Today's Guest: Jennifer Davis of Jennifer Davis Photography. in New York, New York
Today's Host: John Bentley
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Jennifer Davis Expert PageANNOUNCER: This program is sponsored by morephotos.com the online photo sales solution to professional photographers worldwide. Welcome to the VTalk Radio's Photographer Spotlight with your host, John Bentley.
JOHN: Today on VTalk Radio's Photography Spotlight we have New York, New York, photographer, Jennifer Davis, of Jennifer Davis Photography, joining us via telephone. Welcome to VTalk Radio's Photography Spotlight, Jennifer.
JENNIFER: Thank you. It's great to be here.
JOHN: Yeah, it's good to have you. Now you have a thriving photography business out there in New York. Give us a little overview of what you're up to.
JENNIFER: Mostly I am shooting weddings in the tri-state area, and I'm doing a little bit of kids work, a little bit of lifestyle portraiture. Yes, mostly weddings and kids work.
JOHN: Let's talk about weddings then. First of all, how do you approach a wedding? Are you taking a couple photographers with you or do you have an assistant or you just do it yourself and are you a photo journalist or more formal? What are you doing there?
JENNIFER: Well great questions. I always approach a wedding with at least one other person. A lot of times we have a team of three which definitely allows us to get that full coverage while I'm on the dance floor with the bride, you know, my associate is at the tables getting grandmas talking to mom or something like that. There's always moments so having a bigger team allows us really to do a full coverage and definitely we all take a photo journalistic approach. We are documenting what's happening rather than creating what's happening. So we never ask anybody to look at the camera. I'll always be sort of capturing them mid-smile or mid-laughter.
JOHN: Certainly weddings just like a sporting event, it's a one time only kind of thing so you have to be in a position to get the right shot. How do you, I guess it's just experience, isn't it? What do you do to get that moment, to capture that moment on film?
JENNIFER: Well I think it's definitely experience. It's a matter in participating in the moment. It's a matter of kind of keeping all the senses out there, you know. I have my ears open if I hear laughter behind me, I'm very quick to turn around, and click the trigger kind of thing and I think that just kind of getting into your zone of really being aware of your surroundings and being able to anticipate what's going to happen. You know, seeing a conversation starting to happen, seeing some smiles, you can tell that, you know, that laughter is going to start to happen or, you know, just of course the bigger moments like the first dance, you're right on it so, you know, you're going to catch that detail of, you know, the tears and that kind of thing so and being aware of not only being able to catch the events, but maybe even mom's reaction and dad's reaction and that kind of stuff and speech time is a great time for those moments for not only catching the person who is making the speech, but also the reaction of the entire audience, you know, everyone is kind of looking in that same direction with like that, you know, nice look on their face, they're excited to hear this person speak and it's touching to them and so really like looking for those reaction shots.
JOHN: Now weddings are all over the place in the New York area. What are some of the locales in the New York area that you do wedding photography?
JENNIFER: Everywhere definitely. All over the tri-state area. About half of my weddings this year will be in Manhattan itself, and then the rest are in New England and New Jersey, Pennsylvania. I have one in Newport, Rhode Island. So, I'm kind of all over the place. Happy to travel and yeah, definitely. That's what I love about working in New York is that it's kind of such a broad area, because people from all over kind of come to New York to find their wedding photographer. So, I get the chance to, you know, I get the chance to shoot something different all the time. If I was in a smaller town, I think that I would be at the same locations a lot more, but this keeps things new for me, and it's very often that I'm going to a new place which is wonderful.
JOHN: With multi-cultural weddings you have going on there in New York, it must give you a lot of opportunities to kind of experience different cultures.
JENNIFER: Definitely. I am doing different kinds of things all the time, and I love that. And I think that, again, just being in New York, that gives me that opportunity to really, you know, every wedding is different and that keeps things fresh for me which is great. It keeps me excited about weddings. I love, like that, you know, to watch the two different kinds of families come together or the different tradition that are happening at weddings. Last year I shot a Hindu wedding, a Buddhist wedding, Catholic, Jewish, you know, mixed marriages. It's really wonderful. I really, definitely enjoy that aspect of it and it makes my portfolio more interesting, and makes my, you know, my daily life more interesting really.
JOHN: Sure. Now have you ever had a request to go to another country to do a wedding? Or would you consider doing destination weddings?
JENNIFER: Absolutely. Yes. I'm very much excited about expanding to shooting internationally this year. I have a couple of requests from, one from Jamaica and one possibly in India, we'll see if that happens, but definitely love to travel and again would love to explore more cultures through traveling and shooting weddings in other places. It's amazing how much a wedding really shows about cultures and it's such a culture rich event, and I really, really enjoy that aspect of it.
JOHN: Now, I was looking at your website before we called you, and you have a lot of really nice photography on there. I noticed one picture in particular that kind of caught my eye or got my attention. It's this very broad picture that you took probably from a set of stairs or balcony of everybody that was at the wedding. That's a great shot!
JENNIFER: Oh, thank you. Yeah, that shot's on my blog.
JOHN: That's a great idea.
JENNIFER: You know, there was a balcony and we just had the DJ tell everyone to look up, and I was able to light it in a way that we got everyone's face in there. So that's kind of a nice moment to have of not just a shot of the family, but a shot of everybody, you know. That's a fun thing to do.
JOHN: Definitely. Now we're going to take a break here, Jennifer, but before we do that, why don't you give your website address and contact information please.
JENNIFER: Ok. My website address is www.jenniferdavisphotography.comand you can contact me (917) 734-8159.
JOHN: We are in the studio today with New York, New York, photographer, Jennifer Davis, of Jennifer Davis Photography, and you are listening to VTalk Radio's Photography Spotlight. We're going to take a break for these important messages. Do stay tuned.
ANNOUNCER: This VTalk Radio Spotlight is sponsored by morephotos.com, the online photo sales solution for professional photographers worldwide.
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ANNOUNCER: Did you ever wonder why the groom is supposed to carry the bride over the threshold? What does the saying something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue mean? Visit www.weddingdetails.com and click on the lore and tradition section. We've got culture and tradition information from around the world. Visit www.weddingdetails.com tonight.
JOHN: We are back in the studio with New York, New York, photographer, Jennifer Davis, of Jennifer Davis Photography, and you are listening to VTalk Radio's Photography Spotlight. Welcome back to the program, Jennifer .
JENNIFER: Thank you.
JOHN: Now we've been talking about the wedding industry which is a big part of your business, but that's not all you do. What else do you do?
JENNIFER: I also do some lifestyle portraits and, you know, kids and family work.
JOHN: And that I'm sure presents it's own kind of situations. You know, kids are kind of fun to work with, I would imagine. But what do you do to get the kids comfortable or what are you looking for when you're shooting toddlers?
JENNIFER: Well I'm really trying to capture the kids as who they are. I'm not interested in kind of doing this, look at the camera say cheese kind of thing. I don't use back drops and I'm really looking to capture kids in their own environment, playing and interacting with each other, interacting with their parents, capturing great smiles, because they're having fun playing. What I'll do when I arrive at a home is usually spend about 10 or 15 minutes just relaxing. I won't even take my gear out right away and just relax with the family and kind of allow the kids to get used to me being in their space, you know. Then I take out the camera and again wait a few minutes and kind of relax with them. I'll let them, you know, I'll take a quick shot and let them see themselves in the back of the camera and kind of get excited about taking pictures, and kind of get them used to me being in their world. I very much want to enter their world rather than taking them out of their world and bringing them into mine. It's much more interesting to me to have them in their own environment and being themselves, you know. I have so many photos of myself from when I was a kid, you know, all of the family portraits were very much staged and looking at the camera, and it's not us being us, you know, so I'm really trying to do that with the lifestyle portraits.
JOHN: Let's get to the very beginning of this whole photography thing. Why did you decide to become a photographer in the first place, Jennifer?
JENNIFER: I've always been interested in art and, you know, my dad always had an SLR camera and stuff and I'd always play around with that. I think that, you know, through kind of exploring the different fields in art and kind of how I was going to express this, photography always made sense to me, and I was probably a junior in college when I finally decided to definitely do photography so I have a Bachelors of Fine Art in Photography from the University of Florida and when I graduated there, I moved back to the New York area and started assisting with other photographers and trying to figure out exactly what I was going to do with photography and realized that the art world wasn't quite for me and neither was, you know, the commercial world, so then I started interning at The Knot which is a wedding magazine and that's when I realized that wedding photography is so different than it was, you know, 20 years ago. It's a lot more artistic and it's a lot more expressive and natural moments. So I was really inspired by that and that's kind of how I found my niche and I wouldn't have it any other way. I love what I'm doing and it's I finally found that niche.
JOHN: Well, we've got to wrap this up pretty soon here, Jennifer, but I wanted to ask you, What do you consider your most important goal when you go into a photo shoot?
JENNIFER: My most important goal is to, you know, capture and document the essence of people, you know, their true laughter and really who people are. Capturing those real moments.
JOHN: Well we certainly appreciate you joining us today on VTalk Radio's Photography Spotlight, Jennifer.
JENNIFER: Well thank you so much. It was my pleasure.
JOHN: But before I let you go, why don't you give your website address and contact information one more time for our listeners.
JENNIFER: Ok my website is www.jenniferdavisphotography.comand my phone number is (917) 734-8159.
JOHN: We've been in the studio today with New York, New York, photographer, Jennifer Davis, of Jennifer Davis Photography and you've been listening to VTalk Radio's Photography Spotlight.
Thanks for joining us today. Everyone have a good afternoon.
ANNOUNCER: You have been listening to the VTalk Radio's Photographer Spotlight; only on www.vtalkradio.com . Radio for the 21st Century.