We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jeremy Janus a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Jeremy, thanks for joining us today. Do you wish you had started sooner?

At the start of February 2022 I left my corporate gig after 5 1/2 years and almost 18 years in the beer industry. My entire education, career, and network was in the industry that my family has been a part of collectively for over 100 years. However, I do not regret waiting until now to make the leap into my creative endeavor. I was not ready to do so at the previous points in my life and I truly believe everything happens for a reason.

I started my previous job in August of 2016. I picked up my first camera in September of 2016, and I started selling my photos professionally via stock photography by November of 2016. I did not form my sole proprietorship for my business until March of 2018. I bought my entire booth festival setup in March of 2020, the same month that my 35-piece solo exhibit was supposed to go up in Denver International Airport. The world shut down, as did my opportunities to gain momentum and take a leap of faith on the art end. My DIA exhibit got postponed indefinitely the week I printed it, and I lost a ton of money on the deposits I put down for festivals in the summer of 2020.

I did not let this deter me though. I buckled down and focused on the few festivals that I could do, and began entering gallery exhibitions left and right (I have been in over 70 galleries and exhibitions since that point). My first couple of festivals were a nightmare. I forgot my tent for my first one and luckily had a friend in town that brought me his. I had no pricing, no structure, and I was trying to sell my fresh roasted coffee I had just started creating at the same time. My friends all supported me in droves and they were really the only reason I made money at festivals in 2020 (I did not even cover my booth fees at my first couple festivals). I learned so much and it really paved the way for a much more successful 2021 festival season in which I got linked up with the Howard Alan Festivals out of Florida during their time in Colorado. I had to make another sizable investment in a new booth set up to meet their high standards but it made me have to elevate my game even more to participate in their events.

In August of 2021 my storage unit was broken into in Denver and I had over $4,000 worth of memorabilia, festival gear, and personal effects stolen. The biggest of these being the original paintings that I had created since the time I was 21 years old. These were the paintings that I created during my dark days with depression. It broke my heart and really spurred different feelings of anger, sadness, and regret for not having done anything bigger with them for all those years. In September I finally decided to do something about my art career and I booked festivals in Florida with the Howard Alan Group for 2022. I knew that if I committed to them and I paid my jury and booth fees that I would have to quit my day job to go all in on my art career when the time came. That time for my to quit my day job came in January, and as I write this in February I am on the road in Florida, traveling around the state working art festivals with the Howard Alan group. It has not been easy, but I can say it’s one of the best things I have ever done for myself spiritually, mentally, and emotionally.

All the years I spent in a corporate gig allowed me to continually evolve and have security while I constantly invested more and more into my art business. I was able to grow exponentially by having the capital to build out my festival layouts and gear in order to continue to take and sell better photos for my customers. I was not ready to take the leap until I did and I do not regret that. I did begin to notice the point of no return though and I know that had I not jumped when I did, a deep seeded regret and resentment towards myself definitely would have developed.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I am a nature and adventure photographer based out of Colorado. I moved to Colorado when I was 18 and I struggled deeply with depression, anxiety, and suicide contemplation following high school. I lost my sense of purpose and meaning and struggled to find myself in my latter adolescence. The most meaningful aspect of life that I found when I moved to Colorado was nature. The wilderness would eventually help me through the dark times of my life that included losing a friend to cancer, breaking my back, almost dying from the subsequent surgery complications, as well as several other transformative struggles I faced in early adulthood. I fought through the years of darkness and finally began to conceptualize my life, meaning, and purpose in ways that could bring light to other people’s lives.

My artistic journey began at the age of 20 when I started drawing superheroes, which progressed into painting the following year. I produced my first canvas the week following my back surgery and near death experience in 2007. I produced over 100 works of art and donated 65 drawings and paintings to children’s hospitals all over the southwest United States.

I did not pick up a camera until I was 30 years old in 2016. I had just moved back to Colorado and one of my childhood friends urged me to pick up a dSLR camera for all my nature adventures. I eventually gave in, picked up a camera, and immediately became obsessed with photography. My love for nature and passion for art were finally able to combine for me to create beautiful nature photography. All the years I spent in the darkness quickly turned to light as I started taking and sharing photos of my experiences. I began to intertwine stories of the pain and suffering I dealt with over the years as the sharing became cathartic for my soul.

The main focus of my photography business has been in the fine art end of nature photography. I have exhibited in over 70 galleries and exhibitions, and have been published in a number of books, magazines, and online articles. I have won a number of awards including best of show and people’s choice awards in a number of the exhibitions I have competed in. I also have a class on the fundamentals of nature photography on Skillshare and began teaching in person courses in 2021. Fine art prints have been the biggest portion of my business as I love the technical skill and acumen needed for large format printing.The services I offer are professional editing services, 1 on 1 consultations, portfolio reviews, and interior design services for individuals and businesses looking to utilize my artwork in their spaces.  I produce a yearly calendar, offer gear recommendations which pairs perfectly with my nature photography course, and sell merchandise through my website.  I am working on the development of my first in person workshops in the near future.

My first book “Intimate Isolation:  A Photographic Journey Through Nature” was just released on March 16th!  This book is a collection of my 50 best photos and their stories from my first 5 years in photography, which I hit in September of 2021.  I culled through my portfolio of over 65,000 photos that I took during that time to dwindle them down to this collection.  This book is truly a culmination of my life spent in nature and art and I could not be more proud of the book I was able to put together for the world to see.  The book is available now through my website and I am working on getting a larger distribution network built out.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being creative?

The most rewarding aspect of my entire artistic career has been being able to touch the lives of so many people around me. When I was younger I found great meaning in giving back to children’s hospitals around the US through my drawings and paintings. In 2020 I was able to do a fundraiser through photography prints that raised $4,000 which was matched by a local news station to donate to Colorado wildfire relief funds. I have been able to touch many lives through sharing my stories via my website, social media, and in person. This has lead to deeply meaningful conversations that has given me the ability to share my perspective in life to help individuals, parents, and families through some of the struggles they have faced surrounding depression and anxiety. I never thought I would be in a position to change the world around me through the vision of my lens but that has by far been worth more money than I could ever make on this earth.

Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?

There are a lot of books and writers over the years that have changed my outlook and philosophy on life but I’ll talk about the top 3.

“Start With Why” by Simon Sinek was a kickstarter for my business philosophy. He talks about the difference between good and great companies and it all goes back to why they do what they do. The money will follow if you lead with your why and I have seen that in many ways throughout my career. For me, my ‘why” has always tied back to my years spent in depression and wanting to be a light for others to follow because of those days. I have been blessed to fully be able to tie in all aspects of my life to my business and that genuine character has always resonated with my customers and audience.

“12 Rules For Life: An Antidote For Chaos” by Jordan Peterson has been life changing for me, as have the YouTube videos he has on so many aspects of life. He contends that life is suffering and tragedy tainted by malevolence, bound by chaos and order, and the way to transcend that difficulty is through living a life full of meaning. I could not agree with this philosophy more. Even before I was getting ready to quit my corporate gig, I kept going back to his thoughts surrounding choosing a sacrifice and taking on the biggest burden you can bear. There is no way you can chase a dream without the element of sacrifice and coupling that notion with the biggest burden you can bear bounds you to a higher meaning with your life and creates an entirely different thought process in the endeavors you go after. A new version of yourself has to be created while the old version of yourself dies off in order for you to reach new heights you’ve never been to before.

And speaking of meaning, one of the books that truly pushed me over the edge to pursue my dreams was “Halftime” by Bob Buford. This book was gifted to me from a very spiritual friend of mine that understood me well and knew I needed a push. Buford talks about how the first half of life should be about focusing on the career, learning, and moving up the ladder of life, and the second half of life should be focused on meaning and giving back to the world. One of the greatest points he makes in this book is that every decade should become increasingly more meaningful by the way we are living our lives and should be more relevant than all the decades before that combined due to that fact. I love this thought process because it goes back to Peterson’s thoughts on taking on the biggest burden you can bear and forces you into a place where meaning is constantly pushing you forward in life.

Contact Info:

• Website: jeremyjanusphotography.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/jeremyjanusphotography
• Facebook: facebook.com/jeremyjanusphotography
• Twitter: twitter.com/jeremy_janus
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoBbIUN11CrAwRFFzODlKTQ
• Other: Email: [email protected]

Image Credits
Profile Photo Credit: Lindsey Jenkins, All other photos: Jeremy Janus