We recently connected with Jennifer Meza and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Jennifer thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Alright, so you had your idea and then what happened? Can you walk us through the story of how you went from just an idea to executing on the idea
I had been doing a ton of graduation sessions for students at UNT and TWU but it wasn’t something I enjoyed doing, don’t get me wrong I loved being able to capture important milestones in someones life but I realized early on doing grad sessions just wasn’t for me. I was photographing at the same locations and it started to get repetitive. It wasn’t until a friend of a friend reached out to me to ask if I could photograph their small wedding for just an hour or two. I think from that point on is where I realized I actually wanted to dive into the wedding industry and become a wedding photographer. Photographing someones wedding is a huge responsibility, there are so many things that can go wrong and you need to be prepared for each and every situation. This is where I started to layout my plan on how I’m actually going to turn this into a job. My first step was gaining more experience so Instead of diving right in to immediately try and book a wedding client I did second shooting for awhile. Second shooting is where you find a seasoned wedding photographer and you’re the person that’s assisting them throughout the day and helping in capturing images. I did that for awhile so I could learn how a wedding day works from start to finish. From there I had to learn all the legal stuff- taxes, making your business legit not just a hobby- all of that sounded intimidating to me but I sat down and told myself it’s now or never. From writing up contracts, finding someone to be my second shooter, investing in gear, this all took about two years or so. There’s so much that goes on behind the scenes besides just showing up and photographing a wedding that people might not realize. My bookings kinda just snowballed during this entire process. One person would hear about me from someone else or they’d come across me on instagram and that’s how I started booking clients. Turning this into a business has been a long journey and I’m still even now learning things to improve to better serve my clients. Sitting here thinking about how I started versus now is sorta crazy to think about I didn’t think I’d get to this point but after putting in all the work it definitely makes it worth it.
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
I remember sitting in a class back in middle school taking a “career assessment” quiz where you answer a few questions to then receive some recommended job fields to get into. My answer always came back as “graphic designer” as a potential field I would be interested in. Honestly, I’ve always wanted to be a graphic designer (at least back in the day) I always enjoyed art class I was ALWAYS drawing or painting. I learned how to use Photoshop and Illustrator early on and I even took a few animation classes and I wasn’t too bad at it! However it wasn’t until I got to college where I realized I actually didn’t want to be a graphic designer. I was sitting in a design class listening to lecture and something in me just clicked where in my head I knew this was not the path for me. There’s a lot in between then and now that happened to get to where I am today. Long story short, I was taking a photography class as an elective at the time and took a leap and switched majors to fine arts with a focus in photography. I ended up graduating with that major and from that point ended up where I am now. I’m now a wedding photographer and capture weddings and engagement sessions! The one thing I hear the most from clients early on is “I’m awkward in front of the camera I don’t know what to do” and by the end of the session they always let me know how easy and comfortable they felt being in front of the camera. My approach is always to help with posing but also giving prompts to have them do something so they’re not staring into the lens. This is the biggest piece of advice I give to those that are new at photographing couples, always start with giving prompts for them to do this always helps get people more comfortable being in front of the camera. You can say “pretend like I’m not here” as much as you want but it’s kinda hard to ignore someone with a camera snapping photos away while you’re standing right there. I think this is what brings clients to me and why I love hearing feedback like “thanks for helping us not be awkward!” my favorite one is always from the guys that clearly do not want to be in front of the camera and say “that was actually really easy!” that’s how I know I did a job well done. I want people to feel comfortable and to have fun during their session and be at ease on their wedding day and If I can accomplish that then it’s a win for me.
What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients?
Word of mouth and social media has been the way I get most all my clients. Once I book a session with a wedding client and after their wedding day is done they’ll upload their photos on social media and then their friends and family see the photos who then contact me so it’s been a great way to get new clients. I see a lot of familiar faces at some weddings since I’m photographing a past brides friends wedding or whoever it may be which is always great to see familiar faces!
Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?
Being in the wedding industry you hear a ton of “do this not that”. There were rules for wedding days and how they should go and how you need to do this but not that. Very early on I also had someone I second shot for tell me all the “terrible” brides they’ve had which almost made me second guess being a wedding photographer. Even some photographers that aren’t in the wedding industry say things like “I’ll never do weddings brides are too much!”. I learned that brides aren’t too much. They’ve been executing ideas making their idea boards online for this one specific day so of course they want things to go smoothly! Luckily I took all of that out of my head so I wouldn’t go into wedding days just automatically assuming brides are going to be bridezillas. It’s a stressful day and my job is to ease their stress not just show up and take pretty pictures. I had to unlearn all the “rules” about the wedding industry. There are no “rules”. For any future brides reading this, do whatever you want. I think this generation specifically is really good at breaking the traditional rules of wedding days and I’m excited to see what future brings.
Contact Info:
- Website: jennifermezaphotography.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jennifermezaphotography/