May 17, 2017

Meet Jack Davidson of Jack Davidson Photography in Cypress

Local Stories

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jack Davidson.

So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I started almost 13 years ago at the age of 18. I had an old polaroid camera, and without any real ambition to make money, I’d start impromptu portrait sessions with friends of mine. I inherited an old film SLR from my grandfather, and goofed off with it throughout college. My last year I took a photojournalism class, and for some reason that was a good enough reason in my mind to blow a ton of money on a good lens and DSLR. From that point forward you couldn’t stop me from taking pictures.

I loved good architecture and landscapes, but quickly learned that buildings don’t pay you money to take photos of them. At that point, I switched back to what I always loved- portraits. I would do the occasional weddings to make some good money to buy new equipment, some years were slower than others and I’d have to actually get a salaried career to make sure I could pay my rent, around 2012-2013 I rented out a studio with a few other photographers and really got to play around with tons of lighting and adapters and backdrops.

My favorite photos are usually on plain backgrounds where you are forced to give your full attention to the subject, that way you really have to challenge yourself creatively, otherwise you’re just getting a boring photo. Unfortunately, the scene around Houston changed, and instead of people paying photographers for photos, they’d try and convince us that we should pay them because it’d bring us new clients, or that them posting it on social media would be great for us. Either way it put a bad taste in my mouth because so many photographers were doing it.

I got out of my share of the studio and kept enough equipment to make a mobile studio wherever I went. I took a job as a high school math teacher and coach and still do photography on the side with the luxury now of only shooting what I want and when I want.

Has it been a smooth road?
It has absolutely not been a smooth road. Unless you are a niche photographer who gets really well known, you’re going to have to struggle. There are just so many photographers. Go to Herman Park on a weekend in Houston and you’ll easily count 100 photographers throughout the day. I’ve never been technically “niche.” I didn’t have the luxury growing my business to be picky, I shot whatever paid, so instead of becoming the best at one thing, I became pretty good at all of them.

With social media, and the cost to entry being so low now on equipment, the number of “photographers” has exploded. With that has come ridiculous inquiries. Usually the cost for a wedding would be around $2500, but since their cousin has a new camera and he said he’d do it for $500, I’m expected to lower my price to be competitive with him? It’s pretty common, and I always tell them, “You get what you pay for…”

I’ve been lucky enough where I never had to survive on my photography to eat, but there were times it did help feed me when layoffs in oil and gas abounded. I’ve also been lucky that I have great clients who do most of my advertising for me, and families that I have been photographing for almost a decade that continue to use my services every year.

So, let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Jack Davidson Photography story. Tell us more about the business.
My photography company specializes in portraits. Business headshots, fashion, lifestyle portraits are where my strengths tend to lie and what type of pictures you’ll typically see of mine.

I’m proud of the fact that I’ve had all walks of life in front of my camera- professional models, grandmas who wanted to feel like models, fitness professionals, makeup artists, body painters, people who just wanted to photos of themselves in a light they’d never seen before.

I really pride myself and my photos on catching the in between moments that no one really sees because they happen so fast. Capturing a facial expression that only exists at 1/1000th of a second, or a beautiful side of someone they never knew they had are victories for me. I love it when a client sees their photo and tears up because they’ve never seen themselves or someone they love look like that. As humans, we are extremely critical of ourselves, it’s nice to be able to break through that and show someone that they have no need to be.

Each session is tailored to the individual and we will usually collaborate for weeks so that I can find what really makes a client tick and then create a session that really shows someone’s true self.

How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
The industry is going to take a huge shift. Every day the number of photos taken is unimaginable. You tend to think what in the world is there left to photograph!? Sometimes it is hard to tell the different between a medium format Hasselblad and an iPhone 7 photo.

I think print photos will keep taking a back seat to digital media as long as social media keeps growing. I think that really good photographers are going to hit a roadblock as more and more photographers become technically good, and it will be the photographers with the personality and business knowledge that will survive the implosion.

There will still be heavy hitters, the people with the $50,000 camera bodies shooting for the major magazines, the people who were at the right place at the right time and got “discovered.” that won’t change much, but as print goes the way of the dinosaurs, I think you’ll have an even bigger explosion of photographers who specialize more in photoshopping their photos than making a connection to their subject, and if you can have the best online presence, be it a blog or an enormous number of followers, you don’t even have to be really good, you just have to make people think you are and that will be a dangerous thing for our business.

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