We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Jodhi Mather-Pike. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Jodhi below.

Jodhi, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Are you able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen?

Back in 2022 I was working primarily as an audio engineer. I had been doing this for about a decade and was looking for a change, I just wasn’t sure what that could look like. I had tried working in mental health for several years, and while I enjoyed the work it was taking a toll on my own mental health. I loved working with people and wanted to continue finding ways of communicating value and giving people that chance to feel seen. That’s when photography entered my world.

I started with street photography, mostly walking around downtown and engaging with people. Trying to make space for conversation, to hear what was going on in their lives. Having a camera was kind of an excuse, it gave me a reason to approach people. After about six months of doing this I came across an advertisement for a Photo-Documentary program in Paris, France. It was put on by Speos (a private school) and Magnum (one of the most prestigious and well respected photojournalism agencies in the world. Their photographers have included some of the biggest names like Robert Cappa, Henri Cartier-Bresson, and Steve McCurry). I applied and within the year had moved to Paris to start the program, completing a handful of documentary projects across Europe.

After the program I moved back to the States and was trying to find work as quickly as possible. I looked at all the photographers in the area and started to call them one by one to see if anyone was looking for an assistant. A handful were open to meeting for coffee and I came with a list full of questions to see what it would take for me to start a business. To my luck, a photographer named Erica was looking for a staff photographer to start taking some of her shoots when she was not available. We instantly clicked and I began shadowing her across different types of shoots – mainly events and headshots. Not only was she teaching me about how to shape light, pose and direct – but we discussed billing, contracts, SEO and really a lot of the inner details of running the business side of things.

My business was built in pieces as I learned from Erica as well as my own shoots and research. I quickly realized that the successful photographers were good at business, not just their craft. It felt like starting from square one, realizing I had little of the experience and knowledge of running a business. Many of the things I did in the beginning were in the right direction but lacked a deeper knowledge that was necessary to make me successful. I took a basic SEO course and redesigned my website completely. I began testing different ways of connecting with customers to see what was most effective in turning a lead into a client. I was also testing out different pricing models and slowly increase my rates to a level that felt appropriate for the value I was delivering. I was trying to get out of the “fight to the bottom”. You have to present your value, otherwise you will be perceived as amateur.

Of course during all this time I was also practicing the craft – I wanted to feel proud of the images I was delivering and confident that my clients enjoyed their time with me. I focused really heavily on the energy that I brought to sessions as well as my ability to lead and direct a shoot to never leave too much space for clients to feel unease or awkward. I have nearly 100 5-star reviews right now with common feedback of how comfortable and enjoyable the sessions were.

There’s a lot of competition in photography and I felt encouraged by the small successes along the way. Booking my first client through organic search on google, booking my first gig over $1000 and generally just seeing sessions go smoothly and have great outcomes.

I feel incredibly grateful to be where I am, fully supporting myself off of photography after just two years of starting the business. There’s still so much for me to learn and to grow in, but when I’m investing in myself it feels good to have work to do. Having a mentor and someone to help me learn saved me years, there’s no better way to do it.

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

The services that I am providing are engagement/proposals, headshots, event photography and senior photos. I occasionally do some lifestyle and product shoots but these are not my focus.

I’m a very creative person and am always looking for a way to step outside the box to offer unique images. Portraits have been around for an incredibly long time and many of them look very similar, especially as we have more defined expectations of what professional looks like. I photograph through an emotion forward lens. I worry less about composition and more about how the images feel. This is what really strikes us when we first look at an image. Headshots, for example, are really about communicating warmth, openness and confidence. You want the image to make someone feel like they would want to engage with this person. The most influential factor in getting these images in the relationship between myself and the subject. I am not a passive observer, I am present in the images – you just don’t see me!

This is a huge factor in why I am finding success. I care about how my clients feel and put a huge amount of effort into making my sessions feel personal. Leaving a session my goal is that they feel seen, enjoyed and empowered. It is extremely vulnerable to be observed and it’s very rewarding to take that opportunity to help people feel good about themselves.

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

Being an artist feels like taking your internal world and placing it in the external. It’s a very vulnerable process because, for many, parts of your self worth are tied up in your successes and failures. The things that you create feel like you and you are constantly placing yourself in a position where people are making value judgements on those personal expressions.
I had a huge mindset switch a few years ago when I was experiencing creative burnout. I was chasing success and of course experienced the goalposts moving at the same pace as my growth. When I got better, I expected more from myself. It’s a never ending process, which is valuable but also demands that you have a healthy relationship with it. My mindset changed from being goal oriented to witnessing and encouraging the personal growth that happened within myself when I took risks, pursued my goals and managed the frustration or disappointment of trying to learn something new.
Pursuing creativity is ultimately a medium for personal growth – and when I realized this I could let go of individuals goals as determining my success. My new mindset is that whatever I pursue is an investment in myself. In my own contentment and character.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

When I was studying in Paris I had not yet learned how to interact with people while I camera was between us. I felt comfortable engaging with people, and making them feel heard and seen through conversation but camera often felt like a weapon. People often freeze up or otherwise feel uncomfortable. A huge challenge for me was how to change my own relationship with the camera so that people could see they too could be comfortable.

My first project was documentary a neighborhood in Paris that was mostly inhabited by North African immigrants. There was a history of journalists exploiting and often misrepresenting this community. Additionally my French was not good enough to really communicate my personality and help people feel comfortable. It was an extremely difficult environment to learn how to interact with people through photography but ultimately one that taught me one very valuable lesson: You show people how to perceive you and your actions. When I began feeling comfortable, others felt comfortable. When I took on my role as a photographer and did not doubt my intentions, people felt that and responded warmly.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.pdx-portraits.com
• Instagram: @jodhimatherpike

Image Credits

©Jodhi Mather-Pike