Meet Josa Comstock

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Josa Comstock. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Josa below.

Josa, so great to have you on the platform and excited to have you share your wisdom with our community today. Communication skills often play a powerful role in our ability to be effective and so we’d love to hear about how you developed your communication skills.

Honestly, this is something as a small business owner that I still struggle with today. I’m naturally a quiet person. A listener versus a talker. But I would say on a regular basis I communicate at about an 80% effectively without preparation.

Communicating effectively for me is extremely important. It is important for me to email and call with confidence when booking new clients and describing my services and packages fully while also being welcoming and friendly feeling. First impressions are everything! Unfortunately, like most things this is something that develops overtime. It develops along with your confidence not only in yourself but in your business and your product. I found the busier I was the better I communicated because I felt that I was an in-need service that anyone would be lucky to work with.

As it is with most people my self confidence changes from day to day but it stays the most regulated when I am in a good schedule. This is with sleeping, eating, working, off-time and hobby time. If I could go back to my younger quieter more shy self and give her some advice it would be to get myself on a schedule sooner. Give myself some structure so that I had the strength and energy to emote even just slightly more confidence in myself so that I could create, communicate and work more effectively.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

I am a professional photographer and videographer and own my own LLC, Josa Comstock Photography. I have been capturing professionally since 2019 but unprofessionally for over 10 years now! I specialize in capturing weddings, lifestyle and everything equine. I have my Bachelor of Arts in commercial photography from Columbia College Chicago as well as an associates in dance from College of Lake County. I LOVE to capture life as it is and I think my editing style resembles this. I edit as naturally as possible with minimal alterations to make my images look as the moment did in real life. I am currently in my off-season where I am not out in the field much but spending a lot of my time behind a computer screen laying out my 2025 calendar, booking events and sessions, revamping and updating my website and socials and planning for another year bigger than the last.

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?

I think the three most important qualities when starting any work is;

Knowledge of your craft, now I know it sounds silly but when I first started taking photos I knew NOTHING about camera settings. I pretty much ran around on auto which I see many amateurs do. But in the long run it did my work wonders by going to school, taking physical classes beyond free YouTube tutorials to really hone in on the instrument I had in my hand.

False confidence, although this one seems counter productive it is so important when you’re just starting out. If you act how you feel in your work and your craft when you’re starting out you’re going to emote so much unease and low self esteem. Being confident to a fault will help you book gigs, make connections and even fake you into maybe being a little more confident.

Make connections, this one really snuck up on me personally. But going to school and taking those physical classes connected me with so many individuals that not only helped me create this business I have today but that I am proud to call some of my closest, life long friends. Be aware of the people you’re around and get numbers and socials of everyone! You never know who you might call on later in your career.

What was the most impactful thing your parents did for you?

The most impactful things my parents did for me was to support me. This was not an easy task. As most teenagers feel rounding the end of high school was daunting for me. I was pretty involved in the dance and performing arts community and although I admired it so much and loved it I couldn’t see making a living out of it. Having started college early because I was homeschooled I ended up taking a gap semester after I received my associates where I took a beginners photography class. I had been taking photos for some time for fun and my dad had provided me with all the gear YouTube told me I needed as a Instagrammer but after taking that class it really just blew the doors wide open into that career. I had always just written it off that I wouldn’t ever be able to make any money doing it and what if I did but then I burnt out? My mom gave me just the push I needed by suggesting taking the beginner photography class and then both my parents supported me as I crawled my way through building a portfolio going to college full time for photography and eventually making a business and slowly a livable career out of it.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.josacomstockphotography.com
• Instagram: @josacomstocktphotography, @josacomstocktphotographyllc
• Facebook: Josa Comstock Photography
• Linkedin: @josacomstocktphotography
• Youtube: Josa Comstock Photography
• Other: TikTok: @josacomstockphotography

Image Credits

Sarah Ranae Photography, Josa Comstock Photography, LLC.