Welcome!

If you are reading this article I am assuming that you want to learn a little more about me.  Sooooo, here it goes!

I became interested in photography about 15 years ago.  I just never felt like I had the knowledge to get started.  Photography can be and sometimes still is overwhelming.  There is so much to learn and I am still learning each day I pick up my camera.  

I was a coach for my son's basketball teams and my daughter's softball teams.  I noticed it was hard to find photographers to take our team pictures and the ones I did find were so expensive that no one on the team hardly bought any pictures.  That's when I decided to pick up a camera for the first time and try my hand at individual and team photography.  I wanted to provide great pictures at an affordable price.  

I will admit, a few of my first attempts were pretty bad.  I one time thought I knew about lighting and placed the light underneath and to the left of the individuals during their shoot.  It was an awful shoot and they were by far the worst pictures I've ever taken.  But I learned what not to do.  

As my skills as a photographer progressed I wanted to try my hand at other photography, specifically senior portraits.  My first senior photo shoot was in Beckley, West Virginia with Courtney.  She made it easy to take her pictures because she knew what she wanted them to be like and the types of poses she wanted.  She was a rock star that day and I am truly grateful.  Over the years I have taken portraits of about 30 seniors ranging from high school to college.  

In between shooting seniors I have done several family portrait sessions.  I am constantly learning new things about my camera and just recently bought a new 85mm prime lens to help me out with all of my portrait sessions.  I always shoot in manual mode and adjust my settings on the go.  I shoot in RAW to give more control over post process editing.  

One thing I would love to learn how to do and is a goal of mine for the upcoming basketball season is to be able to cut players out of one picture and place on them on a cool background.  I want to enhance my customer experience by giving them pictures that "pop".

That's my photography story.  I truly enjoy taking pictures of people and I would love the opportunity to take your pictures as well.  

Jonathan

As always, if you have any questions or issues, please feel free to contact me anytime!  I can be reached by email, text or phone call or by my website email form. 

Email Me! (jonathan@mess-e-photos.com

Text or Call Me! (540-793-0798)

Website Contact Form