Today we’d like to introduce you to Jeremiah.
Jeremiah, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
Well, my story is pretty simple. I came from humble beginnings, my mom did lots of odd jobs growing up, and my dad was a postal worker and still is to this day.
Grew up on the south side of Houston in Ridgegate subdivision all the way up until I was 17. I actually graduated from high school at 17 because I was always a grade up since kindergarten. Had to throw that in there for my wife! Haha…
After I graduated, I went to a bunch of different universities. Oklahoma University was the first one, then took some classes during some summers at HCC, even went to UT in Austin for a semester, then finally ended up at Prairie View A&M where I graduated in civil engineering.
So, that’s a little backstory on me. Unlike other photographers, my path to photography was kind of different. Most of the photographers that I read/heard about found out about photography in high school or college and always had a passion for it. For me, it wasn’t like that. For me, it happened two years ago, and it happened on accident kind of.
The story is I used to do videos and stuff for my home church and other videos after I got married for when we went on vacations using my iPhone. I loved video! I loved taking a bunch of clips and then putting them together to make this complete video. That feeling of watching what you put together was just something I loved.
The only thing was I found that when we went on vacations, I was always running out of space, and the quality wasn’t that good. Footage was shaky, etc. So, I thought, what if I can get a high-quality camera! Yeah, that was what I was going to do. So, I did my research and found this canon camera that was what I thought the best out at the time, only problem was, it was super expensive. Didn’t have the money, so I borrowed it from my parents haha. Bought the camera and two lenses.
Now, I have the camera, I’m super excited, right. Pull it out the box and then realize, whoah, I don’t know how to use it haha. Immediately run to youtube (not the instructions, haha) to figure out how to turn it on. Wait it won’t turn on, oh snap, there isn’t a battery in it. But wait, where is the battery… and so and so forth… so I finally get the camera on and I snap a picture, and it doesn’t work. Whyyyy! I’m so frustrated at this point. I had bought one full frame lens and one crop body lens.
Well, I had a full frame camera and didn’t realize I bought a crop body lens. (All the photographers will get that, don’t worry haha) So, needless to say, one worked the other did. I go to snap a photo of my dog Miah and when I looked at that screen and saw how great the quality was of the picture I was blown away! I had never seen a picture look that good. So, I snapped one more, and as soon as I looked at the second one I was like, I.. think… I… can… do this… literally just like that in my head.
I then told my wife I was going to be a photographer and the rest is history. She kind of looked at me with a straight face like dude seriously? And I was like yep, I think I can do it. And that was it! Now, I’m just thankful for the relationships that I have built and still are building with people, and the love that my old and new clients are showing me has just been amazing!
Super grateful for it all! I never thought I would be at this point where I literally have photography gigs every other weekend whereas before I had to chase people down to shoot photos, haha. Not that they’re hardcore chasing me down now, but I definitely have been getting way more love now, so it’s really dope.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
No, it has NOT! One of the biggest struggles was getting clients! It’s like you call yourself a photographer, ok cool, but where is your work? Oh wait, I don’t have any work because I just started. There goes your possible sale out the window! Why would someone hire you to take pictures of them and there is nothing you can show them?
Which leads me to the next struggle. Why would someone pay you for taking their pictures and the work you actually can show them is not very good?! Haha. Those were the major struggles for me starting out! It’s kind of like a chicken or the egg type of thing. Which came first, you know? I wanted to get into wedding photography but didn’t have any work to show for it so I couldn’t book wedding clients. Those were some of my main struggles starting my journey out in photography.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
My business is a photography business, but now it’s not just a photography business. I am now trying to branch out into landing more video gigs because that was actually my first passion before I discovered I could take photos. So, I would say I specialize in photography and videography.
I’m most proud of all the shoots that I have taken of any of my clients, old is new! It is truly an honor and privilege for anybody to trust me to take photos of their special day’s. That’s a super politically correct answer I know, but I truly mean every word of it.
I don’t want to toot my own horn, but I’d like to think what sets me apart is my approach to photos and editing. I try to take away all photography rules so to speak and do it based on my feeling. I don’t focus on a style either, I just do what feels good to my eyes.
There is this verse in the Bible that talks about the eyes being the gateway to the soul. I try to look at things while I’m taking them and even more so when I’m editing and try to edit from a soulful place. That probably sounds weird, but that’s how I think about it.
And honestly, it doesn’t always work out that way, but it’s my thought process at least.
What were you like growing up?
Haha, that’s an interesting question. Personality wise, I was goofy and nerdy. Still am but in a cooler way haha, at least I’d like to think. But as I got older, say into my teens, somehow I became more self-aware and in turn became a pretty shy kid. Just because I didn’t know how people would accept my goofiness, so it’s easier to just keep it in and not risk the embarrassment. At least, that’s how I think I was thinking, internally, looking back at it. Nowadays, in my older age, I’m a lot more comfortable with who I am and not too caught up on whether people like me or not.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.jrmhphotos.com
- Email: info@jrmhphotos.com
- Instagram: jrmhphotos
- Facebook: jrmhphotos
- Twitter: jrmhphotos
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