Meet Jenna & Emily Spets | A photography duo who specialize in weddings, engagements, and boudoir

We had the good fortune of connecting with Jenna & Emily Spets and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Jenna & Emily, what is the most important factor behind your success?
The most important factor to us has always been showing kindness and respect to every single person we work with, including each other! There’s no point in building your business around working with different people all of the time if you’re not going to do everything with kindness and respect. And there would be absolutely no point in us working together as a duo if we didn’t have a ton of respect for each other’s thoughts, opinions, and feelings. We may not agree on every single thing ever, but we think we can attribute any success we have to the fact that we never handle hard times or disagreements disrespectfully, and we really try to bring that mindset into all aspects of our business, which of course means extending kindness to everyone we work with whether it’s a 10 hour wedding day, or a 15 minute mini session.

Please tell us more about your work. We’d love to hear what sets you apart from others, what you are most proud of or excited about. How did you get to where you are today professionally. Was it easy? If not, how did you overcome the challenges? What are the lessons you’ve learned along the way. What do you want the world to know about you or your brand and story?
We take a lot of pride in the art we create, and so with that comes paying such close, close attention to every single little detail before, during, and after the session, and especially before we even think about sending galleries to our clients, or posting them to our social media. We definitely can go a little crazy with our perfectionism, but our top priority is always making sure we are delivering the best product that we’re capable of creating. Of course we do that because we want our clients to be absolutely in love with their photos, but also because we never want to share or deliver work that we aren’t 100% in love with ourselves. So we think that our attention to detail is something that really does set us apart, and it’s something that’s so essential to how we create.

We got to where we are today with a lot of work and experimentation with trying new things and figuring out what we like and how we want our work to look. If photography was something that we weren’t entirely passionate about, then it definitely wouldn’t have been easy at all, but we just had so much fun going through the process of learning together and finding a style that we absolutely loved that it didn’t feel difficult for us. Every step in planning shoots and building our portfolio at the beginning was so fun, especially because at the time it was an outlet and a way for us to be creative while still working an office job.

A big lesson we’ve learned along the way is it’s okay to turn down jobs that don’t feel right for us. As business owners, we are obviously very aware that it’s extremely important to make money, but never at the expense of our mental health, well-being, or quality of the art and client experience. It can be a hard thing to teach yourself how to do, but it’s so essential in making sure that you can maintain the quality of your work, client experience, and personal wellness.

One thing we would want people to know about us and our story is that we started this business because we really and truly love what we do, and we pour so much work into it because of the love that we have. It’s easy to think that because someone is passionate about something or it’s something they genuinely enjoy doing, that they don’t have to put much work into it, but to us it means the exact opposite. We put in so much work, and labor, and attention into what we do because of the love we have for our clients and our craft, and we work so, so hard to make sure that we do right by them always.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
So fun! Okay, so the first stop for us for someone visiting Arizona is always Jerome. It’s such a fun and easy day trip, and it is so unique, you can find things to do there all day. For us a day in Jerome isn’t complete without going to the park, Haunted Hamburger (especially if you’re like us and love Halloween vibes), the Christmas shop that’s open year round, and we love the wine tasting they have up there!

We’d absolutely have to take someone to CB Live at Desert Ridge for a drag brunch hosted by Espressa Grande. She hosts amazing themed shows, and all of the performers are always so extraordinary, it’s impossible to not have a great time while you’re there (we’ll also take this time to say it that it is so, so, so beyond important to vote, speak up, and advocate so drag performers and all members of the queer community can work and exist freely in Arizona!!!!) After brunch we’d hop over to City North next to Desert Ridge for dinner at Humble Bistro, and then drinks at Gin & Reel, a 1920’s themed speakeasy inside of The Stir Coffee Bar.

Some of our other musts would be to pop in and see who’s playing at Crescent Ballroom or the Van Buren downtown, seeing a show at ASU Gammage, and definitely grabbing treats at Sweeteez in North Phoenix!

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
We wouldn’t be where we are today without the support of our incredible family and our amazing partners, so of course they deserve a shoutout! Growing up, our parents were always incredibly supportive of whatever we wanted to do (they drove to a lot of play rehearsals and music lessons), and then when we decided we wanted to go into business for ourselves they couldn’t have been happier for us. We feel like we had a somewhat rare upbringing where our parents actually encouraged us to find ways to support ourselves without having to climb corporate ladders or go to prestigious colleges, and we’re really, really grateful for that, and we owe a lot to them. Our dad also makes sure to let us know that every time he talks to our grandma she has to tell us how proud she is, which couldn’t be any sweeter.

And then of course we have to shoutout our partners! When we told them that we wanted to quit our office jobs and start our own business, they were our number one fans from the beginning. They help us anyway they can whenever they can, they couldn’t be more understanding when we get completely caught up with work during busy seasons, and they do everything they can to support us in every way possible, even when it means just stopping by to bring us some midday Dutch Bros. We love and appreciate them so much, and they really deserve a huge shoutout for being the most supportive partners!

Website: spetsphotography.com

Instagram: @spetsphotography

Facebook: Spets Photography

Image Credits
Spets Photography