We recently connected with Jayna Kropas and have shared our conversation below.

Jayna , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

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 Jayna, a food photographer, stylist, and art director. I provide companies, restaurants, and brands beautiful food photography for their advertising and marketing needs. Photography is such an important element that food brands need in order to make their product look appetizing, unique, and delicious. I get to cook, design, and style meals, collect props, come up with creative ideas, and of course, photograph (and eat) the final outcome.

I work as a “one woman show” meaning I offer the services that would normally be taken on by other people. A “normal” commercial photoshoot would consist of a team of photographers, food stylists, prop stylists, art directors, videographers, etc. I market myself as an all inclusive package because I offer a little bit of all of those skills. There are definitely some limitations to this way of working, but I like to only accept the jobs I feel are manageable for my output, which also allows me to work with a lot of smaller brands and startups. This benefits them because they can keep their expenses lower and don’t have to worry about finding and hiring a team, but it also benefits me because I get their business and have no employees or overhead. Working with clients like this is the most exciting because they act as a blank canvas. There is usually more flexibility and space to play because they are exploring all the ways to make their brands stand out. I also enjoy working with bigger brands and agencies too. They are different because there is usually a lot of structure and support, and many of my questions are always answered since there are strict brand rules and guidelines that I have to follow. It’s exciting in a different way, so I enjoy having both types of clients.

Some of the things I do for photoshoots:

Food styling: I have a huge tackle box of styling tools, which always gets a great reaction when I open it up on set. It holds hundreds of forks, spoons, knives, tweezers, brushes, miniature bowls, cutting boards, sprays, sticky putty, and prop blocks. I always have a torch on hand for any cheese that needs to be melted, or a milk frother and soap in sight for beers that need some fresh foam. I try to keep most of my food photography natural and true to the product, but sometimes the food needs a little bit of help to photograph just right. I use a paintbrush with oil and gravy master to add shine and freshness to any meat or protein, since they start to look cold and dry rather quickly. Sandwiches are built towards one side of the bread that is facing the camera to show off all of the elements within. This leaves the back of the sandwich empty and lopsided, so there are always paper towels stuffed inside to hold the pieces of bread up. Cheese is the hardest item to work with. It loses its shine and solidifies almost immediately, so I typically use queso cheese and food coloring for any melty cheese like in burritos, burgers, sandwiches, etc.

Prop styling: I get paid to shop! I source and collect all kinds of plates, silverware, bowls, napkins, drinking glasses, you name it. Some brands want a homey, farm-to-table style, while others want minimalistic, clean, and modern. I have to collect it all. I have several large backgrounds with textured surfaces that I set up to create scenes for the food. Along with the normal tableware, there are some brands that require a lot of interesting and unexpected props for certain holidays and campaigns. A few that I can see in my closet right now are disco balls, Christmas trees and decorations, fake snow, sand, furniture, pumpkins, toys, games, picnic baskets, and flowers. My closet is overflowing with the most bizarre items.

Photography & lighting: Almost every image I take is with recreated light. Some food photographers use natural light which is truly stunning, but hard to control. I can’t afford to chase the light around as it changes or cancel photo shoots because of a cloudy day, so I experiment with artificial light to recreate the sunlight and invent stunning moments at all hours of the day. Sometimes I shoot late at night and I can still capture ideas like coffee and an egg sandwich in early morning sunlight, a romantic dinner and a cocktail enjoyed during a golden hour sunset, or even a mid day beach scene in bright, sunny, afternoon lighting. The angle, height, strength, and positioning of the light along with how it’s being modified all matters when creating each scene. Adding diffusion or shaping the light can help create shadows or add interest to the scene. My favorite is harsh golden hour lighting because it makes any food glisten and glow in such a beautiful way.

Motion: stop motion animation is one of my favorite things to do. A series of events such as pouring milk into a coffee or a runny egg yolk oozing out of a breakfast sandwich can look so magical photographed as a stop motion. I also love a good action shot where the food is frozen in time like a cookie splashing into a glass of milk or a lime exploding over shrimp tacos. Every bead of liquid that splashes out is featured and creates a sparkling effect. 

Bragging rights: Our fridge at home is always overflowing with leftovers from restaurant shoots, or several of the same products like salsas, dips, hummus, sauces, desserts….the list goes on! Many people think the food during a photoshoot is inedible, which is only somewhat accurate. There can be a lot of waste, which is an unfortunate part of the job, but that’s only relevant for the food that is being featured on camera. There is always extra behind the scenes that gets consumed. Each job requires grocery trips to collect ingredients and flavor cues that are used in the scenes, and are typically left untouched so I can cook with them afterwards. Meals that don’t get manipulated or left out too long during the shoots are usually eaten for lunch or dinner after the images are captured.

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

I don’t exactly have a large audience on social media but I think it is such an important part of any business. Many of my clients find me through instagram, so it’s become such an amazing tool and is basically free marketing. I use it as an up to date portfolio because let’s be real…who has time to continuously update their website?! In my industry, new work is created every week and it becomes exhausting to keep up with. Instagram became my solution for me to showcase exciting new projects that would otherwise just sit on my hard drive. Plus, clients typically share and repost anything they are featured in, which is another form of outreach and markets my services to a larger audience. Social media is constantly changing so it can be frustrating to post every, but I think it’s totally worth it.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

Running a business is terrifying. There’s a lot of doubt and stress involved no matter how good or successful you are. I sometimes feel isolated and don’t think I’ll ever get used to the fact that I am the one in charge and responsible if there are questions or challenges. I came from working on a team for a company with a budget, support, and space to work, so straying away from that has been difficult. Currently, my biggest challenge has been deciding if I need to rent a studio or not. I need a kitchen as well as a large room for shooting and storage, so finding a space is more difficult than just renting a cheap location to set up in. It becomes such a big investment and adds layers of complication to my business that I’m just not ready to navigate at this time. I found a way to work around the challenge and figured out how to make my home a “studio.” It may not be the prettiest or most professional, but I’ve found a way to make it work until I’m ready to expand. Our house looks like a tornado has ripped through the kitchen on most days, but I was able to adapt and create a small-scale, portable studio that I can pack up after a shoot and convert back into our kitchen/living room. It shows that you don’t necessarily need a fancy space or top of the line equipment to make quality work. You work with what you have and make solutions when you can. 

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.jaynakropasphoto.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jaynakropas/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jayna-kropas/
• Other: Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/jaynakropas