Why do you love what you do?
To be honest, I have been a photographer since I was a kiddo! I was inspired by my momma. She was always the one with a camera in her hands and I wish with all my heart I could hug her just one more time. I lost my mom too soon and its because of her i have memories to look back on to cherish her and what time i had with her.
Photography has always been my place of healing, growth and how i learned more about myself in more ways than one.
I photographed everything I could when I was younger.
I carried that passion into yearbook and high school and documented our yearbooks we cherish now as adults in my graduating class.
I worked with film and then digital came along and I was so amazed at how both mediums were able to stop time in their own ways.
Film is my favorite and nothing can compare to the nostalgia and the romantic colors that come from them or the moody black and white film.
However film is not a fast paced medium like digital is and that is where digital shines and how I have made a career in weddings.
The day goes by so fast, and within a blink of an eye the day is over.
I started documenting weddings 13 years ago when I was asked to take over after someones photographer did not show up and I remember stepping into it with no experience in wedding photography at all but through out the day my soul lit up with the romance of the couple and the love of family and friends celebrating them.
I have not stopped since. Every wedding is different and my passion to document others legacies and greatest chapters is such a privilege and I do not take that lightly. Knowing I can provide such a beautiful experience unlike any other and showing people how beautiful they are is truly what I believe my purpose here on this earth is.
What is your primary style?
I believe that as you may know artists change their style as their growth happens in their craft but the love of what we do does not.
However we like to think our style is Timeless, intimate and emotive.
We believe in documenting your day the way it unfolds. We also mold to you as people to make sure we never give a cookie cutter experience because we know our couples and their stories are all different and we don’t believe in trying to make couples fit into molds that aren’t for them so as we work with our clients we curate your experience to tailor you and your partner.
We pride ourselves for being an inclusive photography company and we celebrate our couples with the culture they bring.
We also are a interracial couple and we know how important it is to make sure skin tones are exactly as they are and not altered to be lightened like most photography companies who do not understand this, which is called white washing – we vow to always to make sure we keep natural skin tones and never edit you to be something you are not and make sure your beautiful skin always shines naturally and magically in your images.
We also do not believe in Photoshopping you to look like a Kardashian – sorry not sorry! We do soften skin (naturally softened and not something that makes you look like a porcelain doll with zero pores) and remove things like break outs on skin, and random people in the background based on our liking as artists. If you prefer to not have any skin softening we will take this into consideration and make sure we give you natural images without softening or removal of skin break outs.
Our Editing style is seen on our IG and Website and I (Jess) have worked for the last 13 years to acheive a style I am proud of and love naturally edited images with natural whites, warm tones and colors to be colorful just as the day of your wedding. I take pride in my work and the way I edit. Please do not ask us to alter what we do to mimic another artist. That would be like asking Leonardo da Vinci to change the color of the Mona Lisa’s paint.
How do you back up our images/galleries?
We back up our images in quite more ways than most photographers and it may seem a little crazy butttttttt it protects them from being damaged or lost.
The first way we back up your images is with a SSD hard drive that only has images on it.
Second we Back up images to the hard drive we will be editing on and working on your gallery through Lightroom and Photoshop.
Thirdly We cull through your images (select the images we will edit that best fit your day) and we take those images and create a folder in dropbox and those will be stored online for 6 months.
The fourth and fifth back ups are the SD Cards and the CF express cards we used in our cameras while documenting your wedding and we do not format them until after 1 week that your whole wedding gallery has been delivered.
The final back up is for the edited images in the Online Gallery you receive and that will be online for a guaranteed 3 years!
We take pride in knowing our images are carefully cared for along with knowing you have access to your images for a long time, We feel that 3 years is enough time to make sure you as the client back up your own images as well and make sure you have them stored safely and printed in your home.
Do you offer prints/albums?
Yes! we offer different albums that come in multiple sizes and price ranges start at $550 and can go up from there! I do not tack on huge fees for albums since you can build them right from your own wedding gallery. However if you decided you wanted the “done for you” option I will gladly help with the selections and build an album for you and the prices are all determined on the amount of spreads, size of albums and etc!
Single Prints are available right in the gallery as well – we love our online gallery experience and how easy it is to use.
If you choose a wedding package that includes an album you have 6 months to use your album credit or it will be terminated. We will send plenty of reminders to make sure you have seen them because we know life is busy but its busy for us too and we want you to get your album asap!
When do we get our galleries back?
Gallery delivery day is our favorite too!!!!
Here is our flow for gallery delivery and the types:
- Engagement/Portrait Sessions are typically delivered within 3-4 weeks
- Bridal Sessions and Boudoir are 4-6 weeks
- Weddings are 60-90 days. We typically stick to 45-60 days but during heavy wedding season turn around time can exceed to up to 90 days
BUT we also deliver sneak peeks within 72 hours! So you will always get a little sneak peek if we can make it happen! This is sort of why our clients love us so much because we make sure ya have something as soon as possible to share with friends and family!
Do you have full wedding Galleries you can share with us?
HOLD YOU TONGUE BC WE MIGHT HAVE MORE THAN YOU CAN HANDLE! 🤣🤣🤣
After being in the industry 13 years we have over 700 plus events we can share with you!!
But feel free to ask in your inquiry email to see as many and you need to so you get comfortable with our work and style 🧡
What happens if I fall ill/injured before the wedding?
I am very lucky to have an amazing network of photographers I have grown with in the wedding industry over the last 13 years who have incredible photography business’s of their own and if something were to happen, I will have them cover for me as I have also covered for them.
I also have 3 other lead associate photographers who work under our brand so rest assured your day will be cared for just as I would take care of you, my team will as well.
As far as second shooters, I have a HUGE network to reach out to and my partner is my main second shooter (Trish) and if she is unable one of my associate photographers will come ready to kill it and make all the magic with me!
We love what we do and who we do it for! If you have more questions feel free to message us at hello@itsjessgolden.com and we will get back to you as soon as possible with answers!
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