How long have you been running your photography business?

I’ve been a photographer for about nine years. In 2016, I changed my business name and rebranded to Janelle & Co and began photographing more weddings and decided to specialize in them.

Where all do you do photo shoots?

The majority of my photoshoots are on-location, outdoors. I am located in Rexburg and spend the majority of my time photographing clients within about 1.5 hours of home. I also photograph weddings and elopements often in Jackson Hole!

What kind of photo shoots do you do?

My passion is in photographing couples: weddings, elopements, bridals, engagements, anything couples! I also photograph families and portraits when time allows. My favorite work are the elopements I am privileged to photograph. They are intimate and soulful, and I love spending this time with them. Elopements are low-key and carry less stress than a traditional wedding. They really allow for us to document their love and romance in these beautiful places! My couples are often traveling from other states to get married in this beautiful area!

Why do you think it's still important for people to hire a professional photographer for big events, even though everyone has a camera in their pockets now?

Photography is an art form. There are amazing cameras on cellphones that can take a beautiful photo, and personally that’s what most of my daily picture taking for my family is. But I would never expect to print a photo from my phone, of one of the most special days of my life, and hang it on the wall.

There is going to be a difference in dedication, skill and talent in a photographer who has been doing events for a long time, than in snapping a quick photo. We are looking at angles, lighting, leading lines, ratios, so many things. In layman's terms, we are looking at how to create the best photo, not just simply “snap” a quick photo.

Relying on your family and friends to upload and share all of the photos they took on their phones is not a realistic expectation. Which camera should you look at? Who is responsible for capturing those moments? Who is going to be willing to take pictures nearly every single minute they are attending your wedding? Guests won’t want to!

A professional, seasoned photographer will know how to direct people for family photos and make you look amazing in your portraits by choosing flattering angles.

A photographer has an eye for lighting. We can look at an area and just know if the light is going to be harsh, spotty, dull or perfection. The best lighting will flatter the photographic subject, and not everyone has an eye for that!

We are here to serve you! That means helping with vendor recommendations for your event, working timelines and so much more than just “showing up” on the wedding day or at the event.

Do you ever hear complaints about how much you charge for your services? (And if you're comfortable saying, how much do you charge?)

I don’t hear complaints very often — in this day and age, I think people are just more likely to ghost you. And I’m totally OK with that! I will have some inquiries who will kindly respond they’ve decided to go another route because I’m too expensive. I’ve learned

not to take it personally. I can do all of the explaining in the world about why my services are worth it, but at the end of the day, people still have budgets they are working with, and I would never recommend a couple to go into debt for my services. Heck,

I can’t even afford myself sometimes!

Photographers charge based on what they believe their time and talent is worth. Not what you are willing to pay them (in theory at least ;) )

I list all of my starting prices on my website (engagements $400, Elopements $1,200, and weddings $2,500 are my base packages, but all go up from there), which is a controversial thing in the photography industry, but I feel like it saves both me and my clients.

This helps to qualify those who inquire about services, and I have found I have a higher booking rate when people have taken the time to look over my website, than when they have inquired through a social media platform.

Can you walk me through your process from start to finish so as to explain to people that it's not just snapping a couple photos and posting them to your website?

The biggest thing I’ve found is that people just really have no idea how much work goes into running a business. This is true for a lot of entrepreneurial endeavors. So many people are used to a work life that is check in and check out and done for the day. Entrepreneurs are never done!

I have found that including a guide that goes over everything to expect and showing how I am serving them is incredibly helpful. I have an entire PDF guide focused on each type of session that I offer. When I have a new inquiry, I send a welcome email, which introduces pricing, my brand and how I photograph. I like to include questions for them to respond to. I attach the PDF. Usually there is a thread of emails that ensues, and a phone call mixed in. Once they decide to book, I put together a contract for them, and they pay a deposit/reservation fee. Then lots more emails and another phone call. Sending vendor recommendations, talking over with brides how their moms want something different than them. Easing fears about XYZ. We create a Google doc with all their wedding day details, arrival times, locations, photo requests.

Before the shoot, I am charging batteries, cleaning lenses, clearing off photocards, making sure that all of my equipment is in working order. Pack my bag with everything I’ll need for the day. Travel one to five hours for a wedding shoot. Shooting in hot sun or coldest weather. Posing couples and brides in flattering ways, making sure to keep their personality present while documenting their wedding day and capturing images that are still true to brand. Zipping up dresses, holding trains and flowers, putting on the groom’s boutonniere because no one else knows how to, or there simply is no one else to (during elopements). Directing 40 wedding guests to get into a photo and being nice bossy. Diffusing tension when the client’s parents are divorced and don’t want to be in a photo together. Coming home exhausted and yet feeling so fulfilled. Uploading photos to the computer. Sorting through 3,000 photos from three cameras and choosing the best ones to edit. Renaming rated photos. Importing photos into Lightroom. Apply a preset to help with consistency in editing style. Make individual adjustments based on lighting, color, etc. Crop photos, do other adjustments. Export photos. Sort through/cull once more, pull select photos into photoshop for additional editing if needed. Rename all files. Feeling ambitious? Import into Lightroom again and do a B&W edit on all photos, export and rename. Create gallery in online storage. Upload photos. Create print release document and upload. Email gallery to client with detailed printing instructions and recommendations. Post sneak peeks while all of that is happening to Instagram and Facebook. Choose favorite images and upload into blog. Try to remember any details that are important to their love story to include in their blog post. Include SEO tags to boost google results. Email client a request for review on Facebook and Google.

How much time do you spend on each photo shoot from start to finish?

Inquiry emails: Three hours

Phone call/sit downs: One to three hours

Travel time: One to two hours locally; five hours for destination weddings

Prep time/down time at venue (no one would want a late photographer!): 45 to 90 minutes for at home prep (packing my bag, etc) and then down time once I arrive

Shooting time: Five hours (varies depending on booking but using my 5 hour base package as a reference)

Culling: One to two hours

Editing: Six to 10 hours 

Additional Work: Four hours, preparing images for upload and download, creating client galleries, print releases,

Total Time: 23 hours to 33 hours

I've heard from other people who own creative-type small businesses that some people say really dumb things to them like "I can do what you're doing," among other things. Have you ever heard any other comments like that, and if you have, how do you handle those situations?

I think a lot of the time, our gut reaction is to say, “Oh yeah? I’m just SURE they could” (in a very sarcastic tone). But we really gain more by encouraging people to search for their passions and their talents in life and run after them full speed. Photography is an art form, so while they may be able to take a photo, it’s never going to be done exactly the same way by different people. Most creatives are incredibly passionate about what they do, and they are making a business out of it. And those who are not truly passionate about it will get burned out while you’ll still be trekking on!

What's the hardest thing about your job?

I think we never want to share the hard parts, but mine is definitely self-doubt during the off-season — constantly wondering if we should change things about our businesses, how we edit, how we shoot, reworking our website, are we even any good? Man, off-seasons are hard on photographers!

Getting overwhelmed during the busiest season — having several weddings to edit and deliver at once and spending a lot of time on weekends away from the family, and then a lot of time “at work” editing and doing all the other business related tasks.

What do you love most about your job?

Clients who are just so thankful for everything we do. It’s both humbling and uplifting. There are clients that I feel like I instantly connect with and I’m sad when their wedding is over. I love seeing the prints they choose, and the photos they love the most. I love reading that I made them feel comfortable and that they had fun. Or that I made them feel beautiful and like themselves despite thinking they were awkward. I love getting to be one of their trusted professionals on their wedding day, that they chose me to document such a momentous day for them. Some of the best wedding days are where my couple is so down to hike a mile to their ceremony location, dip their toes in the water, and have so much fun, and then be so romantic! I can honestly say I’ve never had a bridezilla. I’ve enjoyed my couples so much!

Is there anything else you'd like to say or debunk about your job?

While photography can be expensive, most of us are not “just in it for the money.” We are photographers because we have a passion about documenting your wedding, your family, your milestones, your memories so that you can remember them for a long long time! We just also feel we deserve to be able to feed our families, pay our bills and still enjoy life, too!

These comments have been edited for clarity and style.