Spotting #pizzainthewild with @jonpauldouglass
For more photos and videos from Jonpaul’s #pizzainthewild series, follow @jonpauldouglass on Instagram.
"There is a wall in my neighborhood I pass often that’s always covered in graffiti. One time I walked by there was a random pizza tag in the middle of the wall. I thought it was so funny—just a random pepperoni pizza there in the middle of the wall,” says Los Angeles photographer Jonpaul Douglass, creator of the #pizzainthewild hashtag. “I thought it would be humorous to do a photo series of real pizzas on random things, but I didn’t start doing the #pizzainthewild series until months after when I had a bit of free time.”
The series had humble beginnings. “For my first test shot, I just had a pepperoni pizza delivered and went around my neighborhood putting it on stuff,” explains Jonpaul. “I quickly realized that having the pizza sliced wasn’t the way to go. I wanted a pizza that looked more graphical with a nice separation between the cheese and pepperoni. Basically what I wanted was what I call ‘Ninja Turtle pizza,’ because the look of the pizza in those cartoons was perfect.”
After some trial and error, Jonpaul decided on Little Caesars (@littlecaesars) pizza. “The price is as beautiful as the pizza. Five dollars for a large pizza that much of time I reuse… It’s a steal!”
Jonpaul’s series has sparked the interest of pizza lovers on Instagram. “What I have noticed is that lots of people feel very passionate about pizza. So much so that I feel like it warrants a scientific study!” he says. “I’ve been contacted by many pizza fans over the past few months. One guy calls me his ‘honorary pizza brother’ which I get a real kick out of.”