JoJo Valente, a.k.a. The JoJoSnaps, has found her place in cannabis through photography, using her craft to share the many stories and characters throughout the cannabis industry and broader community. The first inklings of her Puff Portraits series began in 2020, and since then, she’s captured some of the most notable people in the culture.
JoJoSnaps (Self portrait)
Pot Meets Portraits
Now based in Huntington Beach, California, Valente fell in love with photography during her freshman year of high school. After securing a marketing degree from California State University, Chico and a photography degree from Orange Coast College, she traveled the world taking photos while searching for her specific niche.
“What I actually love to capture, and what I’m passionate about, is personalities,” she said. “When I’m looking back on the photo, it’s not just a very well-manicured, properly lit photo of a beautiful person; it’s something where you want to look at it longer and you want to know the story behind it.”
Valente was a “closet cannabis user,” who embraced the “stoner artist crowd” in college and wondered if and how cannabis use fit within a professional role. After having her second child, and subsequently questioning where her creative career was headed, she befriended a number of cannamoms and created JoJoSnaps, her alter ego and the moniker behind her weed photographer identity.
During a February 2020 trip with her friends for a San Francisco cannabis wedding expo, the group found themselves in a cherry blossom field and Valente captured her first Puff Portrait.
“It was this influencer, The Mommy Jane, and I took a photo of her consuming,” she said. “When you consume, the first thing you think about is blowing clouds. So that very first Puff Portrait is almost a diffused photo …
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Author: Keegan Williams / High Times
