Today we’d like to introduce you to Courtney and Christina Jewett.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
Christina: I have vivid memories of the first time I went into a darkroom: how long it took your eyes to adjust to the light, the smell of the chemicals, the raw ability to slowly create the vision you were able to capture, and the endless hours you would inevitably end up spending in there to get your numbers just right. I still have countless notebooks of f-stop numbers and how many seconds to burn or dodge certain photos. In college, my interest in documenting events led to spending more and more time in the dark room. It was magical to watch a piece of art actually generate before your eyes. This prompted choosing a major in art education with an emphasis in photography. From college, I applied at the Guggenheim Museum in New York and was accepted into their art education program. It was a blissful time as I taught art at the museum and settled into city life.
I did eventually move home to Texas. Soon after, I married the love of my life, and we now have a baby boy, “Beckett.” I have been, and still am, teaching art in the education system. I have enjoyed the ebb and flow of art education, but over the years the longing to begin my own business has been growing. I reached out to Courtney, inquiring about her desire to join up and create a photography business; I knew she had been doing some freelance photography, but nothing definite. It didn’t take long to realize that teaming up to capture poignant, wonderful moments was something we’d love to pursue together.
Courtney: I would have to say that my earliest memories are awash with the camera. My grandfather was an amateur photographer, but quite serious in it. He had a darkroom, and I loved to see what he would bring out of there when I stayed at his house. Gorgeous, glossy shots of my beautiful mother. She modeled when I was little and I loved to see her rococo dresses and pantsuits (it was, afterall, the eighties) come to life from a blank page after they exited the darkroom. His favorite subject were dilapidated barns and we would travel all over the state of Oklahoma looking for barns in the direst of states. He developed the most haunting yet compelling black whites from this pastoral muse. After his death, my interest in photography also seemed to enter a moratorium. In high school I focused my artistic instincts in writing. In college, much of the same; languages and writing were my areas of creative egress and fulfillment. My senior year, I was given a nice digital camera and immediately my camera love was rekindled. I couldn’t stop taking photographs; people, architecture, nature. There was nothing I wouldn’t try to capture and I began to do commissioned work here and there, very nervously as I was not professionally trained. During this time, I met Christina, my not yet sister-in-law (she was just a babe!); it’s so interesting how things unravel; a decade or so later, we would be working together! I married while I was still in college and the next ten years were spent having and caring for my five children. I took a lot of photographs, but did not feel ready to attempt the business aspect of photography. Several times during this period, Christina suggested we start a photography business together. I didn’t feel ready. Finally, after my youngest was of a manageable age, I felt ready and excited to attempt this photography endeavor. I asked Christina if she still wanted to explore this business together and she said yes!
It has been four years of doing this business together. It has been such a life-giving thing; to be able to express ourselves creatively and, simultaneously, give our clients something timeless and cherished has been beyond fulfilling. Obviously, there are challenges to building a business and working other full-time jobs; I homeschool five children and Christina teaches art at an elementary school. Dedicating ourselves to jobs, family, and our artistic business endeavor has shown us so much about ourselves; the good and the difficult parts. That is what makes it so beautiful to engender our business, we are learning to balance all of the things that are calling to us all the time.
Has it been a smooth road?
I can’t imagine that any path you tread while putting your heart out there through creative expression could be a completely smooth road. It is daunting to put yourself out there through artistic expression; the risks are there. Will they see our vision? Will they appreciate the point of view we are presenting? To create is to risk. And we are okay with that risk, but to be okay with it doesn’t imply a certain fluidity, road-wise.
As I mentioned, there are so many people in our lives that need our time and harmonizing all of the good, true, and beautiful aspects of our lives requires patience, discipline, and, frankly, creativity! We are business partners, we are artistic colleagues, we are family. All of these overlapping roles in which we collaborate, while at times presenting unique challenges, add a dimension to our business that is authentic, lovely, and raw. I think this translates into our art. We have learned that family is first, and this also spills into our work and is profoundly enhancing to our work.
The practical struggles are schedule-oriented. We are managing the schedules of 11 people as we work out this business thing. That is a consummate feat in its own right!
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Jewett Photography story. Tell us more about the business.
Jewett Photography specializes in wedding photography, but we also do a significant amount of family portraits, engagements, bridals, newborns, senior pictures and a variety of events (band gigs, birthday parties, anniversary parties, births, etc).
We are really proud of our dreaming; we have been vision-casting and it involves a way to expand our business in a manner that makes timeless, artistic photography accessible to all people. This treasured art form should be for all people; if we cannot preserve our memories beautifully, this is a deprivation. We have done a fair amount of pro-bono work and done so happily, but we do have families to take care of and we know that economics must play into it. We are brainstorming an avenue that can provide a way to help those who can’t spend fortunes on preserving these cherished family moments but will also provide for our own families.
We think that what sets us apart from other photographers is that we have two different yet complementary perspectives in our artistic execution. This is not a second shooter scenario; we are both fully engaged and creating, symbiotically, images that reflect the emotions and affections that flow through the relationships our clients share. There are technical and expressive advantages to having our two points of view as we tell our clients’ stories through the medium of the lens.
How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
In any technology-driven industry, there is always constant change. Gear, gear, gear. Some people are talking about video killing the photograph star (sorry), but I can’t imagine that this will truly be the case. There is something untouchable about the immortal suspension of an ephemeral, beautiful moment. Watching the movement of those moments has its own magic and nostalgia, but this can neither lessen nor replace the art of the photograph. We think the industry will continue to indulge the tech-lusty, but the photograph will always be the photograph. There are so many people rediscovering the lost art of film photography; there is a liturgy of sorts that calls us back in this form of art. We are looking at the past when we look at a photograph. Even if it is the latest selfie of my teenage daughter, it is still in the past, even if that past is only seconds ago. So we think that while there will be neoteric fads and novel technology, much of the art itself, in essence, will remain recognizable.
As for trends outside of gear and tech, and more specific to weddings, there is the branding, if you will, of the wedding and the couple to be married. The hashtags, the merchandise (merch!), the buildup, the websites.
Pricing:
- Portrait Sessions (Family, Seniors, Newborns, Etc) Starting at $275
- Wedding Photography/Photojournalism Packages Starting at $2,000
- Event Photography Starting at $250 per hour
Contact Info:
- Address: Jewett Photography, 4501 Southbend Dr. Fort Worth, TX 76123
- Website: www.jewettphotography.com
- Phone: 817-228-0937/405-808-2774
- Email: jewettphotography@outlook.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jewettphotography/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jewettphotographytx/
Image Credit:
Jewett Photography
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