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

Hi Jared, thanks for joining us today. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?

I am the new owner of fotostrap and recently celebrated one year of owning the business and 10 years of the business existing. Becoming the new owner of a global mission-based brand is a humbling experience and one that I do not take lightly.
Fotostrap started with the mission to be more than just a company that makes camera straps when our founder had a life altering photo shoot with a terminally ill infant and his brave parents. She quickly realized the power she possessed with storytelling through photography. Fotostrap was born with the heart to continue to make a positive impact in the world by creating products that could do more, give back, and make a difference. We wanted a camera strap that wasn’t about us but about the person wearing the strap. Which is why a portion of all sales goes to a non-profit named Fotolanthropy, a company that creates inspiring documentaries of individuals who have persevered through adversity.

When it was time for me to take ownership of the company I wanted to add my own fingerprint to the DNA of the company without losing its heart. I wanted to dig deeper in the mission of being more than just a company that creates camera straps by helping to equip and empower the photography community through education and products that can help grow their business. I’ve been a portrait photographer for more than 15 years, and I’m bringing my educational background to the business. I want to support both emerging and seasoned photographers in growing their businesses and telling their stories.

It is a complete honor to own such a meaningful company that is bigger than me. I hope that it can continue to bring hope and inspiration to the world for years to come.

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 Jared and I have owned and operated my own portrait photography business, Jared Rey Photography, since 2007. I grew up around a camera as a child which led me to pick up a camera for myself at a young age and I decided to make it a business after I graduated college with a degree in Art Education.

I am a strong believer in the power of networking and serving those around you without the intention of how they can benefit you. Going in with this mentality and relationship with those I encounter allowed me to grow stronger as a photographer and get connected to job opportunities I would have never been able to find on my own. I have shot for big brands, celebrities, and athletes over the 15+ year span of my business and it can all be traced back to connections I made early on in my career.

I even volunteered my photography services for friends who owned non-profit organizations. It was through networking and volunteering that would eventually lead me down the path of taking ownership of the global mission-based brand, foto. When the original owner of foto had to decide to sell her business to focus on her non-profit she didn’t want to sell it to just anyone. She wanted to give it to someone she trusted who she knew would continue to hold its values and grow it in ways she could only dream. For some CRAZY reason, out of ALL the photographers that she knows, I was the one who came to mind. As hard as it is to wrap my head around the concept of someone thinking of me to take on such a big responsibility, I knew it came down to the time I spent selflessly serving and building relationships.

Why is this important to my story? Because all the opportunities that have come my way have been traced back to relationships. This is what I bring to the table as the new owner of foto. I want to educate the photography community in the power of networking and relationship building. I want us all to see each other as a community over competition. I want us to be able to pour into one another and build each other up as we go through our photography journey.

How does this translate into a product such as fotostrap? Being more than a camera strap company means that we help photographers by creating products that are of the highest quality that will help elevate their style and get them to stand out in the crowd.

We want photographers to be seen more than just a person with a “nice” camera so we now offer free personalization. This allows photographers to engrave their logo on their fotostrap which gives them a sense of ownership and authority when they are out shooting. We create products that showcase their branding instead of our own which can help bring them business when people see their name while they are out doing what they love. In an effort to prevent other photographers from making the same mistakes I did when I first started, I have also started to create content about the photography industry and what I have learnt over the years.

Having a larger platform to reach new photographers is exciting and I am looking forward to getting to hear stories from our customers of how our products have helped their business. I also hope that our community can connect with one another and begin building relationships that can help them reach goals they never even could have imagined.

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

As a photographer one of the best ways that I built my brand was through attending in-person educational workshops and shoot-outs. By attending these events it gave me two huge advantages: Education and Networking. I was able to learn and grow my skills as a photographer which improved my overall work and I was able to begin making connections with photographers I admired and who were in the same boat as me. If I ever had any questions about photography I now had a connection to people I could ask directly and get to where I needed to go. After years go by and my skills improved some of those photographers that were in the same boat as me grew as well and began teaching their own workshops. When they wanted to have multiple speakers at their workshop and wanted to invite photographers, who do you think they reach out to first? The ones they have followed and have made a connection with in the past! All the times I have been asked to speak at workshops and events have been from connections I made earlier in my career and by speaking at these events built my reputation and helped establish my business to my own audience.

Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?

The books that have changed my approach to marketing my photography and e-commerce business has been Marketing Made Simple and Building a Story Brand by Donald Miller. As a photographer who makes a living from telling stories through visual imagery I was intrigued by the idea that you could use written storytelling as a way to market your business. After reading these books it challenged me to thinking of marketing differently and approach it in a way that brought people along on a journey. It is fascinating and super fun to learn about. I highly recommend it for any service-based business and product-based business.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.fotostrap.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/fotostrap
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/fotostrap
• Linkedin: jaredrey
• Twitter: fotostrap
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtuVIUFli5-G6xy_nFE8vkw
• Other: tiktok: www.tiktok.com/@fotostrap

Image Credits
Jared Rey Photography