We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jennifer Townhill a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Jennifer, thank you so much for opening up with us about some important, but sometimes personal topics. One that really matters to us is overcoming Imposter Syndrome because we’ve seen how so many people are held back in life because of this and so we’d really appreciate hearing about how you overcame Imposter Syndrome.
When I first launched my business as a professional photographer, I sometimes struggled with imposter syndrome. Before each photo session, I would get a little knot in my stomach. Art can be subjective and the reality is, when a client pays you for something, they have expectations. In the early days, when I delivered a gallery to a client, I would hold my breath and anxiously wait for their feedback. Luckily I never had any disastrous results, but I wanted my work to meet their expectations. Photography requires many skills. Technical, creative, business and marketing expertise not to mention keeping up with social media! It’s a lot! Getting all of this right and delivering a beautiful gallery can be an intimidating task for any photographer.
How did I overcome imposter syndrome? Time and preparation. Malcolm Gladwell says to achieve true expertise in any skill it requires 10,000 hours. Time and experience helps relieve those feelings of insecurity. The more you do something, the more you get comfortable at it and every single time gets a little bit easier. Preparing for a photoshoot also helped with my confidence. I did this by visiting shooting locations ahead of time to check the setting and the light. Finding out exactly what the clients wants then creating shot list also helps meet their expectations. Pre visualizing images ahead of time will also help you feel prepared on the day of the session. Finally, getting ideas from other experts in my field.
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’m a professional photographer that just recently moved from the San Francisco Bay Area to Santa Barbara. My focus is expanding my business into Santa Barbara and the surrounding areas, while continuing to service my Bay Area clients. I love my job because I am passionate about meeting new people. I appreciate collaborating and exploring new ideas with my clients to bring our vision to light. Scouting out gorgeous new shooting locations in Santa Barbara has been exciting and helped me broaden my artistic vision.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
Looking back I believe that my sales skills were most impactful in my photography journey. Building a successful business requires sales and marketing skills and my background in sales for Apple’s creative products really helped improve my interactions with clients both corporate and private. Working with clients requires professionalism and clear communication. Clients that hire me should feel comfortable in knowing that I will provide a service that they can rely on. Communicating and collaborating is key. I want each person I work with to feel like all they need to do is show up and I will take care of the rest. I like them to feel at ease during this process and my job is to make them feel as comfortable as possible. Once people feel comfortable and relaxed, the results speak for themselves.
One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?
Because I recently relocated to the Santa Barbara area, I am in interested in building a local creative team . Collaborating with other artists in my market would help with my expansion and I would enjoy absorbing local knowledge that comes with that. I am interested in collaborating with stylists, hair and makeup artists and models.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.townhillphotography.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/townhillphotography/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/townhillphotography
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifer-townhill-94622b51/
- Yelp: https://biz.yelp.com/home/3Fgv6EtanttSUODWgtwYQg/
Image Credits
Jennifer Townhill
