I don’t have the “typical” photographer story. I wasn’t in love with photography from a young age, nor did I grow up with a camera in my hand from the time I was three. In fact, I rarely took photos, and the camera only came out on the last day of school when I knew I didn’t want to forget the memories of that year. (Side note: I totally forgot most of those memories by now, but I can’t change that now.) Plus when I was growing up, camera phones weren’t a thing… so lugging the giant piece of metal to school every day wasn’t going to work for me, even if I wanted to do it.

Having been a straight A student in high school, I went to college thinking there wasn’t really going to be a need to study providing I went to classes. It was, after all, just a community college and shouldn’t be that hard to get my degree. Two quarters in, and I was flunking out. My D- average wasn’t going to get me anywhere, and not really knowing what I wanted to do, my mom and I spent time perusing the college class brochure. It was mom who came across the photography classes and suggested I take one as “an easy way to get that grade up”. It was an art class, and art is subjective, so how hard could it really be? I agreed with her and she gave me her old Pentax K1000 (because of course, this was also before digital cameras were mainstream and the courses were in film photography). Little did I know, I was signing my life away to a passion and obsession that wouldn’t quickly fade.

I hadn’t planned on being a photographer, in fact, I didn’t think I had that “creative” spark.

Four quarters later, in the Spring of 2006, I was graduating with a C+ average; barely high enough to officially receive my diploma. Digital cameras were becoming mainstream, and I was gifted my very first digital camera… a Kodak powershot or something like that; I honestly don’t remember the details, just that it was a Kodak and took an SD card, which at that time were about a maximum of 1GB and you thought you held all the memory in your hand when you found one THAT BIG! I took it on my travels for the next few years after my move to NorCal with my ex-husband, photographing the places I visited with family when they’d come by. Photography wasn’t a daily thing for me at that time.

In 2008, my ex-husband started assistant coaching a Pop Warner Football Team and offered up my knowledge of photography when the head coach was looking for a team photographer. I obliged, as it was a way to spend more time with my new husband, during the years where we both worked out of the house and spent very little time together. I started using a Canon EOS Rebel Xt, which was one of the most powerful consumer Canon cameras at the time and began learning some basic sports photography. I would always question the need for those HUGE camera lenses, but secretly wanted something bigger than the 55-85 kit lens. At the end of 2009, one of the football moms asked me to photograph her family for their Christmas cards and offered to pay me. Being my very first paying gig, we agreed upon a whopping $35, and all the photos on a CD. I hadn’t planned to make this a career, but a in January 2010 I was laid off from my job while 24 weeks pregnant.

Months of job searching and worrying about how we would pay the bills when the little one arrived, went by. In May of 2010, our little girl Emi arrived, and I decided to actually consider photography for more than a hobby. I started by taking monthly photos of Emi, and offering free sessions to my family and friends. My style was all over the place, and I knew very little about how to run a business or post processing. But by July, my parents offered me a “business grant” to upgrade my camera and get my business license to become a legal business. So I opened the virtual doors to Markie Jones Photography on August 1^st, 2010.  The road hasn’t always been easy; between a divorce, multiple moves and such, I tended to put my own business on the backburner. But in 2016 after the passing of my Papa, I chose to go full force, and my husband Jake joined me shortly after our 2018 wedding day.

Now, I photograph 10-20 weddings a year, and love being a Nature First Adventure Photographer for couples wanting something a little more off the beaten path.