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

Jennifer, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?

I studied graphic design in college but was always inspired by light and photography. A camera was always in my hand. While working my design job I still took every opportunity to take photos and I often captured places I loved to visit and the food I ate along the way. While I am mostly a self taught photographer I did take some core photography and lighting classes. A lot of what I know is through practice – as Malcolm Gladwell would say “ten thousand hours is the magic number of greatness.” I photographed a lot of things on my own (that included cooking and styling) before I started to hire teams to work with me! My design skills definitely plays a big role in my photography and styling. For anyone starting off now I would highly recommend practicing as often as you can and don’t be shy about reaching out to stylist to test! At the time I started I had no idea stylist exist now I’m so grateful to have many friends to collaborate with.

Jennifer, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I am a photographer who focuses on food, still life, lifestyle and travel. I started my career as a designer and art director and I believe those experiences have helped me develop my unique eye for photography. I am passionate about light and being able to capture a moment that tells a story or transports you to a time and place.

When I took the leap from a full-time salary position to freelance it was really scary and nerve-racking. Every month was a game of how will I make money? Will anyone hire me? Am I good enough? I think being a creative entrepreneur will always have its challenges.

As a small business, you play a lot of different roles that aren’t “creative” – manager, bookkeeper, accountant, marketing, etc. and sometimes it’s hard to balance them all while keeping the creativity going.

I left my salary job 10 years ago, things have definitely gotten easier, but sometimes those feelings always creep back. It’s been an exciting road and I’m excited to see what the next 10 years will bring!

Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

Back when I was starting my photo career – I relied heavily on aphotoeditor.com now there are so many more resources available to photographers including @asksternrep + @fuckgatekeeping. My good friend Ren Fuller and I also started a podcast called Photodump all about the commercial photography industry!

We’d love to hear the story of how you turned a side-hustle into a something much bigger.

Photography was definitely a passion of mine. I never imagined it becoming a full time career. As a designer I was moonlighting as a photographer whenever I had the opportunity. My ah-ha moment was when a restaurant I had photographed on my own for fun reached out saying they loved my work and wanted to use the images. I gave them the images for free but in return they sent me a gift card to their restaurant for a pretty high value. It made me realized my work was valuable (and they have since hired me). From this moment I started to put value into my own work and started to charge for every job. As I’ve grown over the years I’ve learned a lot and now try and put effort into marketing my own work. Catering to the right type of client for my business is essential. A couple of years ago I started to work towards getting bigger commercial jobs and a big milestone for me was getting an agent.

Contact Info:

• Website: jchongstudio.com
• Instagram: @jchongstudio

Image Credits
© Jennifer Chong