Check Out Alyssa Jones’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Alyssa Jones. 

Hi Alyssa, so excited to have you on the platform. So, before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
In high school, the conversation really starts regarding what you want to be when you grow up, what your passion is. I was the student who had absolutely no idea what I wanted. Some things sounds okay – being an art teacher, a math teacher, a massage therapist, but nothing I felt a “passion” for. I was accepted early admissions to Saint Mary’s College in South Bend, IN my senior year and I still didn’t know what I wanted to major in or what career might make me happy in life. My senior year spring break I decided to take little iPhone clips of everything my friends and I did – because I was really inspired by the Indy Blue’s, TaylorCutFilms, and other travel vloggers of the world. When I returned from trip, I immediately started editing all the clips together to music and my mom told me she had never seen my so passionate and excited about anything. For my high school graduation, she bought me my first DSLR. I never thought about being a photographer or videographer, but the more I started to play with it – the more I realized I might actually be good at it. I’ve always been very artistic and creative, so that really helped me when I was just starting to learn. I started with senior photos, family photos, and eventually grew into weddings where I became the go-to wedding videographer in my area. Since then, I’ve grown to do photos and videos for concerts (ranging from Waka Flocka, The Chainsmokers, Summerfest in Milwaukee, Tyga, and more) as well as creating fashion films in collaboration with other fashion lovers I have connected with. Today, I continue to do weddings and feel very inspired by fashion, but I have pivoted into creating a lot of content for my own personal brand. I’m working on growing my youtube channel and other personal social media accounts and I love doing it. 

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?
My journey has not been smooth at all, for a variety of reasons. I have bad anxiety and I’m not a good “business” person. I love shooting weddings, but I’m not great with talking to clients. That has really negatively impacted by business and is something I continue to work on. In addition to that, I get bad performance anxiety! While working my mind will completely blank on poses and that is a pretty important aspect of my job. I would say my biggest struggle is how much I struggle with comparison. I compare myself to everyone – other photographers, videographers, creatives in general. I compare myself so much it stops me from going after jobs, marketing myself, and it really negatively affects my mental health. Whenever I finish a gallery or a video, I’ll like it for a little then immediately start thinking “How could my stuff look more like theirs?” “Nothing I do is good enough” “The editing isn’t as good as their” “I can’t pose and compose as well as they can.” It’s really an intoxicating thought process that I can’t seem to shake. 

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I am a photographer, videographer, and overall creative person. I am most known for my wedding videography and maybe more recently, my youtube channel. I am most proud of my senior comprehensive I created my senior year of college. It’s a deeply personal short film I created about the most difficult year of my life and how I overcame it. It’s probably my one piece of work that I don’t wish I could change anything. I had people telling me it wasn’t important enough to create, but I did it anyways. It is one of my biggest accomplishments. 

I would say what sets me apart from others is I am extremely honest, transparent, and although I struggle with comparison, I always end up paving my own path and style for my clients and my personal work. I like to set myself apart in any way that I can. In my wedding work, I like to test and explore different styles and create something extremely meaningful, nostalgic, and emotional. In my personal work, I like to be upfront and natural about real-life although some may not expect a person like me to. I just like being as down-to-earth as I can. 

Can you talk to us about how you think about risk?
I wouldn’t label myself as a risk-taker, but I am definitely open to taking risks. In my personal work, I take more risks than in my wedding work. I think my biggest risk was, again, my senior comprehensive. Short films were not a come common final project format to use in my department and neither was making something as personal as I did. I had a lot of doubts throughout the process of filming and editing my short film and so many moments where I asked myself “Is this too personal? Will anyone even care of or relate to this?” People did. People cared and related to it, and I’m glad I took that risk.

I think risk-taking is important, but I also think calculation is too. I am a person that is constantly thinking 5 steps ahead and all of the possible outcomes of each step. I think having a healthy mix is the perfect combination.

Contact Info:

• Website: lvisuals.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alkyjo/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/LyssaJones/videos

Image Credits
Westley Leon Studios