Today we’d like to introduce you to Jasmin Perla.
Jasmin, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I fell in love with photography while on a year-long backpacking trip in South America in 2018. The job I had been working for over a year had completely drained me on so many levels. I left my full-time restaurant management position with an amazing company, bought a one-way ticket to Colombia and a small Sony mirrorless camera, and went on a journey of self-discovery. My main objective for the trip was to gain perspective, engage in community outreach and give back to those in need. These things have always been at the center of what I do and why. My love for photography and the creative process really flourished during my trip, surrounded by beautiful landscapes and stories of the human spirit and hope. On the road, all I had was time, and most of that time was spent taking pictures, learning the editing process and trying to hone my skills in an area that was quickly becoming a passion. I was gone for almost a full year before I bought a permanent return flight home.
When I arrived back in the states, a job in the restaurant industry fell into my lap. I took it, conscious that it was not what I wanted to do in the long run, but it was something that I knew how to do and financially, I needed it. It felt like the safest decision at the time. I spent six months at that job, shooting portraits for friends in my spare time just to get practice behind a camera until I decided that I couldn’t spend well over 40 hours a week working a job that left me feeling unfulfilled. I turned in my resignation and what I thought was the end of the road for me at that restaurant, really turned out to be the beginning of an amazing opportunity to launch my food photography career. Upper management was reluctant to turn over the restaurant’s Instagram platform to me initially, but I agreed to provide all the content and publishing work for free for the first month in order to build my portfolio.
Soon I was working as their photographer and social media stylist and manager with great success. As my food photography portfolio grew, I was able to market myself to other restaurants and continue to book shoots through referrals and basic marketing strategies.
I think a lot of entrepreneurs in the creative field assume that because they have a portfolio of their work, that people will book them, which is far from the truth. I didn’t want to wait for things to happen for me so I took on a more aggressive marketing strategy. I spent entire days going door to door to local restaurants, offering my services and actively searching for clients. Since then, I’ve had the opportunity to work with several different restaurant concepts, both as their food & event photographer and their social media content creator/stylist. My images have been used for both digital and print marketing and my portfolio continues to grow and diversify at an amazing rate. I’m so grateful to be doing something that I have a passion for, and that gratitude keeps me going. In order to get to where I am today, I had to work a lot of jobs that I didn’t enjoy, and that makes me exponentially more grateful.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
It’s never a smooth road. Life happens, and entrepreneurship is difficult, but it is through the difficult learning processes and all the trial and error that we adapt to overcome obstacles, find strength and build endurance. One of the biggest struggles for me was giving up the security of a well paying, full-time job. As an entrepreneur, it’s common to not see a profit for a substantial amount of time, and no one is going to cut you a check every two weeks just because you work hard. I spent a lot of hours sending cold emails, going door to door, posting on social media and racking up reviews before I started to get paid bookings. Even then, in the beginning stages of building a business, the profit goes right back into investing in the business. For photographers, that’s in the form of upgrading gear, attending workshops, professional editing software, etc.
For me, the key is to do something because you love it, not for the money, and that makes it sustainable. That’s why I kept pushing and pursuing photography.
Another hard part of my journey was working a lot of jobs that I was simply not passionate about. Working 40, 50, 60 hours a week for someone else and feeling unfulfilled is definitely what pushed me to find an alternative. While I was living that reality, life was hard. We can all relate to the feeling of being drained by a job because it doesn’t align with our purpose. I read a quote recently that said, “You are often tired, not because you are doing too much, but because you are doing too little of what sets your soul on fire,” and that was my life in a nutshell for most of my life until now.
Returning from South America was another one of the biggest challenges that I have ever had to deal with. Depression hit me like a ton of bricks. I came back with no plan, almost no money, facing personal & health-related issues and really felt like I couldn’t relate to those around me after living a nomadic, minimalist lifestyle for almost a year. Coming back to the states, into what used to be my culture, but feeling completely foreign to it, really played a number on me mentally and emotionally. I am extremely blessed to have an amazing and supportive group of family and friends that helped me as I reestablished my sense of self and my role in society.
Jasmin Perla Photography – what should we know? What do you do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
I am a freelance photographer, specializing in food and portraits. Having a background in the food industry for ten years, that is my field of expertise and what I know well. I have experience in producing quality images for everything from social media platforms to print marketing and I also offer personalized social media management packages.
Staying true to my lifelong passion for community service, 10% of ALL profits from photoshoots are given back to community outreach organizations in the local Houston area, and that is definitely what I am most proud of. My business is not only for my own personal gain, but it also serves a much greater purpose, and that sets me apart.
What is “success” or “successful” for you?
Success is extremely subjective and ultimately, to me, success is freedom and happiness. If you can wake up every day and have the freedom to do whatever you want to AND you’re genuinely happy, you win at life. I have never believed that extravagant material possessions or a certain amount of money equates success and my year-long trip in South America definitely brought that home for me. Living out of a backpack for that long will humble you and make you realize how little you need in order to truly enjoy life.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://jasminperlaphotos.smugmug.com
- Phone: 5719911146
- Email: Jasmin.perla@yahoo.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jasminperla.photos/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jasminperla.photos/
Suggest a story: VoyageHouston is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
