Hannah Collisson speaks to photographer Jessica van der Weert about her latest project, snapping the best DJs in the business doing what they love.

From global advertising campaigns to portraits, Jessica van der Weert is known for her distinctive storytelling style.

Combining photography with another of her passions, electronic dance music, Jessica has teamed up with 28 world famous DJs, including the likes of Fatboy Slim and Carl Cox, to put together an exhibition of a kind never seen before, and the biggest of her career to date.

For this groundbreaking project, FlipSide, the DJs and dance music producers have been captured off-duty at locations ranging from a bowling alley, to a football stadium, and even the set of Coronation Street.

“It’s definitely a first,” says Jessica, who is based in Brighton, and has been working on the project over the last two years. “To be honest, dance music has never been as popular as it is now – DJs have become celebrities in their own right.

“I love portraits and I love dance music, and I thought let’s do a project about the stories behind it.”

Instead of photographing her subjects at the decks, Jessica was granted unprecedented access to their private lives and has taken the time to find out about their other passions, which yielded some very interesting results.

The project is non profit-making, and a crowdfunding campaign launched through Indiegogo to raise money towards exhibition costs, has one week to go. The exhibition will include 36 photographs, many of them as large as 60”x45”, making for quite a spectacle, and the plan is for Flipside to open in London, in February 2015, before touring the UK and across to New York, Los Angeles, Amsterdam, and Ibiza.

Bringing Flipside to Brighton is definitely on the cards says Jessica.

Her first subject was none other than Brighton resident Norman Cook aka Fatboy Slim.

“We went straight to the top and got Norman Cook; it sort of grew organically from there.”

Norman Cook was photographed at Brighton and Hove Albion Football Club, and invited Jessica to accompany him to a match, in the name of research.

“I think the secret of the project is that you go in and chat about nothing to do with what they are famous for, you get straight into real personalities and get much better portraits if you get to know them.

“I was put in contact with Carl Cox by Norman Cook – he loves cars and motorbikes, and I do too, so we chatted for three or four hours about cars,” says Jessica.

One of the most extraordinary shoots was with Danny Howard, whose love of Coronation Street has until now been less well known than his love of dance music.

“We got on the set of Coronation Street; they let us have the whole street,” says Jessica. “He couldn’t believe it!”

Some of the other DJs whose portraits are to be included in the exhibition are Orbital, Judge Jules, Annie Mac, Goldie, Chase & Status, DJ Fresh, Paul Oakenfold, Zane Lowe, Mary Anne Hobbs, Krafty Kuts, Eddy Temple Morris, Example, Shy FX, and Boy George.

Purely coincidentally there are several Brighton connections, aside from Jessica herself. Fatboy Slim is of course one of the most famous residents, while Krafty Kuts, Shy FX, and Carl Cox all have homes in the area.

This was something Jessica was excited to discover, Cox being one of her favourite DJs.

“I love all their music; I had to pinch myself sometimes, when meeting someone. Meeting Carl Cox was great, I have seen him at Space in Ibiza, and at festivals.

“I had a great time, they are all lovely people. To create pictures like that is a privilege.”

Jessica has 20 years of experience as a photographer, and as well as fine art projects, she is known for her advertising campaigns for the likes of Club 18-30, and Cancer Research UK.

“My work is slightly on the surreal side,” says Jessica.

“I have a fascination with people and personalities, and the main thing I strive to do is bring that across in my photography. I also focus on the joyous and brighter side of life.

“I create scenes that tell stories – I will try to tell the whole story within one scene”

As such the process for Jessica is as important as the end result. In the case of FlipSide, it was particularly important to get a handle on the character of the subject, in order to capture a sense of fun in the photographs.

With working methods more akin to a visual artist than a photographer, Jessica usually draws out her ideas first on paper, before creating a real-life environment that fits her original vision, introducing the subject of the photograph into the scene last of all.

With FlipSide, for each photoshoot, Jessica says that she spent two to three hours setting the scene, including lighting and props.

If the tables were turned and photographer was to become subject for a FlipSide portrait, Jessica would be racing cars, snowboarding, or, wait for it, DJing.

Incentives for those who donate online to the crowdfunding campaign include admission to a party at an undisclosed location, featuring a number of the DJs who have taken part in her project.

Jessica is a self-confessed dance music superfan, and we joke this is possibly the most elaborate way of engineering her dream party scenario.

But the project also aims to raise awareness of tinnitus and funds for the British Tinnitus Association “FlipSide isn’t just about me having a great time with all my favourite DJs. It has a serious aim too. Clubbers and DJs are more likely to be affected by tinnitus.”

- Visit indiegogo.com/projects/flipside-worldwide-dance-music-photo-exhibition.

- The campaign closes on December 13.