We recently connected with Jessica Priest and have shared our conversation below.

Jessica, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Who is your hero and why? What lessons have you learned from them and how have they influenced your journey?

I don’t know if I have exactly one hero. The genuine truth is I find my heroes all of the time while shooting and going about regular life. During a portrait session I run into a lot of parents that expect their children to behave a certain way. I see a hero when I see a parent that focuses less on tamping down their child’s energy and more on experiencing joy along with them, in whatever way that child might experience joy best. I see a hero when I work with a bride or groom who spend their entire wedding day exuding gratitude to all of their guests for celebrating with them. When I see a groom take time from all of the drinks and slaps on the back at the reception to squat down and make a shy little kindergarten sized guest smile. When a bride goes out of her way to ask me if I’ve had dinner. All of those amazing humans that manage to give time, energy and space to empathy and gratitude in this busy world are my heroes.

Thanks to these influences, practicing empathy has become a key part of who I am as a person and a photographer. Comprehending that we are all complex in body, spirit and environment is all you need to know to understand that every behavior in every person comes from somewhere, something, for a reason. Giving others grace is not a kind thing to do, but the only sensible thing to do. This perspective allows me, as a photographer, to anticipate emotions and better understand how to move through moments of discomfort with clients. Photography is an incredibly personal and intrusive service. If your client is not given the space they need to feel like themselves and feel cared for, you will see it in the images. I have never seen the point of photographing fake emotions so, to me, this is vital to my craft. Beyond that, I find that practicing empathy allows you to connect in a deeper way with anyone you interact with. It feels so good to have a positive connection with another human and I think that feeling sticks with people.

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?

Photography as a career was a life path that I did not anticipate.  As a kid, I had a habit of taking my point and shoot camera everywhere to photograph my friends (and I have boxes of prints from Walmart to prove it!).  In high school I was gifted a 35mm Minolta camera and loved thinking more creatively about the photos that I was taking.  I took my first photography class and learned how to develop and print my own photos and got such a kick out of every minute of it.  In college, while earning a degree in landscape architecture, I continued to tote that Minolta around with me.  I spent those years learning about design and composition.  I was able to take another course in photography and enjoyed many peaceful hours by myself in the darkroom.  After college I traveled for a few months, volunteering in Nepal with two different orphanages and when I came back stateside I worked as an Americorps volunteer for a year in a community based non-profit.  This post college time was a time of growing and connecting with others people that were more diverse in age, culture and background than I had ever experienced.  It was invaluable and it definitely shaped the ‘grown up’ that I have become.

After that (in a nutshell), the economy tanked and the stars aligned.  Landscape architects were downsizing and I met a friend of a friend who was a photographer.  He hired me, even though I had no idea how to use a digital camera or how to digitally edit images.  It felt like a complete fit and the rest is history.  Of course history includes its ups and downs.  Working for other photographers (I didn this for for eight years before starting my own company) has enormous benefits for a growing photographer and its own unique challenges.  Everything is an opportunity to learn from and evolve. In 2016 I started my own company.  Fossil Photography has opened up SO many meaningful connections with other humans, it is sometimes overwhelming.  I wouldn’t have it any other way.  As my own family, lifestyle, creative energies have grown and changed, so have my clients’ lives.  I am able to document this, year after year and it is such a gift!

I am constantly working to improve my photography skills, both technically and creatively.  Honestly, it takes a lot of energy as a business owner to keep up with social media, the books, marketing, scheduling, shooting, editing AND avoiding becoming stagnant in the creative process of all of it.  There are two threads to Fossil Photography that have been a constant from the beginning and continue to grow as the foundation of who I am as a photographer: seeing the preciousness in the small and less obvious and practicing empathy for any person (or animal) that gets in front of my camera.  These two practices open up an opportunity for every portrait session or wedding that I photograph to create imagery that is unique and genuine to each client.

I am proud to use my craft as a tool to genuinely capture the now.  If a client revisits the images one year later and isn’t prompted to feel what life was like, even just that short time ago, I have failed.  This is the special thing that photography can offer the world.  Pretty clothes, perfect smiling faces, stylish backgrounds and poses are all lovely of course.  For me, I want more than this template.  I want clients to look and feel like themselves.  I strive to provide creative and beautiful imagery that also tells a story.

Empathy, a calm presence and an openness to finding joy in all kinds of moments is an important tool to telling these stories.  Being photographed can feel jarring (it is for me!) and I want my clients to be able to feel like themselves and focus on their loves around them rather than the camera.  I put a lot of energy into understanding a client’s emotions and comfort level.  Again, everyone is unique and, therefore, each person requires something different in order to feel in the moment while being photographed.  Some people feel better with gentle prompting, giving them some ideas on things they can do along the way to get their head out of ‘what should I do with my hands?’.  Others need to think less about their physical selves and more about why they are here and who they are with in order to really feel the moment.  Some folks are wide open from the start and all I have to do is welcome the energy that they brought.  I can be a complete fly on the wall or I can guide the people I am photographing when they are feeling uncomfortable in front of the camera.  With every scenario, embracing the positive and the unpredictable while maintaining a reassuring presence seems to allow the space clients need to open up and feel authentic.  Every minute of everyone’s day is precious and I never want photography to feel like a chore.  Being photographed should be a time of day to take a breath and enjoy the present with your significant other and the people you love most.  I care deeply about my clients and want them to feel amazing on their wedding day or at their session and every day after, when they look through their photos.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

I think my reputation as a photographer is founded in a few simple things. Communicating well with clients, being consistently prompt in product delivery and genuinely caring about each person I work with and the images that they receive from me. I have found that an across the board positive experience with my company before, during and after a shoot is every bit as important as the photos themselves. The imagery, of course, also needs to be creative, authentic and edited well!

Have you ever had to pivot?

Well, I would say I am undergoing an extended period of pivoting right now! My photography career can be broken up into five chapters: 1. Not knowing what the hell I am doing and learning from other gracious photographers that took me under their wing.
2. Working as a primary photographer for another artist’s company and learning how to shoulder this responsibility and work more directly through the entire process with clients.
3. Creating Fossil Photography and learning everything involved in being a business owner.
4. Becoming a mother and balancing full time child care and full time business owning :)
5. Moving my business across the country where I do not know a soul and starting over with a new client base.

The extended period of pivoting began in chapter four. Pouring every ounce of energy into my home life and my work life, aside from those few hours of sleep, forced me to prioritize the kind of photography career that I want to pursue. I have always been a ‘yes’ person and continue to struggle with saying no to any job. During those days of being stretched to the max and now, with a new beginning in a new location, I have begun to see the benefits of fine tuning the type of work that I agree to take on. It is something that will always be a challenge for me but I feel like I understand now, more than ever, the importance of intentionality when it comes to marketing and taking on new work. My plan is to move forward by solely booking sessions that feel like a true opportunity to tell a story and it’s as simple as that!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://fossilphotography.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fossil.photo/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fossilphotography
• Other: https://www.google.com/maps/place/Fossil+Photography/@33.5413125,-86.5749679,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x87df5e4c0ec7e3ab:0xafd92b0b2ce08092!8m2!3d33.5413125!4d-86.5749679

Image Credits
Jihannah Hogge (personal image) Fossil Photography (relevant images)