We recently connected with Jesslyn Mccartney and have shared our conversation below.

Jesslyn, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What do you think it takes to be successful?

Everybody has their own definition of success. For me, success means doing everything in my power to improve my life, move towards my goals, and being gentle with myself and others on my way.

I believe there is never an endpoint where I’ll say to myself, “Okay, I’ve made it! I’m successful!” Viewing myself as successful means I need to be patient with myself – celebrating my wins, reflecting on my failures, and treating my life as a never-ending project. A work in progress.

I think that’s what I love so much about being an artist. We’re able to make things that make us feel connected with our purpose. When I look back on all the photos I’ve taken throughout my life, memories that mean so much to me, I feel successful in that regard. I’m able to contribute something to this unruly and mysterious world. Little things that make sense to me, that feel connected to me. I believe that’s my idea of what success means.

Jesslyn, 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?

My name is Jesslyn McCartney. I photograph weddings, couples, and families out of Richmond, Virginia. I work with 35mm and 120 film to photograph in a way that feels nostalgic and timeless. I started taking photos as a young child, and I’ve tried to hold onto that childlike fascination with photography as I get older. As much as I learn and advance in this career, I’m always drawn to my early work, the photos I made as a child. I’m deeply inspired by photographs from the past, I love the way viewed photography before social media. So classic yet imperfect, with nothing to prove.

I definitely lean more on the intuition aspect of creating photos rather than the technical aspect. I love taking creative risks that result in experimental and unique photographs. My subjects are down to earth, creative folks or they simply appreciate a cool photographs to chronicle their personal and family history.

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?

At the beginning of offering photography services to others, I was reinvesting all the money I made from it back into my gear, softwares, film, etc. I worked three jobs throughout school to support my lifestyle and expensive taste in film photography. I had to get comfortable with the idea of reinvesting my profits into my business. I worked multiple jobs until I finally came to the point of taking the dive into my business full time. At that point, I had saved up a bit of money and had weddings lined up so I knew I could pay my rent/bills. It was extremely scary, but I also had to get used to the feeling of being okay with the unknown. I knew worst case scenario, I could just get another side job if I needed extra cash. I think a lot of people are so afraid of the instability which makes them never take a chance on themselves. Not everything works out exactly how you think it will, but often times they work out even better.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

The most rewarding aspect of tapping into my creativity is being able to see beauty all around me in mundane life. A huge aspect of being a photographer is the ability to notice the value in little things. Life is more fun when you romanticize simple chores, errands, interactions, everything. I love being able to share my view of the world through my photos. It’s so fun and feels very meaningful. I’m extremely lucky to have a job that feels like play.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.jesslynmccartney.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jesslynmccartney/

Image Credits

All images by Jesslyn McCartney.