We recently connected with Jayde Anzola and have shared our conversation below.

Jayde, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.

One of the biggest risks I’ve taken both in my personal life and professionally was relocating my business from Indiana to Chicago. This story of risk begins with a worldwide pandemic, personal transformations, looming decisions, and a choice that needed to be made.

I entered 2020 like most people did, optimistic for a new decade and ready for a fun year ahead. I was inching close to my mid-twenties and ready to explore a new stage of life as all of my friends and I had finished degrees or began graduate programs, started new jobs, moved into our first places, and/or found a new groove as young adults functioning in a corporate world. My plan was to keep working at my office job, continuing to take photos on the side, and working towards becoming a flight attendant for a major US airline. I was applying to every airline that would take an application, doing video interviews, and even traveling to major cities for in-person interviews to hopefully land a spot in a training program. I got turned down and heard “no” more than I got the “yes”, but I persisted.

Shortly after the start of the new year, the entire world changed and halted as we dealt with the unprecedented difficulty of the Covid-19 pandemic. Everyone was scrambling to find some sense of normalcy that didn’t seem possible anymore. The airline industry took a major hit, and the industry and job itself didn’t feel like a right fit for me anymore. Concurrently, I was sitting at my parent’s house not working because of the shutdowns, so I decided to take every free course I could find online about photography, my side gig for the previous 3ish years. I got a few weddings here and there, but it was never my focus because I had my sights set on the sky, and now that there was something in between me and the sky, I had to try to find something to give my mind something to think about. I learned even more about weddings and shooting them, and I started to feel the passion that I have always had for photography grow even more fierce. I learned everything I could, and as soon as it was safe again, I started photographing more and more couples and in turn, more and more weddings. I was starting to get noticed for my work by friends of friends of friends, getting inquiries from strangers who saw my work on Instagram and loved it, and my business grew so quickly. I started booking more and more weddings, and I also was starting work again in my office job. I was working two full-time jobs essentially, and then the time came where I had to choose. I chose photography, and went full time in July of 2021.

Shortly after going full-time, I booked out my calendar with incredible weddings and even more incredible clients, and I was thoroughly enjoying where I was. I was servicing Indianapolis, Terre Haute, and surrounding areas mostly and I found comfort in being in spaces where I had either a personal connection, or I was just a person or two away from knowing someone. This familiarity started to blur into monotony, and I started to feel like “okay, what’s next?” in both my business, and in my life. I was shooting close to 80+ weddings, hundreds and hundreds of sessions, and something felt like it was missing. It took me a few short months to realize that I had outgrown my life in Indiana and that I was ready for a major change. That major change ended up being relocation.

I did extensive research on a few of the major Midwest cities (my Midwest roots run DEEP) from Milwaukee, Cleveland and even St. Louis, and then I landed on it: Chicago. Part of me was terrified even thinking about looking into what a move looked like to Chicago because how is someone who grew up in a town of 12,000 going to even survive in a place like that?! I had only a couple friends who lived up that way and they had all established their own lives and their own friends up there; this wasn’t like college where you could wiggle your way into a group and stick. I thought of every possible financial scenario with a move this big, and every number I crunched worked out. I visited and shot in Chicago a few times before deciding to invest my heart into the decision, and every time I drove on Lake Shore Drive past the lake and twinkling lights, I knew that this place just had to become home. I told my mom that I wanted to move to Chicago, and that’s when it became the most real. I started moving my business during the summer of 2022 with my marketing strategies, and by December 2022, I was living in the Windy City in an adorable one-bedroom walkup apartment in a quaint city neighborhood. The days that followed were still filled with uncertainty, lined with anxiety, and some quiet whispers of “did I just completely and royally f*ck up my entire life?”, so to say the move was blissful at the beginning would be a complete lie.

However, the weeks and months following were full of growing pains and adjustments that led to sweet nights with my sweet friends, new and old, neighborhood walks, digging my car out of the Chicago snow, clients that made my heart feel on fire with life and creativity. and so many cotton candy skies painted behind the glimmering skyline. I have made the best community in Chicago with friends that are the most supportive and loving. I have created the best work of my entire life in the city, and had opportunities that I never could’ve dreamed would be in my grasp. The days have sometimes been long, they’ve been hard, but they’ve also been so, so good. I can’t even begin to think about what life would look like if I hadn’t take that chance to move to the Windy City.

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’m Jayde, and I am the owner and lead photographer of JNAVisuals LLC. My business primarily focuses on love stories with capturing weddings, engagements, and elopements worldwide. I got into this business like most people do – a love for taking a photo and many point-and-shoots brought along to family vacations and sleepovers. I studied a little bit of film in high school, learning the delicacy of a darkroom, and falling completely in love with the old photo textbooks with pages lined with old photographs. The idea of immortalizing a moment was fascinating to me, and I carried that throughout the rest of high school. Upon graduating, I saved up my graduation money to buy a Canon Rebel T5, and that little guy went with me everywhere. I took photos of my friends, my family, and anyone else who was willing to stand in random bug-filled fields for that good light. I started with senior photos in 2016, transitioned to weddings in 2018, and specialized in weddings shortly after. Along the entire journey, it was very important to me that every person I photographed felt comfortable and like themselves in their images. I have always been guided by the pillar of inclusivity and comfortability, and this was a priority as my business continued to grow. My brand, while is has aesthetically had a few looks over the years, has had the same servant’s heart behind it, pumping life into the art I create for the incredible people who trust me.

The thing that I have found that separates me from other photographers is that I have an innate ability to read a room and read a situation and react accordingly. I think that is one of the most overlooked qualities in a photographer especially for weddings, and having social and situational intelligence and awareness is such a big strength to have. Wedding days are not productions, and the marriage that results from a wedding day is what matters most, so knowing when to step back and let moments be moments, and also recognizing that some things, like family photos, require more direction and guidance is vital!

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?

In a creative space in a creative and service based industry, it can be really hard to recognize just how much heart and soul goes into the day-to-day seemingly mundane parts of business. It’s hard to have a “shut-off” mode because I am always thinking about my clients, the photos left to edit, the gallery I just sent, the wedding I have coming up, etc. I don’t clock out and I can’t just turn my back like is more common in 9-5 corporate jobs. I also don’t have traditional coworkers, and that gets really challenging too. Even simple “water cooler chats” don’t exist in this job so I’ve gone days without speaking to another person before. It gets incredibly lonely.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

My creative journey is driven solely by my desire to produce art for incredible people and make their memories into something tangible. I think celebrating love and celebrating all love is the coolest freaking job ever, and it doesn’t need to get any more complicated than that.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://jnavisuals.com
• Instagram: https://Instagram.com/jnavisuals