ABOUT KELLEY JO IMAGING
I started my photography journey at
the local newspaper,
shooting and writing for the high school sports. After shooting the same small town sports, with pretty much the same athletes every week for multiple seasons, I started to find myself with similar images. One event a few years into my newspaper career I remember thinking, “I’ve shot all these images before… I need to do something new.”
So I challenged myself, when I had a few images shot for the newspaper I was going to shoot everything but the game itself. I had enough action shots, and I wanted something different.
I started looking outside the game, and ending up creating some of my favorite shots. The image of the wrestling bench each demonstrating a technique for the wrestler on the mat; the basketball parents during a game with the huge rivals from down the road; the young elementary school football players waiting to go onto the field at half time; the injured athlete watching his team from the sidelines. It was these moments that were unique to each game, they were what defined a specific event.
“This is why I am a photographer, because there is so much more to life than you realize, and I love discovering those things.”
When I ventured out into my own business in 2009, I realized that subconsciously this was also how I viewed other events.
I discovered this is why I shoot weddings; because there is so much more to a wedding day than the “game”. You have the bride and groom and the ceremony, but there is also so much more. The mother of the groom who is quietly in the corner tearing up in happiness, the grandparents who are holding hands while observing the first dance, the flower girl who has checked out and wandered away from the ceremony, the quick look between the bride and groom after walking out of the church.
These are some of my favorite shots, and these are why I feel so blessed to be a part of a couples wedding day; because they have chosen me to be able to discover those other parts of the game. They complete your story, and the define your day, they are what makes your event unique.
Although not as obvious, this is also why I shoot families and seniors. That hug between father and daughter, that bond a family shows while they are getting ready for a portrait, the little boy that gives his sister a love choke, or the mom fixing the daughters hair. The senior who is becoming an adult, the moment between childhood and adulthood, that smirk before it becomes a full blown smile, or that look they give their mom out of the frame when she tells them to smile.
This is why I am a photographer, because there is so much more to life than you sometimes realize, and I love discovering those things.