Happy April! and thank you for following me along for the ride.
And what a ride it has been! By definition, I turned professional photographer since December when I did my first photo shoot for pay. Since then, I’ve been basically none-stop with photography jobs from local businesses.
- Cheflavor - print & website photography for a specialty food/ingredient/wine/beer store in South Temecula
- Bean Coffee - website and social media photography for a coffee roaster experience in Temecula that is beginning to master franchise
- Rancho Community Church - online photography of church, readying for website re-launch
- American Vascular Access leadership conference - head-shots for a group of renowned nurse leaders in the vascular access world
- Western Municipal Water District - online photography for Riverside-based water district, featuring district offices and staff members, field employees working on water-related projects, Diamond Valley Lake, and water-conservation-related stock images
- Liselle DeGrave - stock photography for local PR firm
- Carmem Gusmao - portrait photography for renowned international artist from Brazil; my work for her made the front page of a South Florida magazine, and 5 of the photos are featured in the magazine article about Carmem
- WMWD Master Gardener - event & marketing photography for the water district
- Spencer’s Crossing Spring Fun - event & marketing photography for a builder promoting its new master-planned development in Murrieta
- Eating Off the Vine - event & website photography for an organic chef, Sonia Perez, hosting the “soft opening” of her business at Briar Rose Winery in Temecula
- City of Temecula - website photography for our city, highlighting City Hall and Old Town Temecula for a website re-fresh
- (I even did some non-profit work that benefits Michelle’s Place) Audacious Networking - head-shots for a group of local business women
Everyone I’ve met along the way has been incredible. And it’s encouraging to know that almost all of my clients have already (or will be) commissioned me to do follow-up jobs - that’s just testimonial to their satisfaction of my work.
Through this experience, I am honing my skills for sustained excellence in BUSINESS PHOTOGRAPHY - photography that helps promote a local business’ offerings online, through their websites and social media presence. Since marketing has always been an indispensable part of any business, and online marketing today has to contain images that draw in new customers, my photography - in essence - can play a key part of the marketing plan for any business entity (for profit or non-profit).
OK. Enough of the business talk. I have such a great time doing this; none of this is work for me! I feel so blessed to finally be doing something that makes me completely happy. I am happy when I’m preparing for a shoot, thinking about the lens that I’ll need for the event, visualizing the finished shots before-hand, navigating paved (or dirt) roads leading me to the shoot, marveling at the new places I get to discover, meeting amazing new people who value good photography, working the shots during the actual events, being elated and jumping for joy when I get my “money” shots, while developing alternative shots and unique angles all the time, and constantly reminding myself that I am actually being paid to do this!
If this first quarter of 2017 is any indication of what’s to come to Jimmy Fu-tography, it is going to be a wonderful first year for my photography business. I am only going to get better, artistically and technically, and as I gain more experience my confidence as a photographer will continue to grow.
I am writing this blog on a flight to Italy. This is the first time my wife and I are taking our two boys to Europe, to see another continent and to experience another culture. And Roman (our 14-year-old) will get to see why he’s named after Rome. After the 10-day trip through Rome, Florence and Venice (and who knows how many photographs I’ll have made), I plan to create a travel book. So stay tuned for that.
Until next time, sample my commercial work on this website, check out my timeline on Facebook, follow me on Instagram, and save my website as a Favorite page; I’ll be updating frequently...