We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jerson Navasca a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Jerson, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What do you think matters most in terms of achieving success?

To be successful you need to have goals, Predetermined goals guide you to what you want to achieve. What I wanted to achieve when I started photography was that I wanted to be an all around photographer. So that meant that I needed to learn all different styles of photography. With that I managed to get different kinds of gigs which eventually got me traveling around places capturing moments. Setting yourself goals is only half battle and so you also need a course of action to actually actualize the goals. Planning is very important to be successful. I always plan out my photography gigs beforehand to make sure the job goes smoothly and also have a backup plan if things don’t pan out the way I want to. Lastly, to be successful you got to have motivation. You got to visualize yourself succeeding by creating a mental picture of yourself successfully completing a job. When I shoot weddings, I already think about the end results and how it will look amazing. Settings goals, mapping out plans and staying motivated is what I think it takes to be successful.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I started my interest in photography in 2012. Back then I never really did anything creative. I was surrounded by a lot of artists, dancers and performers which in a way inspired me over time to do something for myself. So one day I tried dancing just to feel it out. One of my close friends is a house dance instructor, so I started practicing with him. After a few sessions, I wasn’t really feeling it. I didn’t have motivation to keep practicing. My friend asked me if there are anything else that interest me and I remember saying I always wanted to know how people can capture these beautiful landscape pictures that I’ve seen in magazines and on the internet. So I decided to buy a camera and try out photography. I remember taking my first few pictures and realizing that I had no clue on what I was doing. Pictures were turning out terrible and I felt like I just wasted a lot of money on buying a camera. Then I realize that I was just taking pictures and not actually practicing photography. So I started to do some research and watch a lot of tutorials online. I even bought a lot of e-books on photography and read them on my phone on my free time. Once I got a good enough knowledge about photography, I went out to places by myself taking photos of everything. I would spend hours at parks and scenic areas taking photos. Then I started bringing my camera to social gatherings and take photos of people at these events. That’s when I started to really enjoying photography because I was capturing moments. Soon after people started noticing my photos that I post on social media and were asking me to take photos of them. At first I was kind of hesitant, but after doing a few photoshoots I got really comfortable. After that the rest is history. Now I have a lot of clients who hire for all their life moments, traveling to places around the world shooting weddings and working with other photographers as well. I’m blessed to have a lot clients who are very supported and motivate me to keep doing what I do. What separates me from other photographers is that I make the client feel comfortable being infront of the camera. I know people can be camera shy and I always want them to feel confident that the pictures will turn out amazing. So I always keep a smile, say a lot of encouraging words and goof off at times just take make them laugh. One thing that I’m proud of is that I finally found something that I love doing and that I have something to look back on. I can look back at all these photos and say that I was the one who created that. That I captured that moment. I cherish these moments everyday and now I have something to look back upon.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

The most effective strategy for growing my clientele was definitely “word of mouth.” Having a lot of clients who appreciates your work and referring you to other people who needs photography services was the main thing that got me a lot of jobs. Just knowing that I’m getting new clients just because one of my past clients enjoy my work so much that they are going around referring to people. Also it means that they trust me enough that I will do great work to whoever they refer me to.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

The most rewarding aspect of being a creative is the work you are leaving behind. I can look back at my work 10 years from now and remember what I did. Also is leaves a legacy for my family. Putting my family’s name on my work and making my family proud of what I did.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.jersonnavasca.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jersonnavascaphotography
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jersonnavascaphotography

Image Credits
Jerson Navasca Photography