We were lucky to catch up with Josette Theiss recently and have shared our conversation below.

Josette, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. How did you scale up? What were the strategies, tactics, meaningful moments, twists/turns, obstacles, mistakes along the way? We’d love to hear the backstory the illustrates how you grew your brand.

I didn’t begin this business with the intention of growing a huge brand or making a big name for myself originally. I simply wanted to grow my passion, submerge myself in the atmosphere that makes me blossom, and share my wildlife and nature photography with the world around me. Photography has always been something I love and enjoy more than anything else, but I always grew up under the assumption that it would be a difficult profession to pursue as a career. At the time in 2018, I was currently going to college for Criminal Justice studies and was on track to become a police officer. I thought it was something I would enjoy doing, but after learning more and more about the profession as time went on I realized I would be absolutely miserable in that field. In 2019 I had had enough of doubting myself and my ability to do what I really love for a living. It was weighing me down mentally knowing the urge I had to pursue something more. I was done “accepting” the ways of societal norms and expectations. I switched schools and my major to fine arts with a focus in digital photography. I created my social media pages, website, and began my business, FTV Photography. From 2019-mid 2021 I had a rough time deciding which path of photography I should go down. Everyone keeps saying wedding photographers make the most profit, but deep down I was not passionate or interested in doing weddings at all. I advertised myself mainly for senior photos, families, and sports. It was really, really tough to get new clients in the first 2 years of having my business. I knew my work couldn’t compare to other local photographers in the area. Luckily there were some family friends who were kind enough to allow me to start growing by taking their holiday photos or family photos, but this was not enough to keep me financially stable at all. I worked full time at a local coffee shop as a barista as my main income. I worked this way with my business for about 2 years, but I didn’t feel fulfilled and I wasn’t seeing much growth or progress in my work. I was doing what I love, but not what I loved and enjoyed at the same time. I just simply did not enjoy taking photos of people as much as I enjoyed being outside by myself in the wild observing the animals that live there. As much as I tried new techniques and lighting arrangements while doing a shoot, the photos just never lived up to what I expected of myself; especially compared to my nature work. I felt like my nature photography skills were much better than my “people” photography skills. I simply wanted to take photos of the outdoors and the creatures in it, and share it with the world along with the stories behind them. In 2022, I decided to switch my photography focus to mainly wildlife, travel, and landscapes. I focused on building my name more on social media and learning the different algorithms on different media sites. I focused on posting at least once a day and storytelling more, which really helped to heighten the traction to my pages. Within 3 months I had gained over 1,000 new followers on my Instagram account. I needed more time to travel and spend time in the outdoors, so I went down to working 10 hours a week at the coffee shop. I took a jump into spending most of my time growing my knowledge and experience in wildlife photography. I kept doing senior, family, and sports photos of course but I really put my main focus into growing my name as a nature photographer. Here we are now in 2023 and I’m still doing the most that I can to share my work with the world. I hike at least twice a week and love to travel to different state and national parks to experience new wildlife and terrains. I’ve won a few contests, have been published in a few websites and magazines, and have gotten recognition from National Geographic on Instagram! I also enjoy doing local events and craft shows to sell prints and canvases of my photos. I am hoping very soon that I’ll be able to focus on my nature photography solely full-time, and hopefully work with an organization that focuses on conservation of wildlife and land.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I got into nature photography because growing up I was always passionate about the outdoors and wildlife particularly. I spent most of my time birdwatching, hiking, swimming, biking, and exploring the woods. We lived in a very secluded area along a lake for the first 11 years of my life, so I loved being outside all the time and often saw a lot of wildlife. I always felt close to the animals, and just felt the most peace and happiness when I was outside. It’s something that’s a part of me and will only grow deeper as life goes on. Having my camera in my hand now allows me to see the personalities and lifestyles of the animals and places in the wild, and to share with the world the things that we may not see with just our bare eyes. I love to throw my camouflage on and just submerge myself. I have gained so much knowledge on the behaviors and routines of certain wildlife and I love to share what I learn with others. I’m an avid birder as well and can recognize tons of birds and bird calls. I’m most proud of the fact that I’ve been able to expand my business this far already on my own. It’s been slow, but dependable growth. Years ago I would’ve never thought I’d be writing answers for an interview, or being published in magazines, or being recognized by National Geographic. I love doing events where I can set up prints and canvases of my work, and can meet new people and tell them my stories behind the photos. I want to share my passion with others and let them see what I see. I want to teach others why nature and the animals in it are so important to protect, big and small.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

In the photography industry, you are constantly competing against hundreds of thousands of other photographers striving for the same thing you are. Everyone wants to be known, share their works and stories, and make a living doing it. I won’t lie and say it’s easy to see others’ work compared to mine and not easily doubt myself and my ability. There are phenomenal people capable of phenomenal things, and I often find myself feeling down because I don’t ever think I’ll be able to achieve what I see others achieving. I am constantly battling with myself over what I feel like I’m capable of doing. When I look at my work from 4 years ago, I have made a huge amount of progress and it’s very noticeable. I know if I’ve gotten better since then, then I can only keep getting better if I continue focusing and striving the way I have been. It gets hard but I’ve realized that doubting myself is actually what pushes me to prove myself wrong. I will do anything to keep getting better, learn more, and share my photos and stories.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

Absolutely. My mission is to story-tell alongside my photos in order to bring more attention to conservation of land and wildlife, the importance of leave-no-trace, and not feeding wildlife. Keeping the wild, wild. With certain wildlife populations in rapid decline and at risk of endangerment, I have a goal of working with an organization in order to try to make these issues known and then put forth effort and knowledge to reduce them. I would absolutely love to be able to learn, document and story-tell about why it is so important to take care of the world and the creatures on it, and what we can do to help certain areas affected by things such as poaching, pollution, disasters, wildfires, etc. Another goal is to be able to teach others about different wildlife habits, lifestyles, personalities, etc.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: FTV.photography
• Facebook: FTV Photography