The Next Chapter

It is odd to title your first blog “The Next Chapter” but, in this case, it is accurate. This is a new blog, but what is coming is not a new start nor a restart. Rather, what is coming is an evolution, a refinement and a more honed focus of what has already been. What is coming is truly the next chapter of Jeffrey Morris Photography.

One thing you can say about the pandemic, it gave us time to think and reflect—a lot of time! When I first started doing this “photography thing” professionally, everything happened quickly. I was shooting (a lot), editing, setting up business processes as the need arose, dealing with taxes and local business regulations that confronted me, developing a website, starting a blog—all while continuing to work a full-time job and trying to remember to breathe. I decided to go for the ride and see where it took me. And it worked, for the most part. My photography business was doing well and in just over a year I was able to leave my full-time career behind (actually, I was forced to make that choice as there simply was not enough time for both).

Funny thing about going for a ride however: you do not build the ride or set the course, you just go where it takes you in whatever manner it takes you. There were some bumpy stretches and I did make some course corrections along the way. But, for the most part, I was the rider, not the architect, planner or builder. I threw together a quick logo and a tag-line (which most people did not get), upped my camera gear and was on my way. I never thought about the values or focus of my business as I really thought of it as just me, the photographer, rather than a photography business. And I never put much effort into “my brand” as I never thought of myself as something to be branded. But, while the quarantine had shuttered my business, I decided to use the time to look back, do some self-evaluation and then set my future course. I decided that I was going to design the next ride and invite you to take it with me.

First up, and likely my best decision, was to bring on Lisa Gorham Creative as a brand consultant. Lisa turned out to be much more than that. She led me on a path of discovery and helped to uncover which values and goals really mattered to my business, and which were not so important. She helped shed light on what I want people to think and feel about Jeffrey Morris Photography. And while she worked on portraying these values in the designs of my logo, mark, tagline, typography and other branding elements, I began to focus on how I could reset the business to better pursue these core values and goals. Here is what we found:

That is it. Everything we do—portraiture, lifestyle packages, headshots, pet photography, performer media, everything—should always provide you the ultimate experience in creating stunning photographic art. And everything we present or display publicly should “say” that.

So, before moving on to photo-blogs, tips, behind the scenes stories and personal projects, please allow me the indulgence of taking the next few blog posts to formally introduce you to our new brand, new websites and refined business focus.

This really is not a restart. Those of you that have already worked with me will continue to receive the same level of service and quality that you always enjoyed—just further refined. This is just turning what have always been my personal beliefs into the core focus and values of my business. It is not a new start, just the next chapter.