We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Jessica Vogl. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Jessica below.

Jessica, appreciate you joining us today. Going back to the beginning – how did you come up with the idea in the first place?

I started taking food photography seriously during the COVID lockdown. We were working from home (I was working a corporate job at the time in PR and communications) and I felt like I needed a creative outlet. I had always cooked and baked often, and started getting more interested in taking pictures of my food. I got my first DSLR camera, and started taking a few photography classes, then attended my first food photography summit (the Master the Art of Food Photography Summit by Little Rusted Ladle). As I got more into it, I realized there was a whole world here and that food photography and blogging was an area where you could genuinely have a career.

I made the jump and quit my corporate job just over two years ago, and took food photography full-time. Since then, I’ve tried to run at this business full speed, expanding my food photography skills, video skills, growing my blog and social media followings, learning as much as possible and working with some really wonderful clients. It’s been an incredible experience so far and there is no looking back!

Jessica, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Hi, I’m Jess! I’m a food photographer and blogger based in Chicago. On my blog and social channels, This Jess Cooks, I share beginner-friendly baking and sourdough discard recipes. In my photography business, This Jess Photography, I help clients create drool-worthy images and videos that help bring their brand stories to life.

You can find my recipes on my blog at www.thisjess.com and follow along on social @thisjess.cooks (on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook and Pinterest).

My background is in PR and corporate communications for luxury automotive and CPG (consumer packaged goods) brands. I spent more than ten years working in PR agencies in New York City and Chicago, then in-house for a CPG food company in Chicago. That experience gave me a wonderful foundation and understanding for working with food brands and agency partners, as well as their communications needs (both visual and written). When I started my own business, I built on those skills and really leaned into my creative side. As a creative, your job is to make stunning content, but as a provider offering services to a client, your job is to make your client’s life easier. If you can combine those two, it’s a winning combination.

I apply those same ideas to my blogging and the recipes that I share. I focus on sourdough discard recipes because when I was making my sourdough starter for the first time, I really didn’t want that discard to go to waste. I had spent literally weeks making this starter, and to have to throw away so much of it seemed wasteful but also discouraging. The recipes I share put that to use.

I also share tips (mostly on TikTok) for those just beginning their sourdough starter and their sourdough journey. Working with sourdough can seem really complicated, but it doesn’t have to be. It’s also something where you can follow every “rule” and it still not work. I try to break it down and make it as simple as possible to understand how to get your starter up and running, help troubleshoot common challenges, and what to do with your starter once it’s ready.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

Very early on I took a photography class at the Art Institute of Chicago. It was general photography, and not food-specific, but I thought it would be a great way to learn how to use my DSLR (and it was at least a good start). I assumed the teacher of the class was an expert, and I took a lot of what she said to be cold, hard truth. She shared a lot of absolutes like “always do xxx” or “never xxx”. Looking back, I’ve had to unlearn a lot of what she taught the class. Some of it was about how to edit photos or how to light a scene, and I still think about it.

I don’t regret taking the class, but I wish I had known to take everything with a grain of salt. This class was her perspective on how to do things, but that doesn’t mean that is the only way. I’ve since taken some really wonderful courses and met some great people and mentors who have helped me to understand that there are no wrong ways to take photography. It’s all about how you see it and the story you want to tell.

What else should we know about how you took your side hustle and scaled it up into what it is today?

Yes! At the beginning, food photography was just a hobby and something creative for me to do. Then, a blogger friend of mine reached out, asking if I would photograph a few recipes for her blog. She became my first client! From there, a few brands and agencies starting reaching out, I got a few requests for sponsored content, and it became a very real side hustle. The more work that I put into it, the more fulfilling it was, and the more results I was seeing.

I remember there were two months in a row where I made more than $7,000 each month from my food photography side hustle. That really set the wheels in motion and I started thinking that if I could make $7k each month, that is a full-time income. And if I could put all of my time into this business, then it could be even bigger and really grow.

At that same time, I wasn’t feeling as fulfilled in my corporate job, so it was even more of a push to try to do something new. I made a plan to quit my job within 6 months, shared it with my husband (who was fully supportive), and saved up some money so I felt comfortable. I was going to give myself one year to really give this a try. And my backup plan was that at the end of that year, if it wasn’t working, or if it wasn’t what I thought it would be, then I could get another corporate communications job.

In the beginning, I took a few marketing consulting jobs just to have some income while I figured out how to make a real income from food photography. It was a very conscious effort to make what was previously my full-time job into a side hustle for my new photography business. Eventually, I let those consulting projects go, and focused fully on my business.

Since then, it’s been an incredible journey. I’ve had my business for over two years now, and it is growing at a pace that I never would’ve imagined. I think a big reason for that success is that I was willing to be uncomfortable, and in the first year, I said “yes” to anything within reason. I took on a lot of projects, some that were out of my comfort zone, and learned a ton. I like to say that if something is 1-2 steps outside of your comfort zone, do it. Take on that project and figure it out. If it’s 5-6 steps outside of your comfort zone, that’s likely too much and there is more learning you need to do before you can take on something like that.

Saying “yes” brought me such great experience and gave me a much better understanding of the work that I like to do (and what I don’t).

That first year, my goals were very financially driven to make sure this business was sustainable. I hit my $100k revenue goal within 8 months. The next year I doubled my revenue goal. Now, my efforts are much more strategic in building my brand, blog and online presence, and working with a smaller group of clients that really fuel my creativity.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.thisjess.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thisjess.cooks/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thisjess.cooks
• Other: TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thisjess.cooks Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/thisjesscooks/

Image Credits
This Jess Photography