Was it destiny? Success means different things Part 2.

Thankfully, I havent forgot to bring my
camera to a shoot since!

Getting film developed was a regular task then.

Do you think sometimes "this is what I was meant to do!"? I do. ALL the time. I struggled to find my place for many years in a different career, fighting the urge to quit because I feared the unknown. 

Fear of failure, fear of mistakes, fear of anything actually - has kept many good people from doing what they should be. Once you overcome it, so many possibilities reveal themselves, and the prior path to that point will look MUCH different when it's behind you, than it did in front of you.

Looking back, I think I was always supposed to be a photographer / producer. I certainly didn't run down that path the first chance I had, but it came back around when the time was right. So many opportunities I have had, would not look or be received the same a few years before they actually presented themselves.
My dad had this Yaschica 35mm SLR camera he bought so long ago I couldn't even tell you how old it is. He only had a couple of prime lenses for it, and it is as basic as it gets for a camera. But he traveled the world with it, and going through old photos, you can see the care he put into what he documented. He still has that camera some 45+ years later. Im actually VERY jealous of the simplicity and how it allows you to just focus (bad pun intended!) on the scene and craft. Devoid of all the modern features a $4000 DSLR has to make sure you nail the technicalities right off the bat.
Once I came along, dad didn't hang his camera up. He just drug me along. While it was always a hobby for him, he still took pride in what he did and his photos. Looking through old albums, it's like I was there, or it brought back the memories just as I remember them. I am quite certain (even if unintentional) he passed this on to me. My love for photography, as a job, hobby and craft, is certainly attributed to the childhood he gave me.

Dad in the early 70's, getting ready for
shore leave in Europe.

Texas and Oklahoma Architectural Photographer

Dallas Commercial Real Estate and Aerial Photographer

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Success means different things, at different times.

Disappointed they did NOT have an Ansel Adams stamp...

Taken in 2009-ish. I know.. It was a nice
thought though!

Before I finally quit my 9-5, and long before I made a living as a photographer, I knew I wanted to be one. I had no idea my path would lead me to where it has - something I am truly grateful for, and still have no idea where I may end up.

When I was working a "regular job", I barely had time, or the the money (and never both at the same time) to REALLY travel. I did what everyone else does, and dreamed of destinations through photos I saw. I always told myself, and my wife, we would go there someday. In my mind, I knew we probably wouldn't, but it's nice to dream and hope. Fast forward to when I was getting close to quitting the corporate world for a life of freelancing - lofty goals and high expectations, that were quickly shot down by the reality of working harder than I had ever worked before, and learning what "Hustle" truly meant. I still dreamed, I still aspired. Without goals, work is pointless.

I remember reading about Ansel Adams and how he came to be a household name, what his photographs meant, etc.. I had always liked landscape photography, although even early on I knew a career taking only landscape photos was probably not a realistic occurrence for most people. I mean even if it was to sell a few prints here and there for pocket cash, that was fine by me. Sometime in the early 2000's I literally told myself I wanted to be "there", when I saw the picture of Ansel on top of his station wagon in a random book or literature. "There", as in "I made it", was just as much a state of mind, as it was standing on my truck in an iconic location to shoot some amazing photo, just like Ansel Adams did.

As things, and life, go, I went a different way. I still remember that conversation I had with myself, what I EXPECTED out of that goal at that moment, like it was yesterday. What I did NOT know at the time, was that success is not always what we thought, or wanted it would be.

Fast forward to April 2018 - more than a decade later. I walked into the Ansel Adams gallery at Yosemite Natl. Park, bought this post card and jotted on the back an obligatory "here", so as to not mail a completely blank postcard. I mailed it to myself from the Yosemite Park Post office next door to the gallery, which had an added bonus of a Half Dome postmark stamp too. When I came home, and retrieved this postcard out of the mail it dawned on me. I DID make it. I DID succeed. I actually teared up, because I realized what had REALLY happened with my life, and the long hard road of sacrifices my family has made to get me here too.

I've sold several landscape prints in the last few years, that I had taken on my travels that photography paid for. I walked the same path at Yosemite that Ansel did many years before, because of money I earned from MY PHOTOGRAPHY.  In the last 4 years I have taken my family to nearly every state in the lower 48 (many of them multiple times), driven coast to coast, and to 3 countries. In 2015 we drove enough miles to circle the equator, plus throw in a trip to the North Pole from Dallas. I made it before I even realized it, but it took Ansel Adams himself (in a weird name dropping way!) to make me realize it.

Texas Architectural Photographer

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Personal work - Keeping the spark alive.

Lido Key, near Sarasota Florida.

  I am a worker. My dad taught me to work from an early age. Always rise early, work late, complete the job you were paid to do on time. Things he still tells me today.  30 some-odd years later, I rarely ever sleep in, I cant remember the last time I was in bed by 9pm and I work until the job is done.

  The problem is - all work and no play makes me a dull fellow. I still love photography the same as when it was a hobby (despite the old saying "This job killed my hobby".), but it was rare that I got to do it for myself. Clients will always take precedence.

  About 5 years ago, when my travel work really picked up, and I was literally travelling coast to coast. I knew this was a golden opportunity to do a couple of things, and instead of "burning out" like some people do on the road, I made some solid decisions about my career, life and leisure.

1. Make my family part of it. They routinely come with me when I travel. We homeschool our kids for this reason, and enjoy every minute of it!
2. Every destination, after the job is completed, I take a small slice of time to see something off the beaten path, soak in some local culture, or just sightsee for things I'll never find in Dallas.
3. I continue to have time blocked off solely for personal work. In my case, I absolutely love shooting dramatic landscapes. I do not pursue them as a business or as part of my income. They cost me a fortune sometimes (travel) to take, but are worth every penny in sanity, and relaxation. Sometimes this time is integral with a destination a client has flown me to, sometimes it is just a specific goal I have had. I roll with the opportunities as they come.

I've been extremely blessed to have a large network of friends and clients, who have taken my personal work into their publications, galleries, offices and other places to exhibit, and occasionally sell, solely because they believe in me, and what I am doing. I've never considered myself an artist in the sense of a painter or sculptor (and still don't), but in a world of creating things to other people's specifications, this is my "no rules" outlet. And I love it.

 Below is some of my favorites of the many places that I have been able to travel, and take my family to enjoy with me. I may not be an Ansel Adams or Peter Lik, but if you'd like to spend 4 to 6 figures on a print, I'll forget all about that "not pursuing as a business" thing I mentioned earlier!

Be sure to follow my Instagram as well. It's regularly updated with a mix of personal work, behind the scenes photos, and general photography observations that would never make it to a portfolio site, or have a full blog post made about them.

Cliff Palace, Mesa Verde Natl Park, Colorado

Maine

Boston, Mass.

Montauk Point, Long Island NY

Orizaba,  Mexico

Texarkana, Texas

Advertising and Editorial Photography by Jason Jones

  While a good part of my work is  in Architecture and Interiors, there is quite a bit of crossover, and many assignments come in the form of advertising and editorial work.

  I am truly jealous of people who can effortlessly write amazing content, stories and books. Writing, along with painting, are two creative things that helped drive me to the backside of the camera! Just as architecture and interiors crosses over with other photography, writers sometimes need images to round out the concept they are conveying. This crossover is where I come in, and work my magic.

  Whatever story your publication has in the works, I can provide excellent imagery to accompany it. My photography was first published in 2001, by chance, when this was still just a hobby and a dream. Since then, I have had thousands of images published in just about every medium imaginable, across the country, with some even internationally!

   Photography is no longer my hobby, it's my only business. Trust your brand to a professional, and call or email for a quote today.

Advertising and Editorial Photography by Jason Jones