Jasper Soloff ’17 Shoots PAPER Magazine's 2026 Pride Cover, Shares Career Advice with Students

When PAPER magazine was planning its 2026 Pride issue, featuring filmmaker and cultural icon John Waters alongside nine other LGBTQ+ artists and trailblazers, it turned to Jasper Soloff ’17 to photograph one of its signature annual editions.

For Soloff, the assignment was more than another high-profile commission. Growing up in New York City, he remembers seeing PAPER on newsstands and looking to its pages for inspiration as he developed his own creative voice.

"Being asked to photograph the 2026 Pride cover featuring John Waters and an incredible group of queer icons felt surreal," Soloff said. "John Waters is someone whose work has inspired generations of artists, including myself, so having the opportunity to photograph him for such an important issue was a true full-circle moment. This has been one of the highlights of my career so far – a pinch-me moment."

Today, Soloff is a photographer and director whose work spans fashion, beauty, music, and culture. Drawing on his background as a classical ballet dancer, he creates images centered on movement, storytelling, individuality, and human connection. His clients include Maybelline, Amazon Fashion, Fenty Beauty, Olay, and Smashbox, and he has photographed artists and public figures including Billie Eilish, Gigi Hadid, Pamela Anderson, Emma Chamberlain, Kim Petras, and Billy Porter. His work has appeared in Vogue, GQ, PAPER, Dazed, i-D, Billboard, and Out.

Soloff’s career began to take shape at Sarah Lawrence, where he studied photography with professors Michael Spano and Katy Murray. Spano, he says, inspired him to pursue photography in the first place, while Murray introduced him to color portraiture and photography as a storytelling medium.

He credits the College's close faculty mentorship with giving him both the technical foundation and the confidence to pursue a career in a highly competitive industry. "One of the greatest gifts Sarah Lawrence gave me was learning how to think critically and develop my own point of view," he said. "SLC encourages curiosity, experimentation, and interdisciplinary thinking, which are all essential skills for creative work. I learned how to communicate ideas, collaborate with others, and approach projects with intention and depth. Those lessons continue to inform my work every day."

Soloff eagerly shares his time mentoring current students, saying he finds it “incredibly meaningful because Sarah Lawrence played such an important role in my own development.” Earlier this year, he returned to campus to share career and industry insights with members of Sellsword Productions, a student organization that functions as a filmmakers’ collective and production house. Prior to that, he joined a group of students for an episode of What Was That Like?, a podcast series that features conversations between Sarah Lawrence students and alumni about life after college. 

For Soloff, the advice he shares with students echoes the lessons that first took root during his own time at Sarah Lawrence: "Make work from your own perspective. The more recognizable and individual your style is, the more you will stand out. Keep creating. Don't allow rejection to get in the way of making work."