A glass of soda with ice and a lemon wedge on a black napkin, a small bowl of olives on a white plate with a black napkin, and a vintage Contax camera on a pink table.
A man walking through an archway with historic European-style buildings in the background, during a sunset or sunrise, with clouds in the sky.

Jason Edward Charles is a photographer and filmmaker documenting people, places, and traditions. His work is rooted in a curiosity about how people live—the places they inhabit, the work they do, and the rituals and communities that form around them.

Charles has lived in New York City, Barcelona, and San Francisco, and has spent years traveling and working throughout Europe, Mexico, and the American coasts. Before turning his attention more fully to photography and film, he worked harvests in Bordeaux and California and spent more than a decade building and running a small winery. Those years—moving between vineyards, cellars, restaurants, farms, and the people behind them—continue to inform the way he sees and the stories he is drawn to.

His photographs move between portraiture, documentary, travel, and the everyday: fishermen heading out before dawn, families and the places they call home, artists and craftspeople at work, hotel rooms, coastlines, vineyards, boats, and the small details encountered along the way.

Working between California, New York, Martha’s Vineyard, and Europe, Charles is building an ongoing archive of photographs, short films, and field notes centered on people and place—an observation of how we work, travel, gather, and make a life.