My reaction to: a visit from Janelle Brooke

One of Janelle's infamous photographs you will see in her ads. 

Last week our class had a visit from a former Suffolk County Community College student who now has become a wedding photographer, Janelle Brooke of Janelle Brooke Photography, http://www.janellebrooke.com. One of the things she told us was that when she first enrolled at Suffolk Community College was that she originally registered into the music program and never intended on becoming a photographer. She wound up taking a photography course which she needed to take and then she fell in love with photography and then she changed her mind and moved away from music and enrolled into the photography curriculum. 

Janelle is now a pretty well known wedding and lifestyle photographer on Long Island and New York. She states when she first started out she didn't have a studio and lived at home. She used her parents dining room and set it up as a small office and little by little grew her business. Janelle eventually got married and purchased a home with extra rooms that she could utilize into office space and a meet and greet show place to show her work. Janelle thought as time went on that she could do all this work on her own but then realized as the times changed and social media networking on the internet came about it became overwhelming to juggle photographing an event, editing, keep her website current and respond to all the social media networks like Facebook and Twitter to name a few was impossible so finally she hired a graphic designer and like she says she was hesitant not because she didn't think the young woman was incapable but because Janelle thought she could do it all herself. So she broke down and finally hired Christine and has been grateful she did ever since. 

Christine handled all her website and graphic design and even dealt with social networking so Janelle could concentrate on photographing. Christine also handled editing images part time. Then later on as her business grew she decided she needed a video so people could see who she was, to connect with her and promote the business so she hired Chris Lobello who did an excellent job on her video which you can view on her website. It really is inspiring and I decided not only because of her excellent work and video and not only because I got to meet her in person and loved her immediately but because I really like her style and her unique type of work that I asked her to photograph my husband and I this summer for our 20th anniversary! 

Janelle also promotes herself by advertising in wedding magazines such as, "The Knot" which is a popular wedding magazine for today. She is also a member of a few organizations to help promote her business but it all started with word of mouth and great photographs and a great personality. Within five years Janelle grew her business from the ground up which she says is valued today at half a million dollars. If anyone out there reading this is looking for a wedding photographer do yourself a favor and check her out. You will want to hire her to shoot your special day.