Placing Jimmy Marble’s images in one or even two categories would be an interesting challenge. The diversity of his client list—among them Christian Louboutin, Viceland, The New York Times, Smirnoff and TIME (including a cover of Ariana Grande in May 2018)—shows just how malleable his work can be. Perhaps most of all, he shoots personal work. It’s curious, then to reflect on his first five years in business, via a recent book published through Chronicle Books called Dream Baby Dream. 

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All of the text is handwritten by Marble in all caps, first in his foreword wherein he explains his artistic background: He got a C in his high school photography class but got turned on to the genre when he got an iPhone 3. And he borrowed pro equipment from friends before he could afford his own. 

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Loosely dividing his work from outdoors to indoors, Marble narrates his work with little anecdotes and occasionally interjects his thoughts and memories to explain a particular photo’s origin story (including when he wasn’t wearing his glasses and adjusted the focus for his own vision). 

“I always leave a shoot thinking it’s going to win a Pulitzer or something,” he writes on one page. “But the truth is, you only get to make so many hits. It’s weird and humbling to think about: At some point, you will take your best photo ever. It might be ahead of you, it might be behind you.” 

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Charming and honest, this book is a delight to look at and to get a sense of what so many different brands see in Marble’s experimental work. 

Chronicle Books 
192 pp. 
Price: $30

 jimmymarble.com