Jenna Cole Photography – Palo Alto, CA

It’s been a long time since I’ve done anything Jenna Cole related. Too long! This is partially due to our move from Chicago to the sunny Palo Alta area just south of San Francisco, and also because I’ve been busy nurturing the two little darlings you see pictured above.  The littlest one you see pictured above was born February 6, 2013 and so I’m going to be consumed with family life for the next few weeks.

BUT

At some point I’m going to be ready to pick up a camera. I’m going to be experimenting with film this year. I miss weddings! I want to take a step back and look at the sessions I love most and focus in on those. I want to practice my craft and challenge myself and continue to improve with each experience.

Hopefully I’ll be able to work with some of you?

I’ve been second shooting a lot for my mom, Denise Andersen, while I spend some time living with my parents over the summer. Acting as the second photographer means I have little control over poses and locations, but it also means I don’t have any responsibilities to the couple either. I get to shoot what I want, when I want, and throw out everything that I don’t like. It has also forced me to look for different perspectives and get creative, because I can’t always shoot from the most desirable angle (since that’s where my mom is often standing). Overall it’s been a growing experience for me, and I’m very grateful my mom has provided me the opportunity. We have another shoot tonight and there are all sorts of ideas swirling around in my head that I can’t wait to try.

I think my own clients in Chicago (and wherever else I can find them around the world ) are going to appreciate these subtle changes as well!

We’ve been living in Chicago for 8 months now, and during that time I’ve talked constantly about how I want to make my working space a little bit nicer. I have some free busted-up cabinets to my right (we picked them up from a lady moving out of our building who had left them in the hall), a diaper changing station (complete with stinky diaper pail) to my left, and I’m doing my work at a $20 desk we bought online and plan to abandon when we move.  I admit I thought that in conditions like that, hanging something up on the wall wouldn’t make any difference at all.

I was wrong wrong wrong!

Photodough (an awesome site that’s like Groupon for photographers) had a deal for a canvas from one of the printing labs I use, and I bought one thinking I’d use it for my workspace. I knew I wanted to hang up one of my own photographs, but I was torn between a photo of my son, a general landscape, or a photo of my clients. Did I really want to have some clients hanging above my head? I decided to go with the clients because pictures of people are what I love most, and the image I chose really spoke to me as a representation of Jenna Cole and the work I love to do.

My desk is still a bit messy looking, and something you would never see featured in a magazine, but these small improvements are what I needed to help me feel more in control of my surroundings and how to help me stay inspired. As I’m writing this post things actually look a little bit different, as a second monitor arrived in the mail today, and now I have two of those lovely black beauties sitting on my desk. I write my posts/browse the internet in the one on my right, and edit my photos in the one on my left. I’m loving it!

So now I have Kate and Cormac on the left, a poster from A Vintage poster on the top right (which I plan to frame eventually), and Marilyn Monroe dancing her way through May just below. It took me less than 5 minutes to hang this up and now I’m kicking myself for putting it off for so long.

If you’re like me, and didn’t think it was worth your time, try spending a few minutes (and yes, you’ll probably need to spend a little bit of cash as well) organizing and decorating your work space. You just may turn to your significant other in the moments before you fall asleep and proudly say “I love the way my workspace looks.” At least, that’s what I did last night.