Photographer brings his business to Maricopa

Jake Johnson, a photographer who owns Jake Johnson Pictures, is no longer a commuter.

Johnson moved from L.A. to Maricopa in 2005, but had a studio in Tempe. It quickly became apparent working from his home city was more efficient.

“Most of my work is location work,” Johnson said. “I wasn’t really using the studio.”

When he wasn’t out on a shoot, Johnson handled paperwork from his home office, but “as my family has grown, it’s been more difficult to be productive,” he said.

Johnson has two young daughters with a third on the way.

So, he decided to set up shop in Maricopa, using office space in the Desert Greens professional center on West Smith-Enke Road, next to the Maricopa Public Library.

For studio space, Johnson uses the neighboring Clear Skies office.

“We can shoot next door, anything from a headshot to food,” Johnson said.

More than just establishing a place in which he can get work done, however, Johnson’s office will function as a classroom for photography classes he plans to host at least monthly.

The classes are meant “for the public,” he said, though there is a fee.

“They can come and learn how to better their photography skills,” Johnson said.

Johnson is calling his first class, scheduled for Sept. 25, Adios Auto. He intends to teach aspiring photographers how to use and adjust the basic settings on their camera – such as ISO, F-stop and focus lenses – to take better pictures.

The second class of the month, scheduled for Sept. 27, will be a Photoshop class in which students will learn to edit and tweak the photos they take for maximum impact.

Shannon Williams, a former student of Johnson who is now his assistant, called her boss a good teacher:  “He’s really phenomenal.” 

She learned so much from him because of “the way he’s able to explain things using not just verbal instruction, but visuals as well.”

“You would want somebody like him to be your mentor,” Williams said.

And Johnson said the learning won’t stop at the end of the two-hour sessions.

“I’ll continue to help after classes,” Johnson said. “I field emails all the time from students.”

Local clients run the gamut from the city of Maricopa (he did the portraits of city staff and elected officials on the website) to commercial companies to real estate agents to families who use him for their annual portrait. He and Williams shoot for InMaricopa publications.

“It really is all across the board,” Johnson said. “But I consider ourselves commercial in that we produce photography for corporations.”

The business is run with plenty of help from his wife, Tami.

“Rarely is it just me,” Johnson said. “My wife does a lot of post-production.”

She also orders supplies, does the bookkeeping and edits photos, he said.