Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Jessica Swartout. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Jessica, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. The first dollar you earn in a new endeavor is always special. We’d love to hear about how you got your first client that wasn’t a friend or family.
When I knew I wanted to take my hobby and passion for photography to the next level and start a business, it was definitely a huge leap. As a photographer, it always seems to start with taking free photos of as many friends and family as you can to “build your portfolio.” But, when you have to put a value on that is when it gets real. Pricing your work is definitely not easy, at least it wasn’t for me. Am I charging too much—is my work even good enough? Am I charging enough to make money and run a successful business? Should I charge the same as this or that photographer? The struggle is real.
My first paid session was a co-worker at the time. I hadn’t officially left my full-time job, but had just started the business on the side to see where it could take me. I still wasn’t feeling 100% confident in my work and pricing as any new business owner feels, but they insisted they pay me my full price for their son’s newborn session. It was such an awesome feeling, after struggling with pricing and learning my worth, to have someone insist they pay you that worth. I will say though, that I did the session, got in the car and just cried because I wanted to give them their money back. I felt like I did horrible, I was there for hours, and didn’t feel like I captured anything to deliver. That constant tug of am I good enough is such a struggle for creatives, I think because it’s our art, our vision, our creation and we are to put a dollar amount on that.
Well, after feeling sorry for myself I pulled it together, drove home and edited the session. I delivered the gallery and the amount of joy the images brought their family, all the praises and accolades from my client and other people was such a wonderful, reassuring feeling. All the likes and comments the photos received on FB, really help put those fears I had to rest. From there, I captured a few other newborns, a bridal shower—whom I still, 12 years later, am capturing her sweet growing family; a small intimate wedding—another family I am still capturing; and 2010 was also the first time I jumped into holiday mini sessions in the fall, which was a whirlwind on its own.
I will say, that very quickly I realized that newborns, and weddings were in fact not my forte. I left many newborn sessions crying feeling like I was not good enough and shouldn’t be charging. As a business owner, I reminded myself I was in charge, and did not want to feel that way so I stopped photographing what I felt I was not good at. That is something I learned very early on from a mentorship, and I’m so grateful for. You can not give 100% to everything and you don’t have to be amazing at everything. Find your specialty and focus on what makes you happy and the work will shine. Then knowing your worth is so much easier.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers
My name is Jessica, and I am the owner of Jessica Liane Photography. A born and raised Florida girl, I’ve had a passion for art and photography for as long as I can remember. Having over 12 years of professional photography experience, I have found my true passion and talents in capturing children, family, and high school seniors. Being a mom of two very fast growing boys myself, I know how important it is to capture all the moments, no matter how big or small.
I didn’t always know I wanted to be a photographer when I grew up. It was a huge part of my life don’t get me wrong. I have albums and boxes full of photographs from my family growing up, I took courses in both high school and college, and would take photos of my friends kids here and there, but I ultimately majored in graphic design, and went on to work in that industry for about eight years before starting my business.
Photography always had a hold on me, and after my wedding I decided I would pick the camera back up and see where it took me. I started photographing more friends and family, and then by end of summer heading into fall, officially launched my business. The following year, my son was born and I knew it was the perfect way for me to stay home with him, but also bring in money to help support our family.
It’s crazy to think it’s been 12 years since I launched Jessica Liane Photography and my love for photography has only gotten stronger. A photograph proves just how quickly time flies doesn’t it? Capturing authentic moments in my clients’ lives is so fulfilling to me. The littlest hands holding your finger, the belly laughs that you can just hear through the photograph, the bright eyed senior excited for what’s to come, those moments captured are so magical to me. It’s pretty amazing that I get to create those types of images for my clients to have and look back on for a lifetime, and then generations can look back and see what was—that is just such an amazing, invaluable gift you can give your loved ones.
Have you ever had to pivot?
When I started my business, I started my focus on newborns and weddings. At that time in my life I had just gotten married, we had yet to start a family of our own, but it was the next step, so I think those personal influences along with what I felt was the industry money maker guided me to those choices. I did also shoot children and families, but I really thought my main clientele would be newborns and weddings. I also thought that how hard could it be to photograph a sweet, sleeping cute baby. Well, I found out rather quickly I was very wrong about that and it is in fact not easy at all to photograph newborns (shout out to all the amazing newborn photographers out there!) And not that I was not up for working hard, I just didn’t feel I was good at it at all.
Thankfully I went to a mentorship early on in my business and had a huge “ah-ha moment.” She said that to be successful, you must find what your great at. Don’t try to be great at everything, because you just can’t be. You can’t give a 100% to all the things. I knew right then and there newborn sessions were not for me.
It took me a little longer to realize weddings weren’t for me either. After about a year of having my side business, our first son was born in August 2011. I took maternity leave, then shortly after returning I realized I wanted to be home with him full time, so I left my graphic design career, and went photography part time from home, while being a full time stay at home mom. As I was booking weddings, I was realizing how much time I was being away from my family, and then how long it would take to edit these huge galleries. It was just not the right fit for our family. My husband and I felt like we were two passing ships in the night, one would come and one would go, and we knew that wasn’t working for us so I decided that I would only take on weddings in a second-shooter capacity.
This left me with focusing on children and families, which I loved and I felt I thrived at. I did feel like financially my business was missing out on the big milestone type sessions. As I navigated my business and family life, I found that I wanted to explore another milestone type genre which was high school seniors and I fell in love! I even took nearly two years off from capturing families to truly focus on building my high school senior brand. At one point I even thought I may focus solely on that, but my love for capturing families was too strong. Now I find so much love and joy in capturing children, families and high school seniors, and will even do small business branding sessions as well, which I love to capture too!
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
The most rewarding thing about my job, is knowing that I have frozen a moment in time for my clients to cherish literally forever. That my art— my photograph, will tell stories generations from now. That families will look back on images I’ve created and it will bring so much joy and will fill their minds with memories. It is such an amazing feeling to be able to give that to someone.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.jessicalianephotography.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jessica_liane_photo/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JessicaLianePhotography/