We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Christy Whitehead. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Christy below.
Alright, Christy thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. So, let’s start with a hypothetical – what would you change about the educational system?
I feel like kids don’t get enough real world experience. Most of the math in High School and College I don’t use. But I was never taught how to change a tire, check my oil, cook a meal, file taxes, etc.
Also, a lot of parents and society want to keep people from doing Arts or other fields as their major. I did Journalism as mine and I don’t even use it anymore. But I feel like Business should be a required class. Because it doesn’t matter if you are working for a company, running it or creating a company, business classes will help you succeed in your career. You can be great at what you do, but if you don’t know how to properly run a business you can’t turn a profit.
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.
I got my degree in Journalism from UNF. I did freelance writing and photography for many publications for years, but when I had my daughter I switched over to mostly only doing photography and running a studio.
I feel like I have a horrible memory. I enjoy looking at photos and reminiscing about how little the kids were or what was going on in our lives at that point. There are so many times when someone passes away and I have the only decent photos of that person. Those portraits are important to me and I feel like my clients value the same thing.
I have a large studio on the Westside, I’ve been shooting for over 20 years now and I enjoy what I do. I have fun getting to know people, their story, their families and watching them grow right in front of me.
Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?
When I was first starting out as a photographer I would sometimes run sales and I wouldn’t get bookings. Even freebies! When I started charging and valuing myself, I started to make an income because people valued me when I valued me.
Think about it,
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
I used to do wedding photography and it felt like everyone was doing wedding photography because there was a huge payday in it. But there were so many newbies doing it who didn’t understand the value of their work and they were undercharging. Between that and the amount of stress it created on my body, I pivoted my photography career and got out of weddings and switched to another genre.
That same year, I got asked to do a huge job, photographing like 50 locations. It would take like 3 months to do, there was a lot of work behind the scenes and I would be away from my 2 kids. Our house had just been flooded in a hurricane and we weren’t even living in it because of this and we could really use the money, but I knew the amount of time and work it would take and while I wanted the job, I also wanted to make sure that I was pricing appropriately to make a living and ultimately not regret taking the job.
I was told the company got three quotes. They ended up booking me for the job. I asked the guy why they chose me. He said they like my personality and willingness to work with them (I did a test shoot at their location.) He said that I was not the cheapest, but I also wasn’t the most expensive.
That resonated with me. Think about it, one of the reasons they hired me was because I wasn’t the cheapest. One of the reasons I stood out was because I valued my work and charged appropriately.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.jaxphotographer.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jaxphotographer
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JaxPhotographer
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christy-whitehead/
Image Credits
JaxPhotographer.com