The Artistic Eye of Jill Fager, Photographer
When my first child was born, we made the mistake of not hiring a professional photographer to capture us as a new little family. This is something I have continued to regret. A few years later, we moved to St. Louis, and shortly after met Jill Fager, and her family. Turns out, we have a lot in common. Jill and I are both native to St. Louis, but our husbands are both from Indiana; we both have young children (#boymom!); we have worked in the wedding industry, and so much more. We quickly became friends, and regularly enjoy time together, particularly at park playdates with our boys.
Photo by Jill Fager.
Last year, my husband and I decided to send out Christmas cards for the first time, so we needed family photos taken. Jill was the one I wanted to have photograph us. Our session was at a local park and we had such a blast! Jill did a great job engaging our son, and made the experience so easy for us.
Our second child was born in the spring of 2022. I knew we couldn’t miss the opportunity to capture this new phase of our family, so I asked Jill to do a newborn session with us. Admittedly, the newborn photo shoot was a little more stressful due to the crying newborn, but Jill did an amazing job capturing sweet photos… and you really can’t tell how uncooperative baby Emmitt was being! To me, these photos illuminate who our family is (or was, I guess, at this point in time), therefore they are such a treasure.
To my delight, Jill agreed to let me post this interview about her work and life.
Interview with Jill Fager
Photo by Jill Fager.
What do you find most enjoyable about your work?
The relationships that develop from having a job where you are always meeting new people! And the ability to constantly improve, change, and grow.
What do you find most difficult about your business?
Hands down social media! I have Instagram and post occasionally, I rarely touch Facebook, and I would just as soon do away with it all! For as much creativity as the digital age has fueled, I think it has also played a part in diminishing it. People are constantly trying to mirror what they see online, think of what you might do if you weren't always looking at a thousand examples of what you "should" do. But your photos will never reflect your family well if you are simply trying to look like someone else’s family. And more personally, constantly posting can feel like such a chore! As much as I can, I try to relieve myself of that pressure to be churning out content and simply focus on the quality of my work. For my clients' sake, but also for my own!
What do you wish someone would have told you when you were first starting out?
Photo by Jill Fager.
Thankfully someone did tell me this - to invest in good equipment. Everyone has a camera, but if you are going to start charging people for your work, solid gear is the first step to ensuring you provide a quality product. If you wanted to open a pastry shop, you’d invest in quality ingredients - photography is no different. You don’t need everything, but what you do have should be reliable. I also was fortunate enough to have mentors. You'll learn more and learn faster under the wings of someone experienced.
If you were to design your ideal location for a wedding (photographically speaking) what would it be like and what would the space include for the best photo opportunities?
Most of my experience is with urban weddings because I lived in Chicago for so long. I love urban settings, but my ideal wedding would have some slightly wild element to it, i.e. mountains, old growth forests, waterfalls, rugged coastlines - at least for the bride and groom portraits.
What is the best advice you can give to clients to prep for having their photos taken with you?
I think the best sessions, and really the best art, is collaborative in some sense. A few years back, I had a painting commissioned for my husband. I knew I wanted a painting in our home that depicted the story of God sending the pillar of smoke to lead the Israelites through the wilderness. I approached a painter we knew and said, "I want you specifically to apply your artistic vision and skill to this - if that turns out to be a 3x3 inch painting or a 3x3 foot painting, I don’t care. Whatever direction you go with it, I trust you". When she delivered it to us, we were absolutely thrilled. We had something meaningful to us, and I think giving her light direction coupled with vast artistic freedom made it an enjoyable project for her. If you ever come over to my house, I’d be happy to show it off.
Photo by Jill Fager.
The same thing can happen with photography. You choose a photographer you trust. You communicate the feel of the photos you want, or the significant place you want to shoot in, or the one photo you hope to frame at the end - not to be too Marie Kondo about it, but whatever would bring you joy.
Examples of this have been people telling me they want photos that show off their daughter’s beautiful red hair; documentation of every guest at their wedding; a family bowling together one last time before the alley they owned for 30 years closed it doors; wedding photos at the stream where the couple goes fly fishing; a family session on their rooftop to remember all the time they spent there during covid; documentation of aging grandparents. If you approached me and said you wanted anniversary photos where you recreate your first date, or invited me to come to your barn to get photos of you and your favorite horse, I would be thrilled. All of which is to say, a bit of collaboration allows me to give you something truly unique and meaningful.
How can admirers of your work best support you?
My beautiful friend, Jill Fager
Tell your friends and family about me! And obviously, for any photographer or vendor - whether it is me or someone else - if you are happy with their work, a short thank you note or email is always more encouraging than you know.
What is one question you wish people would ask? And how would you answer that question?
What did you major in in college?! And the answer is…Anthropology! (and, notably, I was one class short of a photography minor - but decided to graduate early). The photographer is nothing if not a participant-observer. They play a key role in the timeless social project of documentation and preservation. Even though we have way more information / data / imagery on people in the last century than throughout all of human history, it begs the question why do we need more photographs? Do we need more? But I think it communicates something remarkable about us as humans, and our universal desire to stop time in a sense, as well as hold on to, cherish, and pass down fragments of it to those we love.
