What do you do now?

As of now (February 2008) I own my business called Jared Lee Photography LLC and I am a freelance photographer for the La Crosse Tribune and surrounding weekly newspapers. Visit my website at www.JaredLeeLLC.com . I photograph weddings, seniors, families,sports, pets, newborns, and I also do digital photo restoration. During the spring-summer-early fall months, I am busy with weddings on the weekends, seniors and families throughout the week days. During the winter, business is really slow because I don't have any studio equipment (lighting, backdrops etc) so I do all of my sessions outdoors. However, during the winter months, I am busy with consultations for potential wedding clients for the upcoming wedding season. I also get a few requests for photo reprints from high school sporting events.

As far as being a freelance photographer, I photograph random sporting assignments, and news assignments for the La Crosse Tribune and surrounding weekly newspapers. I photograph mainly sporting events, because the staff photographers are the Tribune photograph those throughout the day, and a lot of the news assignments don't normally occur later in the evening because of people getting out of work. High school sporting events usually occur anywhere from 4PM start times, to 7:30PM start times.

I couldn't enjoy my job anymore. I love the people I work with, I love what I do and everyday is a new day, a different game, and different people to meet. I get front row seats to whatever I want, it keeps me involved in high school sports, and overall I just enjoy capturing the moments that thousands look at. It's a sense of pride when someone says, "Ohhhh cool picture!" I did my job, enough said.

What do you do now? Tell a story.

What did you do when you got started?

Well, as I mentioned in my first story on how I got started with the story of Briana and her mom, I started photographing for a couple of teacher's and faculty members around the school. The first couple of sessions, I photographed two daughters for an office secretary, which led into a little boy and little girl probably around the ages of 3 and 5, which led into one of the first daughter's senior portraits, mainly with her horse.
My senior year in high school, a guidance counselor, Mrs. Shepard, saw my high interest in photography and had our local newspaper (Holmen Courier) come and do a human interest story which was titled "Passion with a camera" which after that was published she mentioned about taking some photos for them. I believe it was a sectional basketball game with the Holmen girls basketball team playing in Chippewa Falls, and I had brought my camera and was taking some action photos and got a great photo of all of the senior girls holding up the sectional championship plaque. After I had that and a couple other sports photos published, the editor Randy Erickson, called me and offered me a job. I started photographing for the Holmen Courier, Onalaska Community Life, and Coulee News, which were all of the papers that covered the immediate areas.

What did you do when you got started? Tell a story.

Who are your biggest inspirations to your start?

I have several people that inspired me. I'll start with my dad and his friend Marcia. Marcia inspired me to take the class, even though I didn't want to, I wanted her just to teach me how to take a picture with her old 35mm camera. Next would be my dad, because he bought me my first "nice" 35mm camera from Bob's Moen Photo. It was a Canon Elan II with a 75-300mm zoom. Oh boy! I was excited, that was a big lens. I give a lot of credit to my mom and grandpa for inspiring me to continue my photography. My grandpa got my first camera for me from a friend of his, it was a Pentax K1000.

I spend a lot of my free time going in and out of the La Crosse Tribune to get different tips and advice from a couple of my other mentors who inspired me, Erik Daily, Pete Thomson and Dick Riniker. I owe a lot to those guys to for taking me under their wing and helping me through my experience as a young photojournalist freelancing for the La Crosse Tribune and weekly newspapers.

Mr. Don Harvey, my high school photography teacher. From the get go, Mr. Harvey knew from the moment I started taking pictures and showing a desire for the art, that I was "different" and knew I would persue farther into the field of being a photographer for a living, and if not that a hobby I could enjoy for the rest of my life. Through the times that I had to sit in his class for an hour and a half, trying not to fall asleep when I hated photography, didn't get to touch a camera for the first two weeks, Mr. Harvey inspired me to become a better photographer through the assignments he gave me, allowing me to be his teacher's assistant, and just talking about different aspects of photography. Through Mr. Harvey's class I was exposed to one of the greatest photographers in the world, Ansel Adams. His work inspires me, because he had the desire, the skill, and the patience to take some of the greatest photographs.

I spend a lot of my free time going in and out of the La Crosse Tribune to get different tips and advice from a couple of my other mentors, Erik Daily and Pete Thomson. I owe a lot to those guys to for taking me under their wing and helping me through my experience as a young photojournalist.

Last but not least, one of my favorite things to do on my free time is spend a lot of time at what I call my second home, "Bob's Moen Photo" on Main street in La Crosse. Bob is one of the greatest mentors anyone could have. He has been so good to me as far as giving knowledge, advise, good deals on camera equipment, buying me lunch between classes from the Great Wall Chinese restaurant across the street, enjoying a can of Mountain Dew when I'd come down just for camera talk, and even some of his dry sense of humor when I bring in a nice photograph that I took for him to look at, and he says, "Ohhhh well that's nice, who took that?" Thanks Bob you're the greatest!!

Who are your greatest inspirations to photography?

When did you start into the field of photography?

I started into photography during my junior year of high school after a deer hunting experience with my dad and my dad's friend Marcia. She had an old 35mm camera and when she pulled it out of her bag I was looking at it and wondering how do you take a picture with that, with all of those buttons and configurations? Marcia suggested to take a photography class, so I signed up for one.

At first I couldn't stand it, Mr. Don Harvey spent the first two weeks of class talking and going over things before we even got to touch a camera. I wasn't good at it at all, couldn't roll the film in the dark, had a hard time developing in the darkroom, and my pictures just weren't very appealing, but through it all Mr. Harvey was very supportive and motivational to keep trying and keep practicing. Through it all Mr. Harvey's advice really paid off.

During late April, I had asked my friend Bryanna if she had gotten anything for her mom yet for Mother's Day and if she hadn't if I could take pictures of her and her younger brother Dylan for their mom, Debbie, for a Mother's Day gift. After we had went out and took a roll or 2 of film, we went and got them developed, picked a few of the better ones out, and finally decided on a print to make a 5x7 print and get it framed for her mom. As we went back to her house to give Debbie the gift, she unwrapped the picture and took a glance at it, and I saw her reaction, my heart dropped, and almost right there and then I knew I wanted to do that again. The thought of someone appreciating my artwork, and being emotionally touched made that experience an experience I will never forget.

My photography took off from there. I photographed one of my friend Kim Noel's, senior portraits our senior year, and word of mouth took in, and I was getting calls and emails for many different photography requests as a senior in high school.

How did you get started?