Jake Rhodes – A Beautiful Journey of Life in Columbus, Ga

We walk past the scenes every day. The Iconic skylines, the untamed Chattahoochee River, the familiar restaurants and historic buildings that form the silhouette of the city where we work, live, raise our families, and play.

Yet many of us take these scenes for granted or, after a time, stop noticing the beautiful way the light reflects off the water, no longer paying attention to the colors and shapes that each familiar scene is built around and made of. While we may pass by without stopping to admire these scenes of the city, local creator Jake Rhodes travels with his camera in tow, capturing the essence of Columbus, Ga, life, his eyes and lens awakened to the breathtaking beauty of another day in the city.

Born and raised in Columbus, Jake grew up playing around and in the Chattahoochee River. His fascination with the water is rooted in the time he spent near it, the memories the river stirs up for him, and a feeling of being home whenever he visits its banks.

Growing up, Jake always had a camera in hand. His passion for photography grew when he got his first “nice camera,” a DSLR, at the age of 19 and discovered the kind of quality images he could take with it. “That’s when I fell in love with photography,” Jake recalls, “It was like a new world to me.” It’s no surprise that as Jake’s interest in photography grew, one of his favorite places to take photographs became the river he grew up on.

Along with photography, Jake found his niche in graphic design and applied himself to web design as well. Jake spent some time studying website design at Columbus Tech and soon realized that graphics and photographs were needed to create websites. As his different creative paths began to merge, he found that graphic design, web design, and photography all went hand in hand and were an essential part of his digital creations. Fascinated with the world of computer technology, Jake integrated these creative modalities easily into his toolbox of digital skills. “I learned how to create all of it on my own,” Jake says. When Jake’s full time job in landscaping ended, he decided to put all of his attention into creating. “I just decided to do all of the things I’ve always wanted to do,” Jake says.

As Jake dived deeper into graphic design and photography, he found success with the local images of iconic Columbus scenes he had been taking. People like to see representations of the city they grew up in, or a place they visited with friends where fond memories were made. Jake’s graphics make our city recognizable all over the world, and freeze time in space to memorialize the city we love, abuzz with the energy of today’s activities.

“You take pictures of what you have access to,” Jake explains. Which may sound easy, but the way Jake sees the world, one could easily miss. His images strike every descriptive word you can think of: captivating, evocative, vivid and serene. The places Jake was already familiar with have become natural subjects of admiration and nostalgia for him – downtown, the river, historic Columbus, and the Riverwalk. “That was my natural area to gravitate towards for interesting pictures.” In 2016, Jake took a photo of Columbus from Waveshaper Island which became his most successful graphic.

Today his graphics can be found on apparel and local keepsakes. As he has carved out his place in the local creative scene, he’s become known for his striking images of Columbus landscapes and river views. Jake occasionally uses a drone to capture a bird’s eye view off the city at work, play, and rest.

Columbus in the setting sun, colors reflecting off the glass of well-known buildings, the city aglow in neon lights, quiet restaurants that are local favorites and the wonderful energy of events – these scenes are often caught in pause by Jake, a fleeting moment and a snapshot of our current era, memorialized in a photograph.

Jake’s images have found their way onto apparel and the print-on-demand industry, and he sells many of his own material online. He also sells the graphics he’s created to designers.

In addition to graphic design, web design, and photography, Jake writes and publishes music. He got his first guitar at the tender age of just eight years old and has enjoyed creating music ever since. Today, he enjoys creating pop and rap music under the artist name Down 2 Earth, which can be found on Sound Cloud. Jake personally writes and composes all of the music.

Jake is also a talented writer, and has published many specialty e-books. “My brother got really into clean eating, and then I did too,” Jake explains. As a result, Jake began making smoothies regularly and has become an expert on them, publishing a whole array of books about making smoothies which can be found on Amazon’s kindle.

As for the future, Jake plans to continue developing and growing. He says the community’s response to his work has been positive, and he’s excited about the direction the city is growing in. “New development means new photography material,” Jake muses.

And though he’s seen the scenes before, Jake returns to his favorite spots over and over again. “The same spot can look different every day,” Jake explains. There are so many variables at play in photography – lighting, weather, the season, the day – and Jake appreciates the endless potential even when photographing familiar scenes.

Jake’s work can be viewed on his website jakerhodes.net and on his social media pages you can find him @jakecjrhodes1001.

Natalie Downey