About: Meet Your Photographer

Hey, If you have made it this far, you have probably figured out that I am Jodi, your photographer. I thought you might like to know a bit more about how I ended up becoming a portrait photographer and not the amazing author or chic fashion designer that I thought I would be in 7th grade. 

I have studied photography now for over 20 years (seriously - I remember my parents laughing at themselves when they said “20 yeeeears ago” and now, here I am, saying the same thing! Life is so crazy fast.)  
 
I first discovered that photography is my passion in high school as a teenage girl in North San Diego County looking for a place where I could fit in… there I found the magic of the darkroom. I spent 3 years in photo classes and even found ways to spend more time in that classroom as a teacher aide and yearbook photo editor. I still love the smell of photo chemicals and it brings back great memories of both high school and college.   

I went on to study photography as my minor in college but actually majored in Interior Design. This invaluable experience taught me about the psychology of design such as how color and lighting can affect the way we perceive things (hello branding clients!)  I was one of the lucky few who finagled her way into a design job straight out of college but I soon began to miss photography being a part of my daily life.   
 
That longing led me to go back to college for a Master of Arts degree.  While a graduate student at the University of Arizona (Bear Down!), I had amazing experiences including teaching graduate level classes and working in education at the Center for Creative Photography (if you don’t know about this place and you love photo - check it out! It was basically established to house all of Ansel Adams’ original negatives and prints.)   

Because my love of photography was uncovered as a high school student, I decided to share that same passion and all of my experience with the next generation of high schoolers.  So, for the last 10 years I have taught high school art and photography in multiple states at both, private and public high schools (oh, you may have guessed from this last statement, I liked moving around a lot - even tried a couple years on the East coast in the Washington D.C. area.) In addition to teaching teenagers photography, I also spent some time teaching photo and art education at the college level (shout out to Westmont and Platt Colleges!)  
 
All of this experience in photography had friends and family members asking me to photograph their precious memories for them. The first to officially ask was my little sister, whom I photographed her engagement pictures. So many people loved those pictures that I was suddenly in the wedding photography business, capturing couples in love and documenting their big day.   

 After 7 years in the industry, I moved back to San Diego with my now husband and decided to focus on my favorite part of wedding photography: the portraits. Why portraits? I’ll get into my beliefs about the importance of professional portraits in future posts but for now I’ll tell you why I love taking pictures of you… because you are AMAZING.  No, really. Your unique look, talents, personality, and photo needs inspire and drive my creativity.  I love taking all that into consideration when creating an image that best represents you while also making you look like your best possible self.  From the bottom of my heart, thank you for letting me photograph you. 
 
Hugs, 
Jodi