Meet Jena Cumbo

We recently connected with Jena Cumbo and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Jena, thanks for sharing your insights with our community today. Part of your success, no doubt, is due to your work ethic and so we’d love if you could open up about where you got your work ethic from?

Definitely got a strong work ethic from my mom, Marge Cumbo. She raised me and my brother while battling a bipolar disorder and later cancer. She always worked hard, was frugal, but very creative, resourceful and always stylish! Unfortunately, she passed away a long time ago. I think part of why I try so hard to pursue photography was because she never had a chance to pursue all the creative things she excelled at. She was really great at so many things, baking, embroidery, caligraphy. I think she would’ve been a great graphic designer if she didn’t pass before her time.

Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?

I’m a NY based photographer who also shoots/edits video and directs. My main focuses are fitness, fashion and beauty and portraits of creative people. It’s always fun for me to collaborate with bands and artists. My work always revolves around composition of the frame. I love trying unique angles, capturing action and color is a big theme in my work. I studied painting in undergrad. I try to capture people so that the viewer gets a sense of who they are from the images. Movement and fitness have become common themes in my work too, especially in my fitness photography. I got into that when I moved to Rockaway Beach and started shooting the skateboarders and surfers. I’ve always been very active myself so it seemed like a natural progression to turn my lens towards athletes.

Currently I have a workshop project going called Movement Moments with an athlete I met in Rockaway, Taina Manigat and movement coach Kyla Thomas. Taina is a Nike Collective fitness trainer who upon being put in front of the camera was at first having a hard go of it. I had shot with her before for a gym owned by one of her dear friends where she teaches called Goodform Studios. We then did a studio photo session and that’s where she got the idea that working in front of a camera could be improved so much with a movement coach! We teamed up with her friend Kyla, who is a professional dancer and fashion stylist to work on a coaching program. Our 3 hr workshops start with a prompted journaling session with Taina, followed by an active movement and posing session lead by Kyla. Participants get loads of mirror time and try all sorts of tricks to get comfortable in their bodies, with moving and posing. And then we end it with a studio photo session with me and everyone gets to try out what they have learned on camera. We will be doing it again in January. We have a web page https://www.jenacumbo.com/movementmoments and you can follow us on instagram @movementmoments_

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

Grit. Pursuing photography or any creative career takes time. And not all of us were born with a silver spoon. You have to really want to do it and have perseverance to succeed.
Be good with money and frugal, especially in cities like NY. Be willing to live with roommates, work nights, cook at home to save for things like cameras or to just have enough free time to work on your own creative pursuits.
Be curious. Stay aware and open minded. Learn new skills and tech. Meet new people, get out of your comfort zone. Being part of a community helps immensely. Also helps you find your people.

All the wisdom you’ve shared today is sincerely appreciated. Before we go, can you tell us about the main challenge you are currently facing?

Biggest challenge these days is that its easy to get discouraged in a downturn. We’re in strange times as a society. Between the presidential election and the uncertain economy in the creative industries its hard to escape the negativity on social media. For years I did well for myself shooting e-commerce fashion, now a lot of that work has gone away for variety of reasons, AI being one of them. So that scares me a bit. But I have also been at this long enough to know that progression is not linear. I’m resourceful and tenacious and I still have faith that at the end of the day those qualities will get me through. I also think that brands audiences, us – the consumer, crave authenticity. So while AI and all the new tech will become a part of things, I don’t think it will be the source of everything. Even with influencer culture, aspiration was always a big part of the look and I think most people don’t aspire to be an AI faux glam bot.

NY use to be a place where in commercial photography you had to shoot one thing one way and that was what you did. Now I think it actually might be a good time to diversify skills a bit. I got into shooting more beauty and have been shooting and learning more about video to diversify what I can offer. While it hasn’t been the best financial year for me, I have also had some opportunities with new clients and brands that I wouldn’t have gotten if I hadn’t started leaning into fitness and beauty photography. I’m hopeful that the best is yet to come and when my career is getting me down I remind myself that I am more than just photography. Spending time with family, friends and pets and just doing things I enjoy like running or surfing helps so much.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.jenacumbo.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jenacumbo/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jena-cumbo-5116053/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@jenacumbo

Image Credits

Those are all photos I have taken within the past 6 months and are part of my portfolio.
In order of upload these are the names of the models that appear in the photos.
1. Zara Black
2. Olivia Muller
3. Pratigya
4. Cohen Bryan
5. Jericho
6. Ashna Grey
7. Kevin Kim
8. The Good Neighbours – Scott and Oli