My Photography Path

On my first day interning the photographer looked at me and said “You do realize with the amount of time and money it takes to be a professional photographer you could be rich doing Anything else.”

Me “Really? Collecting cans on the beach”

His response “The richest woman in the world does recycling in China.”

To be a professional photographer it takes talent, technical ability, drive and luck....

I started off in photography in 1989 when I got my first camera. When I started shooting it was fairly expensive to operate as a photographer. I remember begging my mom to buy me film and then begged get her to develop the film. In high school I took photography courses all four years along with my regular classes. I was active in the schools photography club and served as the clubs president. After school I worked at two different photo labs. Which supplied me with free expired film and free film developing. After high school I was lucky enough to get into the top technical photography programs in the country which was Brooks Institute of Photography, Santa Barbara. Which attending Brooks I interned for celebrity photographer Jack Guy. After graduating I continued assisting for celebrity, fashion and other types of photographers. Then I started second shooting weddings. During this period I was slowly growing my own portfolio and started booking my own clients. I have been running Sara Jordan Photography since 2004. When I started off my primary focus was engagement sessions and weddings. After shooting weddings for 10 yrs my work started to transition to shooting other things including other events, product, fashion, maternity, newborn, headshot, corporate, school photography.....

When I chose photography as a career I really wanted to be a fashion and celebrity photographer. After working with celeb and fashion photogs, I realized that I didn’t want to live the life style that career choice would entail. I found that I just wanted to take photos and to make a career out of doing it.