Blog | Jessica's Photography

5 Tips on Working from Home

April 1, 2020

I have wanted to write this post on how to work at home for a while now, but during the last few weeks, I haven’t kept my usual schedule. I wanted to be doing the things that I was telling you to do! During this time, we need to give ourselves so much grace, and we shouldn’t be hard on ourselves. We live in hard times, and there is a lot to take in with everything going on in the world. I have had a lot of photo sessions cancel; I was so sad when I had to cancel them. My schedule has become very open, and I am trying to take some of this time to improve myself and work on my business. I am not making quick progress, but I am slowly moving forward. I will make another post on things to work on with your business during downtime. I am trying to keep optimistic about how the year will be when this is over; I am looking forward to a great summer!

Here are five tips that I find helpful when working from home.

Develop a morning routine. My morning routine is super slow. This year it has changed a bit because I have been waking up earlier to go to the gym. I am usually a night owl and wake up around 8:00/8:30. I have now been working out at 6:00 or 7:00, and then I start my routine. As soon as I get back I open up all of the curtains, I love to have all of the light coming in! Cole is not so appreciative of this while he is getting ready! Haha! I then make my bed, eat breakfast, clean the house, shower, and get ready. I always get fully dressed; I never work in my pajamas. Cole always makes fun of me because I do have some very comfortable work outfits… but they aren’t pajamas! I always do my hair and makeup, even if I am not going out. Getting dressed and doing my hair and makeup effects my confidence. When I feel professional, I do more professional work. After I am ready, I read my scriptures, and then I get to work.
Decide on three tasks to work on each day. I always have a big to-do list on the side of my desk. Each day, I try and decide which three are the most important things to get done. I start with the first one, and I don’t do anything else until I finish it, and then I will move down my list. Sometimes they are big tasks, so you have to evaluate how much you can get done. I usually break it up into sections and dedicate myself to finishing three parts of the task for the day. If I have too high of expectations for myself during the day, and then I don’t accomplish it because it was too much, I get discouraged, so don’t over plan how much you can get done. I know this is easier said than done!
Drink lots of water. I always have my hydro flask on my desk! I drink so much water! When it is empty, I get a little break to get up and go downstairs and fill it up, and I love stepping away for a bit. Drinking lots of water is so good for you! I try to drink half of my body weight in ounces every day.
Batch work. When you are deciding what needs to be done each day, clump together similar tasks. When your brain has to jump around to a lot of different things, you are less productive. When I do lots of random projects during the day, I never fully finish any of them. My brain can’t handle it.
Always keep a clean workspace. We live in a two-bedroom townhouse that I have lived in for almost 12 years! We are definitely running out of space with my business at home and all of my other hobbies. Sometimes my office can be the center for all of the things, and when it gets messy, I can’t focus! I always take time before a busy day to clean up my office and my desk space. It helps so much to clear the clutter away. Create a beautiful workspace that inspires you! I have lots of plants around my desk; I love having them in my office. I still have some improvements to make in my space, every time I do something to enhance my workspace, I fell better when I work in it all day.

I know these sound simple, and I do not do them all of the time, but when I do, I can see a massive difference in my productivity. I hope you are all doing well! I know these are such unknown times. Hopefully, I will be able to get back out soon for more photo sessions! If you have any questions, I would love to help! Feel free to email me anytime! jessica@jessicasphoto.com.

Fall Family Photo Shoot | Northern Utah Family Photographer

March 27, 2020

Cache Valley, Utah Fall Family Photos

Fall family photo sessions have become my favorite! Fall time in Utah is so pretty with the changing leaves on the trees and the beautiful scenery. A little bit of snow surprised us for the session, but it ended up being perfect. I had so much fun with this beautiful family! I loved witnessing their relationships with each other, these kids had such a great bond with each other. The girls sure loved their little brother and they were so cute with him! Can you imagine being a boy growing up with 4 older sisters!?

The whole family’s outfits were perfect. The neutrals with the pops of fall colors really complemented the scenery with the fall colors and the little bit of white snow! The girl’s outfits were from the cutest boutique in Cache Valley called Roolee. They have the cutest clothes and the girls looked so pretty in them! I loved getting to photograph this cute family and I can’t wait to do it again! They made my job so easy and fun!

My 2020 schedule is filling up fast! You can visit my website or email me to hold your spot today at jessica@jessicasphoto.

15 Years of Photography | Utah Photographer

February 17, 2020

Thank you so much for visiting my blog and following along with me over the last two weeks reminiscing! I had so much fun telling my story of how I started in photography! I have had such an amazing career so far! Over the last few weeks, I did several giveaways on Instagram. For my final giveaway, I am giving away a couple or family photoshoot anywhere in the United States!! To enter, you had to subscribe to my NEW newsletter! I am so grateful for all of you signing up and trusting me with your email! The winner of the free photoshoot is Hayley Fox!!! I will email you shortly with the details! I am so excited to take your photos!

As I have been thinking about my business over the previous 15 years, I could picture all of the couples and families that I have photographed! It has been so fun to remember some of the stories from when I first began. I have come a long way! If you missed the stories on IG, here is the blog post with all of the stories. I wanted to post a lot of these photos along with the stories, but I was out of town. Now you get to see a timeline of some of my first pictures and ads.

To start off, here is my very first logo that I designed myself in Word! As you can tell I have always liked to have my name in cursive! I have always loved my signature and it felt right to keep that as a part of my logo.

My current logo was designed Abany Bauer with Brown Linen Designs. I met her when I traveled to Nepal, she was one of the stylists for the workshop that I attended. I was so excited to have her work on my brand in 2015!

I took these photos at my cousin’s wedding, I asked the photographer if I could take a few shots and he said that they wouldn’t be as good as his… These images were taken with my film Canon Rebel camera in 2004. I was so excited to go to their wedding and take a few images, after doing these I couldn’t wait to be a wedding photographer. I used these images on my first trifold brochure that I created!

Look at their beautiful family now! We took these in the summer of 2019!

Another one of my cousins got married in 2004, and I had to take some photos for myself! We did their family photos last summer on the Oregon Coast! Their kids are some of my favorites, I always love visiting them!

This is the first wedding that I ever photographed! It was in November of 2004! It made me laugh to go back in time to see the awesome edits that have phased in and out! I remember spending hours on this in photoshop to trace around each of those petals!

The lean against the temple was one of my favorite poses when I started out! I took their family photos 9 years later in 2013! One of my favorite things about photographing weddings is photographing their family photos years later. I get so excited to see your families grow and to see your successes in life!

This image was taken in 2006, I used it in my first phonebook ad!

My first out of state wedding in 2006, at the Oakland, California Temple.

One of my early ads in 2007! I had this in the BYU magazine!!

These two got married in 2006, and I have done their family photos almost every year since, and I look forward to their shoots every year! Their photoshoot in 2016 will always be one of my favorites, but their most recent session may come close to being my new favorite! I need to get it blogged so you can see more of it!

2009 ad! My brand colors were teal and brown for the longest time!!

These two images were the covers for a few of our local magazines in Cache Valley! I am so glad the extreme angles are no longer popular! It is so funny to see all of the different editing styles! You can tell that I used the Totally Rad Actions, to edit these! 😂

My first international wedding in 2010! Their beautiful wedding took place in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico! …angles were still popular!!

One of my favorite weddings in 2012 at The Canyons in Park City! One of my first really big events!

The first styled shoot that I set up! It was featured on Style Me Pretty!

First shoot in Jackson Hole was in 2012, after this photo, I knew I needed to shoot there more! Last year I had 24 photoshoots in Jackson!

My first photoshoot at Amangiri in 2013! I posed as another guest on the helicopter and photographed him proposing on top of Tower Butte! It was amazing! After this shoot, I was able to get on their preferred photographer list, it is one of my favorite venues! Shooting at Amangiri has elevated my business and my photography!

I went to Nepal in 2015 for a workshop and I created some of my favorite travel images! I loved connecting with the Nepalese people! Attending The Beyond Workshop pushed me to grow into the photographer that I am today! I started getting more education and worked on improving my photography to get to the next level! I still have so much to learn! These images were published in the Cottage Hill Magazine!

It has been so fun to look back on how my photography has evolved! Here are some favorite photos from the last few years! I have so many shoots that need to be blogged, this doesn’t even touch the surface of some of my favorite images! Thank you so much for following along on my 15-year journey in photography!