We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Jennifer Van Jaarsveld Kinney. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Jennifer below.
Alright, Jennifer thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. 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.
At 46, I decided to take a big step back from my teaching job to start a portrait photography business. Talk about a risk! I’ve been teaching for over 20 years, and have gotten a lot fulfillment out of that career. But photography has always been my creative passion. In middle and high school, my best friends and I would have photo shoots in my bedroom with my little point and shoot camera, and I remember begging my mom every day to take me to pick up the prints at the local grocery store when I thought they’d be done. In college, I’d convince my friends to wear outfits I picked out for them and do photo shoots around campus, or go on walks alone with my camera, photographing the little details that struck me along the way. I moved to the West Coast after graduating from college and I’m so glad I have the images from that three month road trip to look back on and remember that time in my life. Photos and photography have always felt like such a gift to me.
But professionally, I decided to focus on a different interest, working with kids, and I settled on going back to grad school to get a masters degree in teaching. I taught Language Arts, Creative Writing, and Photography at a local high school and got a lot of enjoyment and fulfillment working with high school students and their families. I’ve always felt like I let a little personal dream slip away though, by not exploring photography. It took me a long time to get here, but finally, in the summer of 2024, I decided to take my side-hustle of photography and launch it into an actual business. Well, it’s still a side hustle I guess. I’m still teaching part time. But I’m looking forward to continuing to grow in 2025!
Giving up a full-time career of stability and routine to learn the ropes of running a business and generating my own income is scary, to say the least. But it’s also been really exciting and I’m feeling invigorated by how much I learn and grow every day. Juggling teaching and running a photography business is a lot, but I’m really happy I decided to take this step. It’s hard to explain, but it feels like I am on the right path now more than I ever have been in my life.
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 have always had a drive to be creative, whether through writing, decorating personal spaces, styling clothing, or making photographs. For many years, I channeled this creative energy into teaching, but I always felt something was missing. I had an urge to create more often, in new and more visual ways. I knew photography was always a practice that brought me great joy but it didn’t seem possible to actually make that into a career. In 2012, I was diagnosed with cancer, and that was when the shift toward a more creative life really started. Now in 2024 I’m finally starting my business “for real” but it all started back then, when life turned upside down for while.
I think that’s another reason why photography speaks so strongly to me. I’m interested in helping others see themselves with love and compassion, and as part of a community that needs them because of the value they bring. Most people, myself included, feel somewhat insecure about their looks, their value, their worth. And while I think my experience with cancer helped show me how limiting that way of viewing myself can be, not everyone has had an opportunity that has shaken and shifted them like this. If I can make a portrait of someone, and they can look at it and see their strength, beauty, energy, and authentic self, that is such a powerful thing and something priceless. I want to give people a glimpse into their personal power and I think beautiful imagery can help do this.
Taking the financial risk is very scary. I’ve had the luxury of being able to keep a stable part time job alongside starting this business, and am really grateful for that. But there is always that nagging voice saying, “Why would you leave a very stable, predictable job with benefits and time off for something so unpredictable? Are you nuts?” I’m currently finding out, and I’m proud for finally taking a leap. I’m choosing to believe that if I keep going, keep dreaming and working hard to move toward bringing those dreams to life, then it will all work out. I really don’t know what this will turn into, but I don’t think I’m supposed to know just yet.
Ultimately, I want my clients to know that my desire for creating this business is completely heart-driven. I have always been someone awed by witnessing others come into their own. I can’t think of any work better in this moment helping hold a mirror up to someone so they can see the beauty they bring to the world around them. Through seeing our own power, strength, vulnerability and beauty, maybe we can start to more clearly see these things in others. And who knows, maybe through having that experience, people will start to be a little gentler with themselves and those around them. Things the world is definitely in dire need of right now.
Is there mission driving your creative journey?
This is a 100% heart-led venture. I love connecting with people and developing strong relationships. I strive to bring out the authentic best in every person I photograph. I am honest, unscripted, and care deeply about the folks who trust me to photograph them. Providing an easy, fun, genuine experience for my clients is always the goal. Human connection and authenticity are so very important to me and that’s why I’m so drawn to portraits in particular. They are a little piece of a person, moment, experience frozen in time forever. How beautiful it is to be a part of something like that. I know how totally grateful I am to have portraits of my parents and grandparents to look back on and love that I get to play a small part in helping others capture these fleeting lives we all live.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
The most rewarding aspect of doing this work is knowing that I provide an important service for people, and that I get to do that through getting to know them and bringing out their best. To help tell someone’s story with my camera is a job I don’t take lightly, although I have so much fun doing it! I love using creative posing and prompting to get authentic imagery that my clients will smile and feel proud of when they see it. To have a client say, “how did you capture us so perfectly?” or “I actually love this photo of myself!” is just the best gift ever. Getting to create and connect with others at the same time is super rewarding and I’m so lucky I get to do it.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.jenleephoto.com
- Instagram: @jenleephotobend (https://www.instagram.com/jenleephotobend/)
- Facebook: Jen Lee Photography (https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61567220113072)