Conversations with Jessica Martinez Madrigal

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jessica Martinez Madrigal.

Hi Jessica, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I always believed in having your priorities and life in order. However, during 2020 and the pandemic, so much of that certainty was going out the window.

Families, jobs, and futures were slowly being threatened by this pandemic. This is when I realized I did not want my future in the hands of an employer, nor did I want to spend all my hours during this time away from my family. With everything being so up in the air, I set out to start my own business. I wanted to invest the same amount of hours I had spent working for someone else back into my own life. I was looking for flexibility to be able to spend time with my kids and do something I love.

I had always found photography to be my outlet in life. This is when JDLA Photography came to be, I was capturing a serendipitous form of life this grief had made us forget that existed still. Capturing families, pregnancy, and newborns really were the light I needed during these times. I was finally doing something I loved and being able to spend more time with my loved ones really was a blessing. Like many others, 2020 was a pivoting time in my life and I was turning dark moments into beautiful art.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Pfft! The smooth road never, but it has taught me a lot. Having no background in business, marketing, and content creation; I really was going against the currents. My degree is in healthcare administration, and so this meant relearning so much of my workflow. My biggest obstacle was going from “no one has ever heard of me” to being booked regularly. As a small business you have many roles, I had to be my own marketing team, content creation team, and etcetera.

Learning how to create viral content, reading, and learning Instagram’s and TikTok’s algorithms was surely one of my biggest hurdles. At least 90% of my business comes from social media and so keeping this consistent was a huge undertaking. However, I was doing something I was passionate about so it only kept me pushing day in and day out.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I am a photographer in Los Angeles county that specializes in Maternity and Newborn photography. I am proud of many things in my business, but what I am most proud of is not giving up on my newborn photography skills. It takes a great deal of passion and patience to work with babies. Especially those that are only a few days old, when I first started I would cry to my husband every day, I would tell him babies hate me. I would have never guessed that I would be known as the baby whisperer amongst my clients.

I went from panicking and not knowing how to soothe a baby, to being able to give some great advice to first-time parents. I take pride in being able to safely pose babies in those cute little curly poses we all think of when we think of newborn photography. What sets me apart from the rest is how I genuinely treat all babies like they are my own, I build a bond with not only my newborn babies but their parents. I am auntie Jessica and capturing these precious little ones is my highlight of the day.

What does success mean to you?
Success to me is not measured in Instagram following, or how many props, or camera gear I can buy, to me, it is measured in happiness. Yes, it’s cheesy but it is true! I am working a job I love, meeting people in the small business community who I relate with, and spending quality time with my family.

I call that success because I am happy it comes across in my client experience, my work, and my family. Doing what I am passionate about has allowed me to keep pushing and overcoming obstacles. My blessing in this new life is my success.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.jdlaphotos.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jdla.photography/

Image Credits
JDLA Photography