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

Jaren, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear about how you got your first non-friend, non-family client. Paint the picture for us so we can feel the same excitement you felt on that day.

My first ever client was for a one year old birthday shoot. I was super nervous because they wanted it in studio and all of my practice sessions were outdoor photoshoots. I asked my cousin, who is a photographer also to come with me and basically guide me in the right direction. I was super nervous and wanted everything to go perfect, so I was asking him questions every second of the shoot. My clients loved the photos but looking back at them today I was really horrible!

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 am Jaren Turner, from Tuscaloosa, Al. I am an employee at Mercedes-Benz full time and I do photography on the side. I specialize in portrait, creative, and branding photography. I got into photography from being around the environment of a photographer I know and he pushed me into getting my own camera to start shooting. I finally did and things took off from there. The thing that makes me proud the most being a photographer is being able to take an idea or concept formed by myself or someone else and actually outputting it into my photos. Also, seeing the reaction of my clients is an exciting aspect as well for me. I just want to keep advancing my skills and putting out quality content that people will love.

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

The most effective way of growing clientele is constantly putting out content for people to see and make them want to engage with you as their potential photographer. Also, word of mouth travels really well. So treating your clients with excellent customer service and giving them a great experience will really be beneficial for growing your business

Where do you think you get most of your clients from?

Social media is the number one source for bringing in new clientele. Everyone is on social media nowadays, so even if you’re not directly friends with that person there’s a strong chance they will see your work from a mutual friend.

Contact Info:

• Website: infocusphotography95.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/__infocusphotography?igshid=Zjc2ZTc4Nzk=
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/InFocusPhotography95?mibextid=LQQJ4d

Image Credits
Headshots of myself are by @j_knoxphotography. All other images are courtesy of InFocus Photography