We recently connected with Jared Gotcher and have shared our conversation below.

Jared, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Alright – so having the idea is one thing, but going from idea to execution is where countless people drop the ball. Can you talk to us about your journey from idea to execution?

I became a photographer sort of by accident.

I had been practicing visual arts basically my whole life, but I went to school for language arts, focusing most intently on writing poetry. I did, however, take as many fine art classes as I could in university: classes in drawing, painting, and design. My senior year, I took a digital arts class, and a friend of mine (a photography major) lent me his camera for the class and spent an afternoon showing me how to use it and explaining the exposure triangle.

A few months later, I was invited to be the opening performer in Tampa for the Poets In Autumn tour. After I opened the show, I asked the touring artists if they would like me to photograph the rest of the show for them. I was trying to add as much value as I could to their show, and I figured it would be a fun challenge. The artists were so thrilled with the images I delivered, I got the idea to continue photographing shows for various artists as a way to give back to the rappers and poets who have influenced me, and a way to build a network within the industry. For the next year or so, I went on to photograph other shows in Tampa, Jacksonville, Orlando, and Miami for some internationally renowned hip-hop artists like KB, Andy Mineo, and Propaganda. Still, I never intended for photography to be my job.

My concert photos circulated, and people began to ask me to do family photography, portrait photography, event photography, and so on. I decided I would take these inquiries as an opportunity to help my friend Alexander (the one who had lent me his camera) start his own photography business. In my mind, photography was still his thing; I would be his wingman. At first, we took on every inquiry we received. We were making peanuts and photographing constantly across genres. We made a ton of mistakes as a business and honestly weren’t very successful, but we learned a lot about doing photography for a living and a lot about ourselves as artists. Most pertinently, I learned that I actually loved photography; it became part of the way that I instinctively see and interact with the world. I also learned that I really do not like staring at a screen for hours (which may explain why my website is kind of trash).

In 2019, right after my first child was born, I began shooting film, and my joy in photography deepened. The analog process brought me closer to my roots in visual arts, closer to paint brushes and cotton canvases. I felt more connected to the process of shooting and the subjects I photographed (and I hardly ever had to stare at a screen). On top of that, photography became way more personal for me. I started carrying a camera with me everywhere and taking all the opportunities that came to document our family life.

My wife and I have three children now, and it is the intimate documentation of our family life that inspires me in all of my client work. I shoot documentary and portraits on film, with the same intentionality, empathy, honesty, and joy that I have in photographing my own family every day.

Jared, 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?

In the last segment, I shared a good deal about how I got into photography.

At the risk of sounding pretentious, my artistic vision is for truth and beauty in life and light. As for beauty and light, I am a (somewhat neurotic) classically-trained visual artist. I cannot help but to pay careful attention to symmetry and space, line and shape, color and texture, light and shadow: the abstract visual elements that influence the aesthetic of an image. But, as for truth and life, I am a husband, a father, and a poet; I seek moments and emotion, gesture and expression, character and chaos; my work is nothing if not honest. Even my portraits should be documentary. I strive to balance having the courage and empathy to tell the truth about people and their lives with having the humility and skill to tell it such that everyone wants to listen.

Just to ground my sentiments a bit more, I offer documentary and portrait photography to businesses, families, couples, and individuals. Of course, most of my clients do use my images on their social profiles and websites, but I am not here to take Instagram bangers. I want the photos that I take to mean something in a hundred years; my clients understand that and want the same thing. One day we all will be a stone in the grass and a box of old photographs. I’m here to make sure your box is full and beautiful.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

My health seriously declined during 2017, right before my wife and I got married. At the time, I thought I was just overworking or that maybe I was getting lazy, but I continued to worsen over the year no matter what I did. My wife was convinced that something was wrong with me, so she lovingly forced me to seek medical help and we began the search for answers. By the middle of 2018, I was sleeping no less than 13 hours most days and still I was exhausted and racked with pain all my waking hours; I would also periodically collapse and be unable to get out of bed for more than a couple hours, sometimes for weeks at a time. I started my master’s degree program in August of that year.. I was only a part-time student, but it was very difficult to keep up with the work, given my health. We still had no answers.

In God’s providence, I was finally diagnosed with Addison’s Disease in January of 2019; I began treatment three days before our first child was born. We’re very thankful that, with the right medication, I’m able to function somewhat normally, I went on to graduate with my master’s degree in applied linguistics in December of 2021. My wife also graduated with her master’s degree in nursing science in May of 2022. Oh, and we also had two more children. It’s humbling to look back on all that God has brought us through these last five years. It’s been a lot of teamwork, coffee, and grace.

Along with the demands of fatherhood, my health is one of the things that has kept me working as a photographer. It’s one of the few careers I can have that gives me the flexibility to rest when I need to. I’m also able to approach my work in a way minimizes its detriment to my condition, and I’m able to empathize with clients who aren’t feeling their best during a shoot.

Can you talk to us about how you funded your business?

A few months into our marriage, my wife and I fell victim to a scam. The scammer pretended to be purchasing a piece of furniture from us on Facebook marketplace. He sent us a check for way too much money. When we received it, he said just to deposit it and then send him the extra money back via Zelle. Yeah, you know that’s really sketchy, but we were young and unassuming.

The check appeared to clear because we used mobile deposit & the money instantly appeared in our account; had we gone into the bank, they would have told us the check was fraudulent. Anyways, we sent this man the “extra” money from his purchase, and two days later, the check bounced and the money from the check was gone, along with the several thousand dollars “extra” that we had wired the man. Stupid.

Anyways, I tell this story to explain that we were dead broke. I funded my first camera purchase by going through all my belongings and selling all the valuable things that I didn’t need or didn’t use any more; among those things was my guitar. I scrapped together the money to buy a Fujifilm X-T2. I didn’t have the money for a proper lens, so I used a Minolta Rokkor-X 50mm F1.4 lens adapted to my X-T2. I actually shot my first wedding with that camera and lens (and got paid a whopping $300).

The story of how I funded my business from there is pretty straight forward. I used the money I made from photography to purchase equipment as I needed it. To this day, I’m still very minimalistic with the amount of equipment I have, and I do not purchase new equipment until the equipment I have has already paid for itself (ie, I have made more money using it than I spent on it in the first place).

Contact Info:

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

Image Credits
Jared Gotcher