Today we’d like to introduce you to Jessica Hunt.
Hi Jessica, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself
I picked up my first camera at 16 years old and have been creating fine art portraiture ever since!
I received my Bachelor of Arts degree in Studio Art with an emphasis in Photography from Columbia College in 2014 and started my business, Jessica Hunt Photography, in 2015, with just a dream and a used Canon camera.
Today, myself and a team of photographers I’ve trained serve a wide array of couples throughout the Southeast and all over the world during one of the most significant experiences of their life: their wedding day. My team and I are passionate about helping lovers connect on a deeper level with each other and creating imagery that highlights every couple and love story, no matter who or how they love.
In 2021, I expanded Jessica Hunt Photography to include luxury boudoir services and opened a studio located on Calhoun Street in Columbia, South Carolina. Jessica Hunt Photography now serves folx through both intimate portraits in the boudoir studio and high-end portraiture during their wedding days.
My work has been featured in well-known print and online publications including The Knot, Martha Stewart Weddings, Munaluchi Bride, and Southern Weddings — over 250 times in the past four years alone. She has also been named among The Knot’s “Best of Weddings” for three consecutive years in a row and named to The Knot’s Hall of Fame in 2020.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Throughout the years, I have definitely run into obstacles and challenges as a business owner. In the beginning, many of the challenges I faced were based on learning how to truly run my business in a profitable way and value-driven way. I experienced growing pains as a young business owner learning things like best practices of bookkeeping, marketing, sales, client interaction, and more.
As a young person at the ripe age of 21 and fresh out of college with an art degree, I started my business much of my focus on the quality of the photographs I was producing and not on the obstacles that I would face as a business owner. As entrepreneurs, we have to wear many hats inside the business, and learning how to master each of those roles was one of the biggest obstacles that I faced at the beginning of my career.
As the years have progressed, I found myself in a position where my networking with my fellow vendors, consistently providing quality experiences for clients, and going above and beyond for each couple I serve has allowed me to create a continuous stream of target-market referrals who are willing to invest in the high-end services I offer.
The biggest obstacle I’ve recently faced as a business owner has been the coronavirus pandemic. Notwithstanding the major public health crisis and the mental load of being a citizen in a community navigating a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic, having to manage a business with clients with high expectations throughout an extremely stressful time proved to be quite the task.
Over the past year, I’ve learned how to better navigate hard conversations with clients in regards to rescheduling their events, refunding their investment based on cancellations, and helping them navigate the rigors of planning a wedding during a global pandemic.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I am a wedding and boudoir photographer. I have been a professional photographer for eight years, and every year, my team and I serve thirty to thirty-five couples throughout their wedding photography experience. In 2021, I expanded Jessica Hunt Photography to include luxury boudoir services and opened a studio located on Calhoun Street in Columbia, South Carolina. Jessica Hunt Photography now serves folx through both intimate portraits in the boudoir studio and high-end portraiture during their wedding days.
I am passionate about love stories, making people feel seen and affirmed through their photography experience, and creating imagery that represents a variety of diverse communities. I’ve worked hard to create a luxury photography brand that represents and normalizes the romantic and intimate experiences of people of color and the LGBTQ+ community through both wedding and boudoir photography.
My team and I are best known for bringing wonderful, positive energy to each wedding day we serve on. The boudoir side of the brand is known for being a safe and affirming place for people of all body types to enjoy being photographed intimately for either themselves or for a gift for their partner.
Some of the things I’m most proud of in my career are my published work in both print and online in places like The Knot, Martha Stewart Weddings, Munaluchi Bride, and Southern Weddings, which are leaders in editorial work within the wedding industry. I am also deeply proud to be openly affirming the LGBTQ+ community and a vendor safe for all couples of any identity to celebrate with on their wedding day or through boudoir photographs.
Who else deserves credit in your story?
I would definitely not be where I am today without the support and mentorship from so many different people in my life. From the friends, I had in college who encouraged me to continue down my path to an art degree and pursue running a photography business as a career to the vendors who now support me on a weekly basis as we serve on events together, I have been so fortunate to have so many wonderful people support me in this venture.
My first mention would have to be the young wedding photographer who allowed me to intern for her as a high school senior though I had no experience photographing weddings at the time and very little experience as a young photographer. That internship and opportunity allowed me to discover my love for photographing weddings originally, and I am forever in her debt.
Over the years, I have been so lucky to encounter many mentors who have stepped in to answer hard questions about client relations and to teach me more about how to be a better business owner. Recently, I invested in hiring a mentor to help me build the new part luxury boudoir side of my business. Though I have been photographing a few boudoir sessions each year throughout my career, in 2021, I took the leap to open a boudoir studio and pursue success in that space of luxury photography in Columbia, South Carolina. I feel so fortunate to have found an incredibly successful boudoir photographer in Kansas City, Tayana Nelson of Good Bodies KC, who offers paid mentorships for other business owners like myself who are looking to launch a new part of their brand within the boudoir space.
As for cheerleaders, there have been more folks than I can ever count who have referred business to me, mentioned my name in the right room to the right person, and supported my marketing efforts in social media. These people have been my friends, my clients, my fellow vendors, and even my employees within my own team. Without their constant positive and supportive responses to the content that I create and the hard work that I put in each day, I would absolutely not be where I am today.
Pricing:
- -average couple spends $4,000+ with us for their wedding experience
- -average boudoir client spends $1,200+ with us on their boudoir experience
Contact Info:
- Email: hello@jessicahuntphotography.com
- Website: https://jessicahuntphotography.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jhuntphotos/ https://www.instagram.com/jhuntbodies/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Jhuntphotography
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/jhuntphotos
