Meet Jonathan Scott | Photographer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Jonathan Scott and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Jonathan, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
My thought process was quite different from most peoples. Back in my junior year of high school I had a teacher who recommended that I start a social media page and start sharing my work. I wasn’t comfortable with the idea because I was new to photography and thought my work was less than average. Overtime I started seeing people who liked my work and reaching out to give me ideas of things to go take pictures of. After time had passed and I gained an audience and some of them wanted me to do their senior pictures and portraits. I really enjoyed the interactions and connections that were made with the people in front of the lens so much I knew JScott Photography was going to be more than just a place to share my work but it would take off into a small business.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
My full-time job is being a Quality Control Assistant Manager for a Readymix concrete company out of Central Virginia. I’ve been with the company over 10 years and I started at the very bottom and over the years I moved my way up. Over the years I’ve traveled Virginia, met many people, worked nights and days putting 60+ hours a week in. I will say some of the hardest part about that is you lose growing up in your early 20s but you grow up to be a mature adult a lot quicker. During this time I have been able to learn a lot of life experiences. It has made me very determined, diligent, thorough, patient, creative and a lot of things that I do. I’ve been able to apply these experiences and what I’ve learned into my photography business. With The strength and drive that I have, I’ve been able to hunker down and capture what’s in front of the lens. Photography is not something where you get a camera and you go out point, shoot, and put it on the computer and you have a picture. It takes a lot of trial and error and you have to learn from every single shot. Photography is about looking at life in a different perspective, it is about being creative, and being patient.

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?
In our area we have the Blue Ridge Mountains and at the foothills the Blue Ridge Mountains is a long stretch of road with breweries. I will definitely take them down there and have them explore some of our local brews. For sightseeing I will take them along the Blue Ridge Mountains for sunsets and sit under the stars at night. When you’re on the mountains you have an advantage of looking down on the cities and watching the sunset fall behind the mountains. Early in the mornings, if you make it up there in time, you will also be able to see the fog in the valleys as you are above the clouds for a break taking view. In this area we have a lot of nature and history. We have things from caverns, many presidents’ homes, historic buildings, famous landmarks, plenty of attractions for entertainment, and great restaurants for dining.

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?
When I pick up my camera there is one person in particular I think of every single time I go out and shoot. This will be a sad story so please don’t cry. Back in my junior year of high school there was a person who sat next to me in class. She was a very shy person, new to the school, and she was an amazing photographer. Over time I got to know this individual and we became really good friends, partners, and photographers. Over the next couple years we will challenge each other, share our work, and talk about what our next goal was when it came to photography. In the summer of 2012 I graduated high school and I knew she had one more year left. We talked about meeting up that summer and going out to take photos but unfortunately due to summer life events we couldn’t make that happen. August 2012 I received a phone call that she was no longer on earth. For years I struggled picking up a camera because it was hard to digest still but I knew every time that I did she was there with me. Here it is 10 years later and Lily Romando is still by my side every step of the way in spirit. She is the person I wanna give a shout out to because in my junior year I was struggling to understand certain things when it came to apertures and f-stops. She was the one that spent time with me and helped me grow into the photographer that I am today. Without her teachings I may have given up and never developed the skill or passion I have today.

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Image Credits
All photos are taken by Jonathan Scott owner of JScott Photography