Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Jenna Grap. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Jenna , appreciate you joining us today. So, folks often look at a successful business and think it became a success overnight – but that often obscures all the nitty, gritty details of everything that went into the growth phase of your business. We’d love to hear about your scaling story and how you scaled up?

I started doing photography at a young age. I started doing client work when I was in high school. It started with senior photos, family photos, and then on to weddings and I was so in love with the art. I knew right away that this is what I wanted to do with my life and while I was in high school. We had to take some career classes to get us thinking about our future. I would always picked photographer and teachers would always shut that down and told me I couldn’t make that a career, so I worked really hard to make it a career. I began to grow a clientele while I was in high school from word of mouth. When I came to college I was back to square one. I attended college at Minneapolis college of of Art and Design, majoring in photography. While in school I learned so many things to help better my photography and I am so glad I did. I thought I wanted to do weddings, senior and family portraits, But college really changed my perspective on the type of photography that I wanted to do. Working in studios and learning more if the basics to commercial photography, I decided to turn my focus to making my career more commercial based. I still love to do portraits on the side, especially more stylized, editorial portraits, which is where my work has evolved to. I started my commercial journey by working at MCAD working in their design office as an event/product photographer and editor. Here I learned all new skills in working with clients, meeting deadlines and better organization. At the same time I started working for a dance competition as a stage photographer. I was never a dancer but I learned so much about the dance world and started to work with dancers who ware models. From dance, I had an amazing opportunity to volunteer at a dance photography convention. Volunteering there, I was stationed in an area where there were small studio spaces set up with special lighting and it was my job to help and guide the other photographers on how to work there equipment and the lighting equipment. I truly have a passion with working with people so I felt so lucky to be in this volunteering position. I l also learned so much from there the other photographers and from some of the classes that they were teaching and it was truly an amazing experience. Getting out there in the world and learning new things and creating new work is the best way to be able to move up in this field. I started to get my name out a little more thanks to word of mouth and being as active as I can on social media and that was helpful to get me more commercial based work. I shot menus items for a small restaurant, and I also did work for Milk jam Creamery in Minneapolis. Even though I was working full time at other odd jobs to pay the bills continuing to shoot and create work and bettering your craft is the best advice I can give. I recently landed a job working for Soona studios which is exactly the kind of job that I want to be doing at this point in my life so I’m really excited for this opportunity. My goals as a practice photographer are to be able to move up in the commercial world and eventually be shooting more editorial fashion. Progress is slow but success come with time and I’m very excited about my future.

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

Hey my name is Jenna and I am a Minneapolis based photographer. I fell in love with photography at a very young age after my Mom gifted me a disposable camera to take on a road trip that we were taking at the time. After that I knew right away that, that is what I wanted to do. I fell in love with the idea of capturing a moment and when I learned more about photography and styling as a creative it made me fall in love with the art even more. To create an image from little to nothing and seeing an image all come together in the end is the most rewarding feeling. I also have a passion for working with people. I love to see my clients happy with a shoot and how the shoot made them feel in the end, because when my clients feels good about themself after a shoot I know I did something right. Thant alone has been one of the biggest driving factors when it came to continuing this line of work. I feel the most confident when when I’m working in a creative environment. Because I like working with people so much, most of work is either portraiture or working along side clients to achieve the shots they are looking for. Something I have learned as a practicing photographer and how to become a better photographer you have to be able to take constructive criticism from others who are practicing or professionals in the industry. Because if you cant take the criticism or want to learn new ways of shooting or new techniques or just small changes you can make to a photo make your stronger, then there is a chance your work will never progress into something better.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

My goal as a photographer is to be able to work in the fashion industry doing editorial portrait photography for ad campaigns or magazines. To get there I know I have to work my way up to that point. Some people hope their dream job will come straight outta college but usually that isn’t the case. So I believe being patient with your journey and taking the necessary actions to better your work, gain new skills and perfect your craft will bring the jobs you need to be able to move up closer to your goals. I feel that if someone just tries and jump straight to there dreams they may feel disappointed if they don’t get the jobs they are going for and then that can lead to giving up on those goals.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

A lot of non- creatives just don’t quite understand the amount of work it takes to be a photographer. When clients hire me, I want them to hire me for my quality of work, but some clients think photography is “just pushing a button”. So I want my clients to understand my work is a lot more than that. Photography is a lot of technical knowledge, composition knowledge and design and color theory. Sure photography can be a lot more simple than that but I feel if you truly want to be a successful photographer those are all things you need to know and understand as a creative in the photo industry. there is also lighting and shadow techniques that are also important when it comes to taking a great photo. On top of all that, all the post production that goes into your work after the shoot, re-touching and editing all those photos. The knowledge on how to properly use presets and photoshop. There is so much that goes into creating great work that a lot of clients don’t understand and take for granted.

Contact Info:

• Website: Jennagrap.com
• Instagram: jg_photo618
• Facebook: Jenna Grap
• Linkedin: Jenna Grap

Image Credits
Models, Sofia Bisbocci, Natalie Ortilla, Alyssa Fenolio.