Podcast Episode #117: Food + Life Photography with Jennifer Bakos
On today’s episode, Sharri speaks with Jennifer Bakos, who is a food, lifestyle, and sometimes wedding photographer. Jenn shares all about her photography journey, which really is a testament to following what it is that you love. Jenn also shares about the challenges and the joys of being self-employed because she has been self-employed her entire career. She also shares a few photography tips for all of us amateur photographers.
Jennifer Bakos website, https://www.jennbakosphoto.com/
Jennifer Bakos Instagram, https://www.instagram.com/jennbakosphoto/
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Podcast Episode #117: Food + Life Photography with Jennifer Bakos
Sharri Harmel: Welcome everyone to episode 117 of the Extraordinary Women Podcast. I’m Sharri Harmel, editor in chief of the Extraordinary Women Magazine, as well as host of this podcast. Well, today I have the pleasure of chatting with Jenn Bakos, who is a food lifestyle and sometimes wedding photo. Jenn shares all about her photography journey, which really is a testament to following what it is that you love. Jenn also shares about the challenges and the joys of being self-employed cuz she has been her entire career. She also shares a few photography tips for all of us amateur photographers. So I’ll stop talking now and let Jenn share with all of you. Let’s get started. Jenn, I am so excited you’re here today because first of all, I covet photography. I wish I had a photographer’s eye and skill level, and yet I absolutely love it. I was so excited to talk to you today. Welcome.
Jenn Bakos: Thank you. Thank you for having me to be here.
Sharri Harmel: Well, bring us back to the very beginning when you first figured out that you loved photography.
Jenn Bakos: Yeah, so I really started as an artist in general when I was a kid. I did a lot of drawing and painting and just always kind of arts and crafts and things. And then I really picked up photography as a way to document my family and things we were doing because my parents had done that for a long time and then as we got older, everyone got busier and yeah, I think we just got gifts like little point and shoot cameras as gifts or like disposables and yeah, I really started to pick it up more so around high school. I did the regular photography courses in high school, the dark room and everything, which was great.
Sharri Harmel: The real photography. Yeah.
Jenn Bakos: Yeah. I was happy to have that experience. There’re not many dark rooms anymore. And then I didn’t really know you could make a career out of it till later. I did end up going to art school in Maine at Main College of Art for a year and was kind of exploring all the different mediums because we had to take different classes to start, and I really just wanted more photography. So I found a photography school through another student they had been talking about in the Dark Room and I was like, wow, this sounds incredible. We weren’t gonna be able to do much photography until our third year, this art school, so I was like, I need more. So I ended up transferring to the photography school, which was in Western Massachusetts, and it was Photography 24 7 and how to start a career and create a website and it was amazing. So it kinda just went from there.
Sharri Harmel: Wow. So did you do that? Did you, I mean, did you go to work in any kind of a setting, or did you work for yourself? What happened?
Jenn Bakos: Yeah. So the school, the photography school was about a year and like I said, they taught us a lot about the business side, creating a website. We had to make a business plan to leave the schools. It was really important to do that. So I basically created a list of photographers that I wanted to meet or intern with, and I just started reaching out to a lot of them and a lot of emailing back then. So after I graduated, I did sort of start freelance on my own and I was also looking for an internship to kind of learn more, see what real life photography was like and I got an internship out in San Francisco. So I started out that, and I also, again was freelancing and kind of working on the side at a little gift shop. But I did start doing some trade work with other businesses and started to work with foods. My focus is mostly food, photography, and product so I was really trying to get into it that way.
Sharri Harmel: Was that your intention when you were in photography school really to go that direction? Cause it seems like photographers are either people, photographers, or as you call it, lifestyle.
Jenn Bakos: So when I was in school, I didn’t really know which direction I wanted to go in, but the great thing about the school was that we had classes that were wedding photography portrait. We had portrait studios, we had a pet photography class one day we had aerial photography, so they gave us a wide variety. But when I got into the commercial studio and we started doing product and food, I really fell in love with it and I really enjoyed being able to play with the color, the composition. And I was also very shy back then, so I was happy to not have to talk to people so I could just kind of focus in and just enjoy that peaceful part of it.
Sharri Harmel: But you also do weddings, you said? So how would you describe the difference? Besides the emotional aspect as you just described, I don’t have to deal with the people, so to speak. I can move things around, but you can move people around too, I guess, right?
Jenn Bakos: Yeah. It was a funny kind of way that I went about it. I told myself I would never do wedding photography and then as you get out of school, you have a lot of debt and an easy way to break into photography is assisting other photographers. I started second shooting as an assistant on weddings, and I was like, uh, I don’t know if I wanna do this, but the money was good, and I noticed a very big difference right away. I was just kind of thrown into it, and it was so much more fast paced than working in the studio. Weddings, they’re on a specific timeline. A lot of it can be rushed and emotions are high. People are stressed out, so it was definitely an adjustment.
Sharri Harmel: Part of me looks at still photography, almost like still life artwork from the standpoint that everything is fixed and there’s a real art to it, and many of us who use our iPhones and take photographs of our dinners, a dessert or whatever it is. So is there a connection? You’re an artist. Is there a connection between Zillow life and photography?
Jenn Bakos: I think that, like you said, the photographer’s eye, the artist’s eye, being able to notice lighting and color. I really believe that it’s a lot about the color, the composition, textures, and how light plays with that. And I think that’s the same for somebody who’s a painter or someone who draws a lot of similarities there.
Sharri Harmel: Makes sense, It’s interesting. So in your business, explain what you do because I know you look at your website, there’s a real small business farm to table focus. But share that how you have built that. And let me back up a little bit. Are you still in New Hampshire? So you really focus on New England. Which you’re geographically constrained to some extent so talk about it.
Jenn Bakos: Yes, So I kind of got started doing a lot of editorial and like I said, I did some trade work when I was starting out. One of my first jobs was trading for cupcakes, which was really fun.
Sharri Harmel: Interesting. So when you say trade work, you mean trading for stuff rather than money?
Jenn Bakos: Yeah. I would reach out to small businesses and tell them, you know, I was starting out and if we could trade for products, that’d be great. A lot of times it was food, so, you know, didn’t go hungry. And then I really wanted to start working for some magazines. So I was reaching out to magazines and kind of seeing if I could shoot for them or start out. And at first, they said, you know, build up your portfolio. We wanna see a little more variety, stuff like that. So I would just kind of start shooting whatever. I would bring my camera everywhere. I would bring stuff home from the local farms or the grocery stores, and. Bring it to my kitchen table at home and shoot it. At the time, Instagram wasn’t really that big of a thing for businesses. It was still very personal based. So getting your name out there was much different than it is now. So getting my work in the magazines was a big deal because I was connecting with small businesses and other people in the area. Then the magazines would come back to me and start hiring me more and more, and I feel like that’s how I really got a good start going because the businesses I worked. Like the work that I did with the magazine and wanna hire me for their own shoots and it sort of snowballed from there. Yeah, I would do a lot of that, A lot of editorial and it really created so many connections for me, and eventually that turned into businesses reaching out to me. People would hear like word of mouth, you know, sure. She did these photos for me. They would be great for you, kind of thing. And it really has snowballed from there. And I’d say it took a solid five years to okay, really get my name out there.
Sharri Harmel: You know, don’t breeze over Jenn that time period when the magazine would come back and say, you need to build up a portfolio. So share if you can a little bit more about the persistence that took and how many times you had to go back who you contacted, not, not the individual names, but departments, that sort of thing. Tell us more about that.
Jenn Bakos: Sure. I reach out., again, I was really shy, so I’d reach out via email instead of phone calls, but I would just look on websites of magazines, local magazines, and see who their art department was or who the editors were. Anyone that had anything to do with photography, I would try reach out to them and say like, hey, if you needed somebody new or if you need someone to fill in some gaps, let me know. And typically they would ask for my portfolio or just see if I had done any other work and if I hadn’t, or, you know, didn’t have much work back then. They kind of told me, hey, like here’s what you could work on. Try focusing more on, I don’t know, telling a story with the photography or focusing in on the process of what this person is making or something like that and I kind of went back and forth for a bit. I did some work, but it was a lot of like radio silence, so I just kept emailing people. I got lucky because I eventually emailed a magazine that was just starting out as well. So Edible New Hampshire, which edible magazines are kind of a franchise. You can start them anywhere. So one was beginning in New Hampshire because we hadn’t had one. And yeah, I got in contact and luckily, they were on the Sea Coast, which is where I was at the time. And yeah, I just, the timing was right, which was really lucky. Yeah. And so they took me on and eventually we just started shooting full issues together and yeah, it kind of went from there. So I made a lot of connections in my little area mm-hmm. and eventually it started branching out. So I was working with New Hampshire magazine after that, and then some bigger magazines from there. Yeah, it was a really just good timing kind of moment so sometimes the universe kind of helps you out a little bit in that sense.
Sharri Harmel: But you were preparing yourself all along. That’s what I think is so critical for everyone to hear is some famous person, much smarter than me, said something like, the secret to success is being prepared when the opportunity presents itself. And there you were. So don’t give up. Right? So really the first big break, as I understand it, is Edible New Hampshire, the magazine. So you grew at the same time as they grew that magazine. And so where has this gone? Is it still magazines? Which the magazine industry is really, that’s changed in this time period too. So talk about some of that.
Jenn Bakos: Yeah, along with the editorial, I was shooting a lot of weddings and as I was going along, I was trying to gain my own clientele. That was not editorial. It was working directly with clients. A lot of cafes, a lot of food product clients. A lot of my clients are honey tea, maple syrups, stuff like that. working with a lot of restaurants, a lot of farmers, and that’s still true today. I work with a lot of, of the same kind of people. I have some of the same clients that I started out with, which is really lucky. Mostly I work for my own clients now. I don’t do as much editorial, but editorial is my favorite and Okay. It’s just, I’ve gone from, you know, magazine to magazine. I still work with a lot of the same people that I did when I was starting out, which is great. But yeah, I’d a very big mix of mostly food product, especially after the pandemic. A lot of, I did a lot more product photography than, you know, restaurant photography just because of the way things changed. A lot of lifestyle and brand.
Sharri Harmel: What’s the difference between food and lifestyle? Cause I saw that on your website where you defined weddings, food, lifestyle. What is lifestyle photography?
Jenn Bakos: I kind of categorize it as seeing a product in motion or how it can be used. Kind of giving people a sense of how a product can be used in your daily life, whether it’s like an actual garment, a bag, a. Type of tea, something like that. I think it’s like a kind of a mix of all things. Usually with a human element in there. So like if we have a model or a client using the product, something like that versus straight food photography could be more in studio. It could be just like restaurant for their menu. Something like that where it’s not really people in there, it’s just of the food itself. That make sense?
Sharri Harmel: Yeah, it does, but it’s all in a moment in time versus a video, is that correct? And do you like video?
Jenn Bakos: I do. I haven’t really practiced it too much myself. I am definitely a traditional photographer, but video is a big thing, so it’s something I’d like to explore more. I just don’t like the, there’s a lot more editing involved, so a lot more sitting on the computer, which is not really my favorite.
Sharri Harmel: that makes sense. The editing process is always the worst, even for podcasts, if you wanna know the truth. So, but talk a little bit, if you can, or clarify, what do the businesses do with these photographs and do you typically package it up or we want something for, I don’t know, the holiday time period or, you know, our particular products. How does, how does that all work? What do they do with them?
Jenn Bakos: Yeah, so I’d say most of my clients use their imagery that I create for social media, Instagram promotion. And then I think a lot of my clients use their photography for email marketing, which is pretty big. And then website, of course, advertisements online so Facebook ads. I see a lot of those come up. And sometimes, not every time, but like print materials, promotional use. Okay. Ads and magazines. But yeah, mostly web and social media. That’s the big ones.
Sharri Harmel: And if someone wanted to hire you because you’re really great and I’m thinking of myself cause I’m Boston, but if we wanted to hire you and it wasn’t right where you are in New England or in the New Hampshire area, can they hire you? Do you ever do that where you go to different parts of United States?
Jenn Bakos: Yeah. I have a few times. I’d love to do it more, but yeah, I’ve, you know, worked with some different companies to fly me out to places which has been really fun. Mostly it’s been for editorial, so working with magazines and they’ll fly me out to a place to cover a business cuz a lot of what I like to do is photograph people making things or making what they’re passionate about. I can go to their space and photograph them in their space and photograph what they’re making so I enjoy that. So that’s mostly what I’ve flown out for, but I would happily do any flying out, but I’ve had a lot of clients also ship me products, so I’ve had people from other states send me their products, like I had a honey client send me some stuff from Florida and they kind of left it up to my discretion and artistic eye and style it myself and my apartment. That’s what I did a lot of in the pandemic. I was able to just kind of shoot at home.
Sharri Harmel: Yeah, I wondered about that artistic bent because for instance, let’s say I was a honey maker as an example, or a honey producer. I don’t have the eye, so I would tell you, you know, here’s my company, here’s the logo and what would you do with it? So how often do you come in and say to the client, this is what I think you need, how it needs to be presented.
Jenn Bakos: Yeah, definitely have a lot of conversations with clients about like the look and feel, what their brand identity is, colors and mood, you know, is it rustic and moody or is it bright and airy? What are they trying to convey to their customers? Even little things like, you know, what is the age group they’re marketing towards? Specifics like that are really helpful. So we do try to have those conversations. And then I have a very small collection of like props, surfaces, linens, dishware that I can pull from. And then I also work with, Prop stylists, food stylists who are great at bringing those elements in, and we all have conversations and look at inspiration online and kind of pull together our ideas and creativity to kind of come up with a shot list. So it’s very collaborative, which is nice.
Sharri Harmel: Yes, I also see that all through your website. That’s just kind of who you are, which is interesting. A really crazy question. But is the food edible or is it all sprayed with things to make it look so pretty that you would never, ever eat
Jenn Bakos: That’s a good question…mostly it is edible. It depends on the shoot. So if it’s something more editorial, I’d say it’s more natural. If it is a more commercial job, there are tricks that we do that maybe can make it less edible. Or if it’s been sitting out for a while, you don’t really wanna eat it. I have seen some really cool techniques. From food stylists and prop stylists. They have some really cool tricks that make things really interesting. Personally, I haven’t done anything too crazy, but I did do a beer cover shoot where the foamy head on the beer was actually foaming hand soap. And it worked really well.
Sharri Harmel: what are the most bizarre tricks that you’ve had A food stylist.
Jenn Bakos: I think a lot of people are surprised when they find out what ice cream is made out of, fake ice cream, A lot of the times, stylists will use, I think it’s Crisco, like the shortening with powdered sugar and or cocoa powder. And so they can kind of like mold it and make it look just like real ice cream but there are some rules where if you’re advertising the ice cream itself, it has to be the actual product. And then if it’s just a prop, so like if you’re selling the cookie and the ice cream was on top, the ice cream doesn’t necessarily have to be real. There are some things you have to be mindful of.
Sharri Harmel: But who would think there’s rules like that? But yet, I guess that makes perfect sense. But the beer foam, no rules. What kinds of tips if you were giving a seminar to a woman that’s starting her business can’t afford you. Needs to take photographs with her iPhone probably, for Instagram, typically it’s just social media. What are some tips and tricks that you tell them?
Jenn Bakos: Yeah. Some of me like go-to ideas or tips are turn off all ambient light, use a window light. You can kind of see in my screen right here. I have a window light next to me and I have my kitchen lights on, but I would turn the kitchen lights off. Just use this one window. And then something great you can do is if you wanna play with shadows or not, you can use a white bounce card to bounce that light back on your subject. Just use like a foam core board. You could even just use a white piece of paper. Okay. And that is a really great way to lift the shadows a little bit. So if you didn’t have that card, you’d have really deep shadow. Especially on the cloudy day. So you could use that card to bounce the light back, fill in the shadows a little more. So that’s kind of like a very general tip I give people. But yes, turn off your orange, yellow lighting.
Sharri Harmel: For all of you that are just listening to this, I’m in Paris, so it is. I don’t know, it’s almost seven o’clock at night here. Jenn’s back in the States where it’s, oh, two o’clock, something like that, about one o’clock. And I have the lights on in my apartment and it looks totally normal to me. But yet when we’re looking at the screen, everything looks yellow in comparison to Jenn’s room, which is very interesting. So photograph during the day is what I also hear you say?
Jenn Bakos: Yeah. If you don’t have any professional lighting, you know, you’re just working with like kitchen lights, I always say turn those lights off, use the natural light. And then there are really affordable ways you can change that too. And you could grab just an ambient one light from Home Depot and play around with that as long as you turn all the other lights off, like start with one light and work from there.
Sharri Harmel: When you say one light, you mean like a lamp?
Jenn Bakos: Yep. It could be a lamp. Lamps are a little tricky cuz they throw light in different directions, so it might be hard to use at first, but the easiest starting point is just a window light. That doesn’t have direct sun. They always say North facing light is the best cuz it’s nice and even.
Sharri Harmel: Yeah. Okay. What about those circles that I see advertised all the time
Jenn Bakos: Oh yeah, the rings are great. A lot of people use those for portrait lighting. Those are amazing cuz they even they make your skin look great. You could attempt with some food photography.
I think it could work. I haven’t tried it, but since it is a very even light, I think that would be a great way to play around with it just see what it looks like from different angles. Food photography looks best if it’s from the side light or back lit.
Sharri Harmel: Yeah. But say that again. Food photography looks best when,
Jenn Bakos: its side lit or backlit
Sharri Harmel: Side lit or back lit rather than the light in front. Which is interesting because all of us are taking our pictures right in restaurants. And the camera shoots the light onto the, so it’s front lit to the food, which is why it never looks as great as it does in real life.
Jenn Bakos: But trends change too. So like direct flash is coming back. Harsh light is a big trend right now. Intense shadows. People are loving that. When I was starting out was very soft, cloudy, lighting, very like even, but now it’s going to very punchy. Intense shadows, harsh lighting, like poppy colors so it’s changed a bit and it’s kind of cool to see.
Sharri Harmel: Yeah. Have colors changed also what you’ve seen in like the last 10 years?
Jenn Bakos: I think so, yeah. I think people are using a lot of bright colors right now. And this is food photography specific from what I’ve seen. And then when I was starting, at least from my perspective, everything was very farmhouse and rustic and antique cropping and just very like soft colors. But yeah, now it’s very poppy, which is really interesting and cool.
Sharri Harmel: To me it’s fascinating that something such as what we visually are attracted to changes over time. So where do you think it’s going?
Jenn Bakos: That is a great question. I don’t know. I feel like this trend started a couple of years ago, and it’s probably just becoming more and more, I don’t know. I try to follow a very large variety of different food photographers and from all over the world just to see kind of what they’re doing. Yeah, that’s kind of what I’ve been seeing most of. I feel like that might stick around for a bit. I’m not sure if what it’s gonna go towards next.
Sharri Harmel: Do you see it also in other forms of photography?
Even people, even weddings? Are you seeing more, almost realism rather than moody if that makes any sense.
Jenn Bakos: Yeah. I think a lot of the wedding photography that I’ve been seeing the last couple of years has had a very like southwestern vibe where, or I dunno, a lot of orange tints and a little more sepia tone. Now I see it going towards. We’ve always been trying to replicate film and the look of film, and I feel like that is coming back, but in a different way. Just I’ve seen a lot more direct flash, so it looks more like somebody used disposable camera. Yeah, so that’s, that’s been a newer trend I think, that I’ve been seeing more of lately, so it’ll be interesting to see where that goes as well.
Sharri Harmel: Let me ask if you… Had a young child that was interested in photography because it feels like the only thing that’s left out there is the iPhone, which you would never hand to an eight-year-old and say, just take my phone and go play with. What would you do with a youngster that was really as maybe intrigued by photography as you were as a kid.
Jenn Bakos: what’s cool is they make some really easy, durable small digital cameras now that are for kids, really, that have like very simple buttons on them. And digital’s great because it’s kind of endless as long as you have enough memory. And I feel like that would be a great way to start a younger person, what they can do with it, and you get that instant gratification and instant learning too. So you could see what you did and change it automatically. So I feel like that would be a great way to start.
Sharri Harmel: Yeah. So what about the old fogies, like myself, who want to become better photographers? I mean, an iPhone is one way to play with it, I guess. How to get better because each photograph is so very different. It’s hard to retain well, what made that one good and that photograph good and that one not so good.
Jenn Bakos: Yeah. Honestly, iPhones are great. I use mine all the time. I think it’s a fun way to be able to play with color composition in a simple way. And it’s just a really good way to train your eye to see things differently and, you know, line things up in a frame so I think that’s great. I’d say there’s tons of online classes that are amazing, but also a lot of photographers teach workshops now, and maybe it’s less in person because of the pandemic. But yeah, before that, I know like there were a lot of people doing in-person workshops, and I’m hoping that’s coming back because I think in person is so great and valuable so you can ask questions. Even just reaching out to a photographer that you know, I’ve had friends reach out to me, ask me like, how do I use my camera? How can I do this better? And I’ve worked with them on it, and it’s been really fun to kind of see them improve. Sometimes I’ll do trades with other. People. I have a friend that is going to be helping me like edit some photos in trade for me doing photos for her so we’re doing a shoot today.
Sharri Harmel: Very cool. Yeah. You have really worked for yourself for your entire career. Talk about the challenges of that, the joys of that. You know, how do you keep yourself on track.
Jenn Bakos: This is my 12th year in business, which is kind of crazy to think about. I did mention I did assist other photographers along the way, but mostly I’ve worked for myself, and it is scary. I mean, the challenges are very inconsistent. Income at first. I mean, it still is so all over the place every year, but that is tough to work with when you’re starting out. So, you know, working another job is helpful. I was lucky and was living at my parents for a while, so that was great. I didn’t have a ton of bills and yeah, I was very shy like I mentioned so it was great because honestly, shooting weddings got me outta my comfort zone. It kind of forced me to jump into extrovert mode. And really just practice being a more personable person or just speaking up. You know, you have to be assertive. People respond really well when you give them direction. So. Yeah, I’d love that. It’s hard to do, but that was definitely a challenge that helped me in different ways in my life in general. And then some really great things about it are just having the freedom to make my own schedule and to have total control over what I’m doing. I’d say that starting out to now, most of the time I took whatever jobs I could get just to make the income, and I think it’s good to do that. Just shoot everything, see what you like, and then once you get to a point, you can kind of pick and choose a little more, like do that. I definitely feel I’m at a point where I can do that and I’m starting to work on more work life balance because it’s hard to do. It’s hard to say. No, I’m definitely a people pleaser, so, or I should say recovering people pleaser now. Working on boundaries is a tough one. Honestly, like I really just started the boundary work in the last couple of years.
Sharri Harmel: Well you’re young, you’ve got a lifetime. Some of us didn’t figure it out until much later, so you’re actually ahead of the game. Truly, so congratulate yourself. But it’s interesting that you talk about how that taking everything, even though it was probably not good in some ways because you were overworked, but yet, not only did people get to know you, but it also stretched your skill set, I’m assuming, right?
Jenn Bakos: Yeah. Just trying different things.
Seeing what works, seeing what doesn’t. Seeing what you like and really don’t like. And yeah, being able to know. How to focus later on into the genres that you wanna work more or not. Stuff like that is really important, but you already know to try.
Sharri Harmel: Now, there was something on your website that I thought was so, so interesting. In fact, my VA was fascinated by it too, believe it or not. And it’s called By Hand Cereal. Tell us about that.
Jenn Bakos: Yeah, it’s a publication that I worked for end of 2019 into the beginning of 2022. And it was all like fiber art based, so people that made things mostly knitting, sewing, and there were some like crafts people. The basis was that before I was there, they would go to different regions in the US and eventually internationally and focus on. Those areas or towns that were kind of cultivating creative communities. So, we went to the first one that I worked on was Vermont, New Hampshire, and that’s how they found me was cuz I was in New Hampshire. And so we kind of did a little tour for 10 days of going to different artist spaces and learning from different people, kind of seeing what they made. And it was very like yarn and wool specific for the most part. But then we did other things like we met a basket maker, we’ve met potters, we’ve met painters. So there’s a wide variety of different artists and makers, so that’s why it’s called by hand. It’s, you know, making things by hand.
Sharri Harmel: Yeah. And you were photographing everything.
Jenn Bakos: pretty much. Yeah. So when I, yeah. When I did that first issue, they hired me for the week or 10 days to photograph everyone that we went to see. And so my photography was basically all the pictures in the issue unless they needed some filler or whatever. So it was really fun. I loved it and I thought it was gonna be a onetime thing, but then they decided to hire me on. As their person, which was great as their photographer.
Sharri Harmel: It’s really a great idea cuz it sounds like it’s really a course, if you wanna call it that, in whatever that by hand product is, if you wanna call it that, and then all the photographs that go along with it. Because every by hand person I know is visual so it’s very beautiful. So any of you, just to see all of, and you have some specific countries by hand. I think France was one of them, which intrigued me. So, lots of variety, which is great. So everyone please does go check that out.
Jenn Bakos: Yeah. And you get knitting patterns and sew patterns and just fun things to make, which is awesome.
Sharri Harmel: Yeah, I bet they did very well during Covid.
Jenn Bakos: Yeah, I think we were really lucky because we still got to travel a bit for the issues. We went to London right before Covid hit and things shut down. So the timing was very lucky. We got a little nervous at the end of the trip, but we made it back and then we did some special issues, so people had something to look at when they were at home, and we still got to go to some different places as safe as possible. We did a lot of work outside. We did get to visit some really beautiful regions and yeah, it was just, it’s been such a great experience.
Sharri Harmel: And it’s ongoing. It sounds like it’s continuing.
Jenn Bakos: Yeah, it’s mostly digital right now. I’m not sure what direction it’s going in next, but yeah, it’s amazing if anyone wants to take a look at it.
Sharri Harmel: And then what about this, tell if I just call it tell, but I dunno if that’s, it sounds like some kind of collaboration. You’re one of the co-founders of this. What is it about?
Jenn Bakos: So I believe it was back in 2012, me and my friend Ashley, who is a designer, she’s like a graphic designer, artist. We decided together that we wanted to create some sort of magazine publication. At the time, everything was very like farm to table. This was when like the big makers movement was coming up. Instagram was just taking off, so it was really exciting time. There were magazines such as Kim Folk that were coming out. We loved it. And we just realized that they were never featuring anything in New England. And we’re like, why aren’t they coming here? Like, there’s so many great people here and artists. And so we were like, let’s just start our own thing. And so it really became an awesome community. We met so many different artists, makers, just really awesome business owners. A lot of it was fun because it was women business owners that we featured and we had a theme each time, so it was all digital, but we designed a digital magazine basically that would be quarterly. So we did that for a while and it’s kind of gone back and forth as our lives have gotten busy. So we keep trying to revive it. It’s mostly just Instagram right now. We’ve kind of done the blogging thing a little bit. We aren’t doing any publications right now, but I will say that was definitely a huge part of my business growth was working on that. Because again, it was editorial, it was working with. Business owners getting to know them. So it really got my name out there. It was just one of my favorite things that I’ve done.
Sharri Harmel: But I mean, it’s crazy how creative you are, but you also have the ideas and then you go do something with it because having created a magazine myself, extraordinary women, it’s not a small venture. It’s significant. Writing, that’s a lot of work. Writing as well as the photography. So hat’s off to you. And I think that, I think it’s a great idea. I think we need to continue going that direction cuz often those are women who or businesses that no one knows about.
Jenn Bakos: Yeah. We really wanted to shed light on businesses that people hadn’t heard about. Now we have seen like a lot of the people we started out with, and they were just starting out like completely flourish and become bigger and it’s just been amazing to see that process for, for them as well.
Sharri Harmel: Reading those things, even if you don’t necessarily live in the area and you can’t frequent the particular shop, it also inspires other people who have this idea and say how it started. Yeah. And like you said, you went to some of the great photographers that you wanted to work alongside in the beginning. Same thing here. It’s an opportunity to find out who’s doing yarn from sheep in a particular area, you know, and dipping them in vegetables or whatever it might be, So very fun. So that’s something you’re continuing to work on, it sounds like, going forward.
Jenn Bakos: That’s a good question. Something I’ve been thinking about a lot. I think, you know, everyone always asks the questions like, where do you see yourself in five years? Like, what’s, what’s happening in the future? And so, you know, every year I kind of ask myself the same thing. And right now I think it’s a lot of refocusing and maybe just leveling up my food photography because it’s sort of taken a back step to the product photography that I’ve been doing and brands and, which is great. I love that too. But I would, I would love to shoot a cookbook. I would love to do more big studio work and just home in on my skills a little bit more. Just practice. I feel like I need to practice a little bit, which I think is important. You know, keep learning because I shoot a lot for other people, but I don’t shoot for myself as often as I should and doing your own creative projects and kind of experimenting is a really good practice. So I’m hoping to do a bit of that this winter. Just kind of play with it a little bit because I haven’t done that in a while. And yeah, I would love to really, really would love to have a kitchen studio of my own. So I’m kind of figuring out like what that process might look like for me financially. But yeah, I think really just focusing, I think I had a lot of great work life balance this year and I would love to continue that. So I think it’s gonna be, refocusing on the clients that I want to work with the most, the kind of work that I wanna do more of. And to me, all signs are pointing to more food photography.
Sharri Harmel: That’s fascinating to me. I didn’t even think of all the different food photography that we all look at all the time, cookbooks
Jenn Bakos: Yeah, exactly. Yeah, I’d love to do a cookbook or if it was like a food and lifestyle cookbook. I know a lot of people and chefs and influencers have books that are not just the food and recipes. It’s kind of like about their life and their lifestyle. I would love to do some more of that. I do have some photography. Book projects that should be coming out in the next few years. Always hard to wait
Sharri Harmel: Wonderful. That’s very cool. Yeah. Well, if I know you, just based on what you’ve shared with me today, you will be emailing people, you will be communicating with people and putting your name out there for that next big cookbook. What is the name of the book company, oline, or if I’m saying it right, probably. That does those amazing lifestyle books that are like really big
Jenn Bakos: Yeah, huge.
Sharri Harmel: I could see that. Well, thank you so much for talking with us today. You’ve given us time tips for with me and my iPhone, so to speak and really shared what the journey of setting up your own business, whether it’s photography or something else involved. So thank you.
Jenn Bakos: I’m happy to be here. Happy to share, and if anyone has any questions, I’m an open book. I always tell people that like I’m happy to share information from what I’ve learned if I can.
Sharri Harmel: Thank you so much, Jenn. Yeah, well everyone, I so hope you enjoyed my conversation with Jenn as much as I did. All of Jenn’s information can be found in the show notes, so do check out her Instagram page, but also her website because Jenn is one of those creatives who has loads of ideas and yet truly identifies her next. She’s an inspiration for me, and I’m sure you too. Now if you have any follow up questions, do connect with Jenn. She believes collaboration is key to building community, so don’t be shy, as she says. Thank you again for joining us today and I look forward to our next Extraordinary Women podcast.
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