A look at “The Story of Jesse Koch & Shots Fired” A 10$ camera and some confidence. That’s all Jesse Koch had when he approached Post Malone at a festival in Belgium, back in 2016. It was one of the first times Koch picked up a film camera and started documenting hip-hop culture for his ongoing Shots Fired project, for which he later ended up shooting artists like Drake, A$AP Rocky, Juice Wrld, Playboi Carti and many more.
He remembers that even though at the time his knowledge about photography was very minimal, his vision was there. Coming from a small town with only around 30.000 citizens, Jesse always dreamed of working with the top notch of the music industry.
His early life and family
With his father being a musician and his mom being a painter, Jesse has always been around music, fashion and art. He started to develop an interest in film at a very young age, learning how to work with cameras and editing software when he was only 12 years old.
When Jesse first started working with Photoshop at 15, he quickly developed a style that got him noticed by artists including Travis Scott and A$AP Rocky.
Jesse grew up in Stadskanaal, a small town in the north of the Netherlands. He moved out at age 18, moving to Amsterdam, where he would have more opportunity to focus on his career.
What is Shots Fired?
A few years into his graphic design journey, Jsse got a hold of a cheap film camera. He developed the idea of documenting the culture he was interested in and at this point already working in as a graphic designer. Shots Fired was born, a “ongoing photo project” as Jesse describes it himself, that features the likes of Post Malone, Drake, Playboi Carti and many others.
In 2019, Red Bull named Jesse one of the dopest photographers in music.
Touring the globe because of a camera
Nowadays, Jesse travels the globe as a photographer for musicians such as Unotheactivist, Emotional Oranges and A$AP TyY. “I visited 18 countries in 2022, including South Korea, Iceland and South Africa” Jesse states, “It is just crazy to realize my camera and laptop got me to this point”.
Starting an ethical streetwear brand
Photography and design is not the only venture Jesse has been working on. In 2021, he launched a streetwear brand under the name of Global Warning alongside Miles de Levita. In their short existence, the brand has already done successful collaborations with large industry names such as A$AP TyY and Chuki Beats and hosted pop-ups in Paris and Amsterdam. “Global Warning is a streetwear brand raising awareness for social, economical, and environmental issues through bold graphics and exclusive pieces,” Jesse tells us, “while pushing its ideology through unique designs and premium sustainable materials, Global Warning actively contributes to a better world through drops dedicated to supporting and helping a variety of good causes”.
