We were lucky to catch up with Jessica Wood recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Jessica, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to start by getting your thoughts on what you are seeing as some the biggest trends emerging in your industry.

AI

AI is everywhere. For me, I believe that the beauty and art of photography is capturing our moments and people as we are. I do use artistic tools to manipulate light/editing software to refine images – but AI has allowed these concepts to take on a whole new meaning. We’re taking family and senior portraits and making it look like we are in another state or country.

Early in the season this year I started experimenting with the new AI features, and while I think it’s interesting and probably sometimes applicable I’ve decided that it’s (largely) not the right choice for me. I don’t mean minor tweaks to an image, removing unwanted objects or changing the color of a background – that all feels innocent enough. But in my experimenting I took a wedding photo from this season and took my couple out of the open/blank space they were in and made it look like they were in an idyllic flower field. Was it beautiful? Realistic? Yes. However, it was not representational of their wedding day at all (other than the couple obviously).

My big concern with this going forward is how will we ever know what is real in an image? My photos are here to tell a story, leave a legacy, remind our grandchildren where they came from, and highlight important moments of our history.

I think it’s ironic because film is also making a comeback. For as many people are fascinated by AI there’s an equal amount rooted in keeping all things nostalgic, film, vinyl records, fashion etc. Perhaps it is just a show that there is room for all of it.

Jessica, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My interest in art started as a young kid and was fostered by a family and community full of artistic people.

As a young adult after years of trying to figure out where I fit in in the adult world I decided to stop saying “what if” or coming up with endless excuses as to why it wouldn’t work I bought a DSLR and started clicking. Being an entrepreneur/self employed in the Photography world isn’t easy, it takes years to build a clientele and reputation that keeps me busy year round. I had to spend a lot of years working additional jobs while I was building my business, thankfully I was able to walk away several years ago and have been self employed since.

I consider myself a portrait photographer. I live in Michigan and wedding season does keep me busy from May-November but I really enjoy other kinds of work as well like boudoir/empowerment sessions, families and seniors. The seasonal change here is always a catalyst for different kinds of work. My favorite part of my job is getting to know my clients and families, I’m not sure a lot of things feel better than having clients who come back to you over and over because they trust you.

What else should we know about how you took your side hustle and scaled it up into what it is today?

So as I mentioned before the kind of photography I love thrives in an environment where you have clientele that come back to you.

Somewhere are around 2012 I went back to college and got my Associates Degree in Photography – that combined with a constant drive to gain clients and knowledge I eventually started picking up steam. As much as I hate to admit it social media was imperative too. I used platforms like Facebook to share my work constantly, every time I did a session I would post to social media. Eventually I was so busy taking clients for photo shoots that I didn’t have time to go to my other job anymore – however walking out of an office where you make a guaranteed number of dollars every hour was one of the scariest things I have ever done.

I live in a small town and your images on social media get around pretty quickly – nothing happened overnight but slowly with consistent work I got to where I am today.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

Helping people see themselves the way that I see them! I love getting clients (especially new ones) who are convinced that they don’t like the way they look in photos and being able to change their mind. It can be so empowering and is really motivating for me to keep doing what I’m doing.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.jessicawoodphotography.net
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jessicawoodphoto/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jlwphoto/