Photographer Spotlight Interview With Jennifer Horner Photography
Studio Name: Jennifer Horner Photography
Studio Location: Cleveland, Brisbane, Qld
Website: www.jenniferhornerphotography.com.au
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/JenniferHornerPhotography
What is your background and how did you get into photography?
I have been doing photography as a hobby since I was a teenager. My very first job out of high school was in an old fashioned lab developing film.
It was after the birth of my first child that I actually had the time to pursue it and learnt the craft properly.
I worked on and off throughout the early years of both of my kids’ lives, both in finance and doing photography as a part time business.
In late 2014 I took the plunge and made photography my full time profession and Jennifer Horner Photography was born!
What type of photography do you shoot?
I started out doing weddings but over the last year have been predominantly shooting newborns, children and families.
What is your favourite type of photography?
I’m addicted to child portraiture. I absolutely love that you can’t ‘pose’ them, and you can’t help but laugh during a session, even with the most difficult or uncooperative model.
I fall in love with the families that I see over and over again, and I really look forward to catching up with them and the kids.
I consider it a challenge to get the children to trust me and show me their true spirit through my lens.
What is your photographic style? How did you develop this style?
I’m a really unique blend of lifestyle and styled photography. My newborn sessions incorporate lifestyle and documentary style shots of the parents interacting with their babies, and also highly styled and planned shots of babies with natural but stunning props, textures and fabrics.
My outdoor shoots tend to be really natural shots of kids, but in gorgeous clothes, or with a prop or two in stunning natural locations.
I love to capture emotion and connection, and tend to focus on that rather than sticking to any one particular ‘style’
What is in your photography kit?
Two Canon 5d Mark III’s. Usually I have my 35mm art series on one and either a 100mm macro or 85mm lens on the other.
What is one piece of photography kit you just couldn’t live without?
Gosh I have to choose just 1? My camera I guess. The 5DIII is incredible and I loved it so much I bought another so I didn’t have to swap lenses all the time.
What post processing tools/software do you use?
I sort, organise and RAW process in Lightroom, then use PS for levels and mask adjustments.
What is your best photography tip and post processing tip from Jennifer Horner Photography?
Photography – Probably the most valuable thing I learnt early on was to not be afraid to bump up your ISO (provided you have a good camera). I was always too scared to, and then would get noise by increasing exposure in post. Provided my image is properly exposed, I can shoot up to ISO 2000 on my MarkDIII without an issue. Post processing – Avoid over sharpening and over-smoothing. I see it so much and it’a a mistake I made when starting out.
What was your greatest challenge so far as a professional photographer?
Balancing my work and family life. It’s been a real struggle switching to being a business owner, especially as my business has taken off. Late nights, early mornings, being on call 24 hours a day 7 days a week to answer enquiries and working hard to edit, edit, edit.
What is your favourite InkFX medium to have your work printed on & why?
I use InkFX for canvas and I love that it’s such a high quality product. I don’t stock anything in my range that isn’t archival grade and made to last forever. I can be confident that the InkFX canvas that I sell won’t be coming back to me faded in 5 or 10 years time.
If you were able to give any advice or recommendations to someone starting out in their Photography career what would it be?
Really assess your cost of business and how many hours you are actually spending at the computer, on the phone, learning and at shoots.
It’s so easy to underprice yourself and get totally burnt out, and to undercut those in the industry who work so hard. Really think about what you deserve to earn, do the hard yards and never ever give up.
Any last words of wisdom or advice?
A fellow photographer and I are starting a newborn photography blog White Noise at www.whitenoiseblog.com very soon. It’s going to be full of videos and articles all aimed at us newborn togs, so watch this space!
Jennifer Horner
Professional Photographer
Jennifer Horner Photography
Such cute photos 🙂 Lovely work!!