Today we’d like to introduce you to Jessica Martin.
Jessica, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
My past story circles around a lot of loss as a child and young adult. My dad died from cancer right before my 6th birthday and my mom died in my twenties. Both caused me to pay closer attention to people and the world around me through photography, but it took me a long time to recognize that connection.
I started shooting professionally around 2008 or 2009, under the business name Seay Clearly Photography, in a small town in central Texas where you couldn’t afford to specialize. I shot seniors, families, cake smashes, weddings, whatever came through the door, because that variety was the only way to make it sustainable. I did that for years, right up until I was accepted into UT Austin, and moved here in 2016. By then I was already outgrowing who I’d been under that name and I got married so my name actually changed. The Jessica Martin Photography wasn’t really a rebrand so much as catching up to who I’d already become.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Bumpy as hell! Starting over is never easy, and I wasn’t starting over quietly. I moved to Austin with one kid already, I had my second during my last semester at UT, and I was carrying a full course load every semester on top of it. Did I mention I was alone? My husband was still working his previous job in our hometown 3 hours away and visiting on weekends. Trying to balance school, a young family, and rebuilding a business from scratch, in a brand new city, all at the same time, was a lot. Some semesters I genuinely don’t know how I got through it.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I specialize in senior portraits, along with family and personal brand photography, based in Austin. What I’m most known for, and most proud of, is how personal the sessions feel. I build every shoot around a senior’s questionnaire and inspo board instead of a forcing them into something that feels unnatural to them. This ensures the images feel like them, not like the same location with a different face in it. I’ve gotten a little obsessed with light along the way, and I lean into prompt-based sessions that ask for real movement and reactions instead of posed ones.
What sets me apart, though, started with something a client told me: that she’d never felt beautiful until after her shoot with me. I couldn’t look at the work the same way after that. How we see ourselves becomes how we talk to ourselves, and a lot of us are carrying around an outdated or unkind picture of who we are. If a photo can shift that, even a little, it’s doing something a lot more important than just looking nice. The older people get, the more closed off they tend to become about trying anything new in front of a camera, and high school seniors are the exact opposite, which is a big part of why they’re my favorite age to photograph. They’re still willing to have fun, try a funny prompt, and just experiment. Every gallery I deliver reflects that, rarely under a hundred images, with enough variety that a client walks away with photos of themselves that actually make them feel good.
How can people work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
The easiest way is to book a session. Seniors are my main focus, whether that’s high school or graduating from UT, along with family and personal brand photography, and smaller mini sessions for folks who want that quick holiday photo. Everything starts with a questionnaire and an inspo board, so even before the camera comes out, it’s already a bit of a collaboration.
If you’re not ready to book, following along on Instagram or TikTok is genuinely helpful. I share real work there, not just polished final galleries, and it’s the fastest way to get a feel for whether my style is a fit for you.
And if you’ve worked with me before and loved your photos, leaving a Google review means more than people realize. It’s how new clients find me and trust me before we’ve ever met, and it’s honestly one of the best ways to support a small, local business like mine.
I also love collaborating outside of sessions themselves, especially with people working in blogging, video production, writing, and web design. I write a fair amount myself and I’m always interested in trading ideas or work with people building something in that space.
Pricing:
- Mini Sessions $300 – $400
- Seniors $900 – $1300
- Families $900 – $1300
- Brands $900 – $1300
Contact Info:
- Website: https://thejessicamartin.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the.jessica.martin/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thejesssicamartin
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessica-martin-austintx/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@THE_JessicaMartin
- Other: https://www.pinterest.com/thejessicamartin/
