Moving Forward During A Time Of Uncertainty

I know it’s been a little bit since I’ve reached out and honestly I thought I would’ve been doing more over the last few weeks, but the truth is though it has just been stressful! I feel like I have experienced all of the emotions and even shed some tears, but at some point you just have to pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and keep moving forward!

Resilient is a word I’ve heard a lot lately, and I’m not only grateful for my friends and family for reminding me that I am, but I am incredibly grateful that all of my couples have shown resilience in rescheduling their weddings and just for everyone rallying around self-employed and small businesses to make sure that we can keep providing our services and goods but also that we can keep providing for ourselves and our families. All I can say is just a huge THANK YOU! Everyone has some way that they can help someone and it truly makes me so happy so see that even when people are dealing with their own hardships that they are still reaching out to help others.

While I am working on some big plans for my business (I’ll just tease you with that until later this summer) just know that everything I am working on is to not only keep my business going, but to grow, elevate, and to serve you better! In order to be able to do that though I’m going to have to make some changes in the short term to ensure that there will be a long term future for my business. To do that I am going to be offering more portrait sessions!! Normally my wedding season just keeps me too busy to be able to offer these, but keep an eye out for:

*Mini-Sessions for families, couples, pets

*Mini-Sessions for business headshots

*Portrait Sessions for families, newborns, couples, pets

*Branding Photography for businesses

BUT, if you know me then you know I love to volunteer and give back when I can, so the way that I can give back right now is through portrait sessions!! I am grateful for all the hard work all of our front-line workers continue to do, so I want to show that through discounted Mini-Session days especially for these workers. They will be able to be purchased for themselves or gifted from someone else, but it’s just one way that we can say thank you to them right now :)

Well this all sounds great, where are the details and when does this start?! Haha, and that I’m not sure about yet. As of right now in Wisconsin photographers are non-essential workers so we are not allowed to take portraits through May 26th. Get ready though because I’m hoping to schedule Mini-Session days already in late June. Even then all portrait sessions will be done in the safest way possible and safety guidelines will be followed. I just wanted to give everyone a heads up about what I’ll be offering and the changes that will be coming.

While supporting my business through portrait sessions is amazing, also know that you can support my business through following me on social media and liking, commenting, and sharing the things I post! My Instagram is @jendederich and FaceBook is @JenDederichPhotography if you don’t follow along already.

I know I have just talked about my business and how to help and support me through this, but please don’t forget there are SO many people that are hurting right now because their livelihood has been taken away or drastically changed. So many different types of small businesses need our help and support and will need it through 2021. Please don’t be shy about reaching out to other businesses to see how you can support them! Supporting your local community is the only way we’ll still have all of the amazing goods and services they offer.

Once again, THANK YOU to all of my 2020 couples for just being amazing while dealing with so much having to reschedule your wedding days, and thank you to everyone not only supporting me but supporting all of the other small businesses out there!!

A Personal Post | A Fresh New Year Ahead

Whew. I don't know about everyone else, but for me 2017 was a crazy year! It was definitely a year of personal growth, and that in turn means changes for my business. Lessons that I thought I knew and beliefs I thought I had were just reinforced! I know I've said it many times, but I believe it now more than ever, that life is short and experiences with people are what matters! You honestly never know what life is going to throw at you and even though you think you've got everything planned and figured out, something will happen and you've got to adjust and change your course.

I like to think that one of my strengths as a photographer is my calm and easy-going personality and that lends itself perfectly to wedding days and even portrait sessions when the unexpected happens. But I also like to think that helps to attract the kind of people that I want to work with! I have been so blessed to have so many wonderful people that have come in to my life through my business, and I am honestly so grateful for the opportunity to preserve so many important memories for them! I have said numerous times that weddings and portraits should be about creating an experience, that's why I suggest making the extra effort to hike to an epic location or really think about the parts of the wedding day and things that matter the most to the two of you.

As you can see from the collection of images I've put together above I really try to practice what I preach in my life, but have I really done this in my professional life? Well I don't think I'm quite there yet in my professional life, but I'm more at peace with that! One of the new things that I've learned is that it's not always about the end goal, that the journey can be even more important! Haha basically I'm going in to 2018 with a more zen mindset. It's so easy to get caught up in the unfairness and unpredictability of life that I think sometimes we forget to just stop, slow down, and appreciate all that we do have. I'm grateful for my amazing friends and family, a very special guy that makes me feel loved and special, a job that I absolutely LOVE, and good health which allows me to eat all of the pie that I want :) Outside of that, I'm still working on improving and growing my business, but my focus now is about really creating those experiences that I keep talking about!

My Story | A Closer Look Into Who I Am

Hi Everybody! It's me, Jen. Haha as if you couldn't tell by the crazy red hair :) Most of the time I use my blog as a place to showcase more images and give you an better feel for a whole session or wedding, but I decided to switch thing up a bit and share a bit more about me. Something that honestly isn't easy for me to do!

One cold winter day in November, my parents rushed to the hospital with the anticipation of their favorite child being born! Lol, okay I'm really not going that far back and I know my brother probably won't read this so he really won't be offended! All kidding aside, I did grow up in a super small town (like 500 small) in central Wisconsin and I am honestly so grateful for the idyllic little bubble we lived in when I was young. As cliche as it may sound, I really did love photography from a young age, and couldn't wait to get my rolls of 35mm film developed from my very not fancy point-and-shoot cameras. Fast forward past a degree in Accounting and one semester abroad that taught me that life is too short to not be happy, and that's when I made the best decision of my life to go to photography school in Massachusetts!

Did I ever think or imagine when I got to photography school that I would move back to Madison and start my wedding photography business? No way! I started second shooting weddings to make money and just kind of fell in love with being a wedding photographer. So how the heck did the girl that can't travel enough end up back in Madison? Well, I was spending a lot of my free time traveling back to visit, so I figured if I lived here I could travel more! And of course being closer to my family and friends was a perk.

So, here I am, in Madison, Wisconsin building a business as a wedding photographer! I've learned a lot about myself in the last few years and what I want for my life and my business. As much as I struggle with putting more of myself out to the world on social media, I've realized that I want to attract more clients like me! Lol, I mean come on, who doesn't want to hang out with people just like themselves ;) To do this I'm starting with this blog post and describing my ideal client and business which really describes me and who I am!

I love to work with couples that want to create an experience for their friends and family on their wedding day. I want to photograph people that are madly in love and want to celebrate their commitment to each other with all of the people that they love :)  I have worked very hard to get where I am and after spending several years focusing on work, I've decided it's more important to focus on people, relationships, and experiences. Traveling, going on adventures, and being active outside are what I love to do and try to prioritize! This is also something that I tell to all of my clients, that you should prioritize what is important to on your wedding day and really make it your own to reflect you two as a couple and the type of day you want to have. I know that may be a very general description, but I really think it's as easy as that!

Speaking of being easy, you'll should also know that I try to keep things pretty easy, simple, and stress free! You'll notice I've kept my website pretty clean and simple and that's intentional! There are so many complicated things in life, and I don't think photography should be one of those things. I always tell my clients that I am here as a resource for them (seeing as I've photographed 125+ weddings and I don't even know how many portrait sessions) and I always feel so honored that they put their trust in me for these special moments.

To sum it all up, I never thought I would be a wedding photographer! I never thought I would be living in Madison after college. I never thought that I would get to preserve memories for people, but I truly am incredibly grateful that I get to!

ps - Photo credit to my talented friend, Katy Weaver

Explore North Workshop | A Wedding Photographer Workshop

Hosting and teaching a workshop has been something I've been talking about and wanting to do for years. I am so SO excited to finally be making it happen and to be working with two other amazing photographers, April Violet and Shaunae Teske! Together we are all hosting the Explore North Workshop on the beautiful shores of Lake Superior.

Our workshop is going to be very unique in that all 3 of us have different styles and ways that we run our business, but we all believe in community over competition and we want to help other photographers grow their businesses and reach their goals. That's why we're going to be giving very detailed information on exactly how we do things. Blogging, client experience, accounting, organization, branding, and design are some of the main topics we will be talking about.

But wait, there's more! Haha I totally feel like an infomercial right now. What other things would be valuable to a wedding photographer? New portfolio images, a new head-shot for your website, networking with other photographers and vendors, and just a few days to have fun. As important as all of that other stuff is, being a wedding photographer is draining. You need to take time for yourself to re-charge and get inspired!! This is why we're doing this, and all of this is why we are so very excited to be making this happen :)

Travel Diaries | Big Sur Coast, California | Destination Elopements

If you read my previous blog post (which you should definitely check out if you haven't) you'll know that I started a road trip with 3 awesome ladies in Yosemite National Park. After spending just a day and a half there, we headed west for the coast!

It has been a while since I've taken a trip with just other photographers, and I have to say I've missed it!! Being around other like-minded and totally awesome photographers is both energizing and inspiring. We all understand each other, the struggles we go through being photographers, and our desire to make many stops and take portraits of each other all day! Most people have co-workers that they're with Monday - Friday in person each week, but I work from home by myself. This trip was a good reminder for me that I need that community and support more often. I am so grateful to each of these awesome ladies and the things that they taught me and the many laughs we shared :) Again, here are just a few of the landscapes, portraits, and random moments driving down the California coast through Big Sur!