Hi and thank you for viewing my profile. My name is Jason, and I’m an Austin-based wedding, event and portrait photographer booking new shoots and events for 2016 and some of 2015.
My start in photography was with an old Canon point and shoot camera that I constantly adjusted manually when taking photos back in 2005. If you’ve ever tried this with a point and shoot, you’ll know that you have to go through layers and layers of menus to make changes. Some friends that are professional photographers told me that I needed a DSLR camera to quickly and easily make the adjustments that I wanted – so I went out and bought a DSLR camera and a lens back in 2008. The first few years I spent photographing cars, friends, family functions, and parties for fun.
My first paid photography job happened when one day an author asked me to shoot photos for her book. Following that, I was contacted by fitness models, couples, parents, bands and local businesses for
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Hi and thank you for viewing my profile. My name is Jason, and I’m an Austin-based wedding, event and portrait photographer booking new shoots and events for 2016 and some of 2015.
My start in photography was with an old Canon point and shoot camera that I constantly adjusted manually when taking photos back in 2005. If you’ve ever tried this with a point and shoot, you’ll know that you have to go through layers and layers of menus to make changes. Some friends that are professional photographers told me that I needed a DSLR camera to quickly and easily make the adjustments that I wanted – so I went out and bought a DSLR camera and a lens back in 2008. The first few years I spent photographing cars, friends, family functions, and parties for fun.
My first paid photography job happened when one day an author asked me to shoot photos for her book. Following that, I was contacted by fitness models, couples, parents, bands and local businesses for portraits, headshots, birthdays and corporate events. Some clients only wanted a photo of their child to frame and put on their desk at work – others needed photos for marketing materials and websites to get new business and prospective customers. I didn’t advertise or even watermark my images because I didn’t think it really mattered since I saw myself as an amateur. All of my clients found me through word of mouth or while attending events that I was photographing. I didn’t have a site or even business cards because it was just a hobby for me. Requests kept coming in over the years from different people and companies. I spent almost all of my time behind the camera photographing portraits and events until an award winning professional wedding photographer asked me to shoot a wedding with him. Knowing the quality of work he produced and the prices he charged, I didn’t know why he asked me, an amateur, to work with him, a professional artist!
My first wedding was exciting and terrifying at the same time. I knew I needed to do a good job and capture the photos his clients wanted, or I would be horribly embarrassed if I failed. I memorized the shot list and put a digital copy on my phone for quick reference throughout the ceremony and reception. A few days after the shoot, I asked how I did and was told, “Not bad. I’ll give you a couple of things to work on when we shoot next time.”
My first thought was, “Darn it. I wasn’t as good as he wanted me to be.” My second thought was, “Did he say ‘next time?!’ Woohoo!! I must have done something right!” That’s when I started mentoring under one of the best wedding photographers in Austin and have been shooting with him and other wedding photographers for over 3 years. Second shooters rarely have the skill to capture shots that a high-end primary photographer will use and pass as his or her own work. One of my mentors once said, “Second shooters only get hired when the bride really wants a second person there, but I’ve never used any photos my second shooters have taken because they’re usually garbage.”
Before each wedding, I would ask the photographers for something to work or focus on during that shoot so I could produce better images for him or her. So, the first time one of my photos was used in an album, I bounced off the walls with excitement! Over the past year or so, I started noticing more and more of my photos being used with each wedding! Now when I ask the same question before a wedding, the response I get is “You know what you’re doing. Just do your thing.” Hearing comments like those and seeing my photos being used by award winning photographers gave me a lot of confidence to shoot a few weddings on my own, but the real push to shooting weddings came when one of my mentors referred a client to me when he was unavailable to shoot their wedding. The rest is history.
Although weddings take up most weekends, I still accept jobs to shoot birthdays, ribbon cuttings, launch events, grand openings, concerts and many other events throughout the week or after receptions. It doesn’t matter how big or small your event or photo needs are, I’ll be happy to capture them for you or point you to a photographer that can.
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