Meet Jamie Rubeis

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jamie Rubeis a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Jamie, so great to have you with us and we want to jump right into a really important question. In recent years, it’s become so clear that we’re living through a time where so many folks are lacking self-confidence and self-esteem. So, we’d love to hear about your journey and how you developed your self-confidence and self-esteem.

That is a tough one. Especially for an introvert, like myself. It took a bit of practice and training. When I was first starting out in my career, there was a lot of learning that still needed to be done as with most careers. In portrait photography, it really is an ever-evolving door of learning. However, in the beginning, it was very scary for me to feel confident with knowing how to not only pose clients, but also engage with clients. I think over time, it became easier and I definitely became more confident.

There is still a certain level of nervousness that I have going into sessions, but after 13 years in business, I feel way more confident going into sessions. Anyone that is starting in something, has to allow for that learning curve and time to build confidence in yourself and your skills. However, if you are really passionate about something, I think you can harness that passion to help boost your confidence.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?

I am a Las Vegas Family & Child Portrait Photographer. I have been in business for almost 14 years. I work primarily in beautiful outdoor locations and I am heavily inspired by vast, beautiful landscapes as well as natural, candid moments. So, I try to incorporate both into my portrait sessions.

I have always been a creative. Ever since my childhood, I would draw and do crafts with my mom. However, it wasn’t until I had kids of my own that I found my love of photography. It started out as just wanting to take better pictures of my kids, but I quickly became very interested in expanding to taking pictures for other people and learning all that I could about photography. My husband is the one who actually talked me into opening up my own business in 2011 and I have been in business since. I absolutely love what I do and I wouldn’t change any of it.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

I would consider myself an extremely quick learner. So when you pair that skill with something that really interests you, it was no surprise how fast I learned about composition, and lighting, and just how to utilize my camera to its full ability. I am always learning, but in the beginning, I was a sponge. Soaking up every resource I could get my hands on from in-person workshops and classes to online tutorials and forums. Anytime you are just starting out in a business, you should have multiple resources to acquire more knowledge from.

Additionally, being creative, is a huge plus for any photographer. We are creating art and every photographer’s perspective and work is going to be different. I love every step of planning out a session and I find that every step is hugely important to creating beautiful portraits for my clients; from location, to wardrobe, to shooting, to editing. Even now, 14 years later, I still make every effort to put together “creative sessions” a few times a year. Creative sessions are sessions where I utilize model families to put together a concept shoot or try a new location where I am able to shoot just for me and have complete freedom and creative control. It gives me an opportunity to get fresh images of the type of work I want to be marketing to clients and also helps keep the creative juices flowing. When you have a very successful client based business, it is rewarding but it can become redundant and so it’s important to factor in that creative time. This is an essential part of building a portfolio in the beginning of your career as well.

Lastly, I would say, implementing workflow systems for everything was immensely impactful on my business. If you can automate it, even better! Everything about my business has a workflow from how I book sessions to how I actually shoot the session. Developing a workflow for how you shoot sessions might take more time as some skill is required but you can absolutely implement workflow systems into your daily business operations, from emails to contracts. A lot of that can be automated and it will save you so much more time once you get those systems in place.

Before we go, any advice you can share with people who are feeling overwhelmed?

It is really important to have healthy outlets. I often hear the advice, that you have to have a balance between your work life and personal life. To be honest, as much as you can try to do that, it is not always possible for so many different reasons. So having those healthy outlets and scheduling in those healthy habits is essential. Whether you like to workout, read a book, or go to lunch or coffee with friends once a week.

I work from home mostly and I also homeschool my kids. So, I am always home and so is everyone else. My husband also works from home. For me, it is really important that I get out of the house and not just for client sessions. I try to walk or jog several times a week. It only takes 30 minutes of my morning and helps to relieve the stress. I also love to hike. That is often how I find a lot of my locations for clients as well. Scheduling in a hike here and there really is a great outlet for me.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://jamierubeisphotography.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jamierubeisphoto/

Image Credits

Jamie Rubeis Photography