NUDES 3 will have an entire chapter of my art, so I just shot some new stuff for that. My 2012 calendar with calendarclub.com is due out soon and it’s entitled Lady Ink. They have just informed me there will be a 2013 Lady Ink so that’s pretty cool. Calendar club has over 3000 titles in calendars so if you’re going to roll it’s good to rock and roll with the big dogs.
I’m also working on a new photo series after just finishing my last Alice in Thunderland fairytale series. The Alice series ended up as its own show in a museum in Miami, Florida and received a fabulous review in the Miami Sun post calendar art section grabbing the cover and six pages inside, so that was sweet. Also I’m in negotiations right now with a very upscale hotel in Miami’s South Beach that wants to put a bunch of my images up as huge wall murals in 70 rooms in their hotel which is the Lord Carlton. The hotel is all Art Deco and a really gorgeous structure so am very jazzed about that and the images they are interested in is all my tattoo girl stuff so woo hoo to Lord Carlton for being as edgy and progressive as they are with their imagery.
There’s a great lifestyle magazine entitled Bound by Ink and I have a 25 page pictorial/interview in issue number five, which I think is one of the highlights of my career. Who the fuck gets 25 pages in one magazine? And this magazine received the award for best new magazine and best graphics. I also have another 13 pages in issue number six which is on newsstands now.
Right now I’m in four magazines on the newsstands with I think three magazine covers some of which are in Europe. I also have a new art and lifestyle website in which my pal John Gilmore is involved in every issue and you can see that at www.spattergasm.com , we try to do at least four new issues a year. And then I have my pin up events which are another part of Justice Howard Art and it’s basically where I’ve dropped my prices so regular girls can get iconic photography from me and be able to afford it. That website is www.diva doll art.com and you can sign up right online. Big props to Martin Rendon for all of that as he is our resident website guy/mascot/teddy bear!
I’m working on an event called Comikaze expo in which Im toplisted along with Elvira & Stan Lee, Morgan Fairchild and my gal pal Sybil Danning. Check that out at www.comikazeexpo.com. The tickets to this are really reasonable compared to the $400 tickets for Comicon. It’s on Nov. 5th and 6th 2011.
Then of course there’s my personal website at www.JusticeHoward.com which has been highly successful to this point. After one redesign we had half a million hits in just six months time and that was with no networking and maybe only 10 banner trades. I’ve been blessed by the photo gods that’s for sure and I just kind of continue on doing what I’m doing and I’m jazzed that other people dig it and can understand my vision. I shoot for the people who “Get It” and not for the ones who don’t. Someone once told me that only 1% of all artists are able to make a living from it and I am hella blessed to be in this 1% as it’s a very small club. I will attest to learning my craft very early on in the process as one of the greatest assets toward being in this club.
How do you hope to be remembered when your time comes? What would you like your famous last words to be if you had the chance to choose?
I’d like to be remembered for an entire body of work and not just a few images. My famous last words would be…”Be Fucking Fierce!”