Welcome to Jourden Photography's new website!

Let me start out by telling you a little bit about myself.

I am Jill Jourden and from a very young age have always loved taking pictures of other people.

Even with my love of photography from early on, I never really had that spark for it until I started seeing what impossible things that I could capture or create with it. In middle school, I would use whatever 35mm or 110 camera I could find at yard sales or cheap at the variety store. My friends and I would set up impromptu photo shoots at home, changing clothes, posing with animals or other things. Having my mom take the film in to the store to be developed and then waiting a week or more to get some pictures back to see how the photo turned out - if at all - sometimes, there were only a few useable images, which led to a desire to do more. My nephew has had a camera in his face his entire life. Every event and non-event in his life has been documented in film.

After graduation and the death of my mother, I was introduced to my husband to be and got my first real desktop computer, scanner and printer. Getting this computer instantly led to the desire to learn digital photography, which was just starting to emerge into the everyday world. The first digital camera me and my husband purchased was an Intel Deluxe USB camera. This $50 USB cabled camera was basically a standard web cam that allowed you to take 640 x 480 pixel shots at close distances and with poor quality, but it was instant! We would take the usual selfie shots, making goofy faces and torturing the cat who really didn't want her picture taken.

From there, we upgraded to the first portable digital camera that didn't cost an arm and a leg, the Creative Labs WebCam Go Plus. At $150 this was a horrible camera. It had 8mb of memory and could hold roughly 200 grainy hard to see pictures. We then quickly moved on to the $250 Intel Pocket PC Camera CS-630, again, the quality was sub par by today's standards but simply the ability to take it with you and go anywhere was not done previously by such a tiny camera that ran on batteries. This camera was brought to many family Christmas parties and get togethers to capture the moments.

The next upgrade I did was two years later moving on to what I would consider to be my very first real digital camera - a Kodak DC3400 2 Mega Pixel. The quality of the images at the time was completely different than anything I had used previously. This camera also allowed me to start playing with different lenses. My husband was able to locate a specialty adapter that allowed me to use numerous macro close-up lenses, wide angle lenses and many different screw-on photography lens filters that were not actually designed for that camera. This allowed me to take numerous up close images of insects and plants, that I was unable to do before. Having the better quality images at the tips of my fingers really helped bring the family closer together as I was always being asked to bring my camera to family functions, births, funerals, graduations and parties. Friends would ask me to bring my camera to parties, sporting events, weddings and our neighborhood cookouts. It is great to look back now and remember the times we all had together. After successfully and happily playing with that photography set-up for around four to five years, my curiosity was thoroughly piqued at this point and that was the time when I decided to pursue a somewhat professional level of photography. 

Around 2009 I invested in my first DSLR camera, the Nikon D40. Over the years have used a number of different models of Nikon DSLR cameras and have gotten many different lenses, filters, external flashes, hand grips & remotes. I continued to take photos at every family function and now we even take a family picture at each of our monthly family dinners. I did my nephews senior pictures in 2009 and was asked to do my sister in law's senior pictures that same year as well. After being asked to do a multitude of senior pictures that year, I thought it was time to make it a legitimate business. I began charging for my sessions from that point on and did my first paid wedding in 2011. Since then I have continued to build my portfolio and client base. I have done Senior Pictures, Family Portraits, Birthday Parties, Weddings, Engagements, Open Houses, Maternity Pictures, Newborn & Infant Photos, Holiday Portraits, Boudoir Sessions, and every other life event you can think of! From there I started getting items to build up a much needed studio space. I started very minimally with backdrop stands, backdrops, light stands, light boxes and reflectors. I have been constantly tweaking my skills and abilities by taking online classes, doing graphic design in my day job making shirts, always on the look out for new techniques, products, backdrops, props, software or even the newest trends. 

After 14 years at my last job, doing my photography around that schedule I have decided to take the leap and pursue this adventure full time, along with helping my husband with his businesses. Together we run a few businesses under DejaNET Group LLC. All of our business ventures tie in to each other and can help each other out. Jourden Photography helps out with product photography for his businesses, MBIDZ helps with a place for me to sell some of Jourden Photography's sessions or products online, and Port City Auction Outlet helps me find some great deals on items for props or for the studio. As the world of photography keeps moving forward Jourden Photography wants to be on the world.

Thank You for checking out the new site. Please feel free to contact me with any questions or to schedule a session today. Keep checking back for the many updates and new features as they are added.