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

#photographylife #commercialPhotographer #wishyouwerehere

Another study...

i

I, like many of you, work out of my home. So forgive me if I am a little biased towards a soothing, functional home office / study space. I get genuinely excited when I do a walk through and one is on the shot list!

I think this speaks for itself - so I will shut up and let the image do the talking!












Texas Architectural Photographer

Photography for Interior Designers

Photography for luxury real estate

FAA Drone Advisory Committee Formed

The FAA has formed a 35 member committee to establish standards for the industry. With safety as the priority, it should go without mentioning that this will benefit Drone Aerial Photographers and Videographers, by giving the FAA industry input.

While I normally frown upon more Government oversight and regulations in most endeavors, because historically it has smothered small business, I feel this is certainly a good thing, and a step in the right direction. As someone who shares airspace with drones from General Aviation and Light Sport aircraft, and vice versa, I welcome any and all safety and operating guidelines that allow for safe, and prosperous interaction of both.

Here is the AOPA article on the committee, and it is well worth the read:

https://www.aopa.org/news-and-media/all-news/2016/september/20/drone-advisory-committee-kicks-off?utm_source=eBrief&utm_medium=Content

Dallas Aerial Photographer

Museum Tower Book of Artwork, Part 2

Slip/Strike by Nathan Green. 48x72", mixed media.

As promised in my previous post ( http://jasonjones-photo.blogspot.com/2016/08/museum-tower-dallas-book-of-art.html ), here are a few more selections from the book of artwork housed in Museum Tower. I opted not to cut pages out of one copy, because they will not fit on a standard office scanner anyway. The text and insets make the book for sure, but the images stand on their own as well in this context. Here is a selection of my favorite pieces - to shoot, and overall in the project.

Gray Area by Robert Levine. 72x72", oil on canvas.

White Wall by Brad Miller. 20x9 feet, in the main lobby.

Autumn Series Commission by Brock Enright. 40x40", Mirror, Metal & Fluorescent Lighting.

Untitled by Nic Nicosia. 21x32", Ink on watercolor paper

Dallas and Ft. Worth Architectural Photographer

Museum Tower Book of Artwork

Museum Tower, Dallas - Book of Art throughout common areas

  I think I can safely speak for most self employed creatives, who are not full time bloggers, or social media managers, that we are all behind on blogging... I am probably more behind than most, especially when it comes to tear sheets / published material. I have so much work published each year I could never post it all, and that's ok. Much of it is just corporate head shots, stock imagery, real estate listings and interiors that are nice, but not necessarily portfolio worthy. Not to discredit those things at all, as they make the world go around, and are critical to the success of any company engaged in business beyond selling flowers on the street corner of a trendy nightlife area on a Saturday night.

  I recently received my copies of a book I photographed. It is a project I am particularly proud of, that turned out VERY well. I was hired to photograph the artwork in all the common areas of Dallas' Museum Tower. A high profile, luxury residence tower that is adjacent to some of the best attractions in Dallas.  Klyde Warren Park, The Dallas Arts District, and the Dallas Museum of Art are all just feet away. The designers in charge of this project had tall shoes to fill, and they did so with the utmost class, and taste. 5 pages feature the images taken by another photographer showing the architecture of the tower when it was built, and the other 42 pages are solely my work, photographs of the art inside. I was excited to participate in this project, but seeing it in print, finalized, and bound, is amazing.

  I will apologize now for the mediocre iPhone photos. I mean, the cobbler's kids don't have shoes do they? I think the stand alone images from my hard drive are not as appealing for this post as are images in the context of the book, with copy and insets. So heres a couple of samples, and I promise to update with better images shortly.

Artwork inside Museum Tower, Dallas, TX.

Artwork displayed inside Museum Tower.

Texas Architectural and Interior Photographer

Texas Ranch and Land Photography

  I absolutely LOVE a nice ranch. It's probably the Texan in me, despite the fact I do not identify as a "cowboy", "country boy", or other typical labels that would dream of a ranch property such as this one. Just having space, wildlife, and ample land between you, neighbors, highways and the city is appealing to people from all walks of life.

  Texas offers some of the most spacious ranch acreage in the country, and I thoroughly enjoy photographing these properties for Architects, Interior Designers, Real Estate Agents, and magazines.  Each assignment is like a mini vacation, where I enjoy a day in the life of an exquisite, luxury ranch owner.

  Photography has been so great to me, and I have traveled the world, seen things most people never experience (at any income level), and never felt like I was working too hard for too little, like many 9-5 folks do... Its hard to believe that 9 years ago I hastily left an ungrateful labor type job with almost no money to my name, a camera, and a big dream that I had no idea how to make come true. 2015 was a landmark year in many ways. Thank you to the creative community for the opportunities, and helping me achieve these dreams. When God blessed Texas, he included me in there too.

Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year!

Jason

Dallas Real Estate Photographer

Waco Real Estate Photography

Ft. Worth Real Estate Photographer

West Texas Ranch and Land Real Estate

East Texas Ranch and Land Real Estate Photography

Best of Houzz award for the second year in a row..

 2014 has been an amazing year! In fact I was so busy, things like regular blog posts fell to the wayside. However that work has paid off! I was extremely honored in 2014 to have been awarded the Best of Houzz for Design Photography AND Customer Service. I was even more honored to find out I had earned it for 2015 as well!

    Thank you so much to all of my clients and the hard work they put into their projects. It makes my job that much easier when I am surrounded by so many talented people.


Dallas and Ft. Worth Real Estate Photographer Houzz Profile

Texas Architectural Photographer

Dallas Commercial Property Photography

North Dallas from @ 2000 ft

High end offices from ground level

In the Commercial Real Estate market, there is two ways to market a property, focus on the property itself, or focus on what a prospective tenant will benefit from (surroundings) by considering the specific property.

The smart brokerages/agents will market BOTH of these angles. There is no shortage of commercial property in North Texas, and no shortage of positive aspects for each one either. Putting together a brochure that highlights both is a MUST to stand out.  Why not obtain those images from one stop?

Jason Jones / TX Aerial Photography will deliver those images for you. As one of the top aerial photographers in the country, I have always leveraged my decades of aviation and FAA industry contacts to maximize your dollar. I can successfully photograph properties that are too close to major airports, too rural, or just not appealing to other aerial photographers who only dabble in this for a few shoots a year.

Aerial Photography in Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Illinois, Ohio and Michigan has been one of my primary skills/careers since I started in business.  My reputation is on the line, just as yours is - So I always deliver top quality images, NOT excuses.

If your business could benefit, or currently utilizes aerial photography and survey images, give me / TX Aerial Photography a call. Learn how we can take your images to the next level.

Servicing commercial brokers, real estate agents, construction, golf course, land and ranch, civil engineering, insurance, oil and gas, and any other industry that needs aerial images.

jasonjones-photo.com

txaerial.photography

Out and about

So I stopped in a Barnes and Nobel yesterday, and look what I saw! Yes I still get a little excited to see my work "out in the wild". No matter how many times I am published, this still feels like the first time I saw my picture on a magazine cover. It will never get old. EVER.

Jason

Green Energy - Windmill farms of West Texas

    I felt a hint of Don Quixote on this adventure. While I knew my "adversary", I had no idea how strong the hidden challenges would be. My assumptions of the assignment going in, were correct, but I still discovered aspects not anticipated at the beginning.  There is a reason that the West Texas / Panhandle area is home to these monstrous sized windmill farms. FAST WIND. Lots of it, too. I have been on plenty of harsh locations, but the wind here on a normal day was so strong, I could barely hold a camera up to my eye. Even my tripod needed to be sandbagged in order to stabilize the camera. Never mind the fact that these locations were all in the middle of an area known world-wide for its Rattlesnake population!

    At the end of the day, I still had my images, and my assignment was completed as directed. The Boy Scout motto of always being prepared holds true just as much for professional photographers as it does for a pack of 11 year old boys spending the weekend in the woods. You never know what curve ball will come your way, even if it is obvious from the start what challenges lie ahead. I had some of the best in this business teach me things that a school never would. Those tid-bits of info, no matter how small, have made me a much better, and prepared professional.

    Some fun facts I learned about these windmills may surprise you (or maybe not):

• Texas produces more wind power than any other state in the country (almost 10% of our electricity produced in Texas is from wind / windmills)
• Texas has been researching wind power since the early 1970's, long before renewable energy  was a hot topic.
• The blades can reach up to 50 meters in length, or approximately half of a football field each!

Jason

jasonjones-photo.com

Product Photography - Large Machinery, Commercial Photography

Not all product photography is small items on a tabletop. When this client, an aerospace manufacturer, called looking for images to produce a training/instruction manual, there was no doubt it was a huge task to take on. Shooting items of this size on white is no easy task, add in reflective properties of the metal and glass as well as the not so ideal conditions of manufacturing plants (This cant be easily moved to another location) and it takes a coordinated team to complete the job! I also photographed dozens of details, and several "operational" configurations with the engineering team, to show how to complete each step of the set up and calibration as well.

Interiors - Texas Commercial Interior and Still Life Photographer

Uptown high rise living room with a gorgeous view of Downtown Dallas. Photographed for a well known Dallas Realtor client. Thirty floors up will spoil even the most humble of photographers. I could certainly get used to this view everyday!

More Dogs! - Jason Jones, Dallas advertising and commercial photographer

The dog project has really become huge! These are just some outtakes, but I promise more images soon! I am still shooting for the client and cant wait to start seeing these smiling faces on product!

Dogs! Advertising Photography by Jason Jones

I have been extremely busy shooting dozens of dogs this month for a high end, pet care product manufacturer. The studio has been bustling with Grand Champion show dogs of all breeds, large and small. This guy was my absolute favorite of the bunch too. I had a doberman as a kid and really do miss him, and this stunning example of the breed almost brought a tear to my eye. He is a sweetheart and loved to play for the camera! All the dogs were great, and I can't wait to show you some more images as the project progresses.

Jason