Today we’d like to introduce you to Jasmine Loew
Hi Jasmine, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
There are several aspects of my life that run parallel to each other, I have always hesitated to call myself a ‘photographer’ or identify with anything that I do too strongly. I love taking photos, I also work full time as a clinical trialist, this is how I feed my children and support my love of photography. I grew up loving photos, I loved disposable cameras, the anticipation, the surprise that would hit when I finally got a long lost roll developed. Usually there would only be a few photos that I would keep. But it was always a way for me to remember times of life that would disappear into the catacombs of my mind, a photo would resurrect the memory, for better, and sometimes, for worse. My grandmother always made sure that our annual family gatherings were heavily documented with 16 rolls of film, she is the reason I have record of my over tweezed eyebrows in my early teens, and candy stuck to my face while bored on a 13 hour car ride as a kid. She had a knee replacement surgery a couple years ago, and while spending time with her, I sat and thumbed through a gigantic box of photos, some from my mother’s childhood, and some recent. I found polaroids of my mother and I that I had never seen, and through this little photo, I learned more about this woman who was my mother. As I’ve made the journey halfway through my fourth decade, I’m 34 now, it has become more important to me to have these little fragments of time where I can remember my daughter and her wild spirit as she grows. Motherhood is so cruel in a way, you’re given this precious soul to nourish and love, and then the clock begins to move at an increasingly fast rate and the ability to remember is so challenging. So, I often find myself scrolling through images of her as a baby, a little child, and it helps me remember. And it warms my heart, softens it, reminds me to hold on.
My dad also encouraged me to take photos, it was something we’ve bonded over throughout the years. We have a family farm which has moved into the event venue space over the last 15 or so years and it has given me the opportunity to book weddings. I have learned so much over the years, shooting several weddings a year, also gifting wedding photography to my friends. It can be so challenging and also the pressure can be intense. I sometimes have dreams where I am at the wrong venue, or late or miss the event entirely. The pressure to get the shot gets my heart rate going and makes me feel the butterflies in my belly. But once we are there, on set, live, action is happening and the flow state overcomes me and there aren’t many other areas of my life where I am successful at accessing it. Photography is an effort towards replicating a small amount of the beauty I experience every day, saving it for later so it can be shared.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Oh the road has been bumpy for sure. I have had to learn so many hard lessons along the way. I tend to take life all at once. I was in my 3rd year of my biochemistry degree a the U of A when I had my daughter, now a days, having a baby at 25 seems equivalent to being a teen mom. We lived in a 400 sqft studio apartment in a rough neighborhood, putting 5$ worth of gas in the constantly breaking-down honda at a time. I had a Nikon d90 that got worked over hard over these first years of being a mom. I managed to finish my degree and land a job at CRO (contracted research organization) that would support us. It was a small company, eager to prove itself and it gave me the opportunity to contribute to different aspects of the organization and I moved up quickly. Those years were so tough, learning to parent, learning to be a professional, attempting to silo those areas of my life… which never worked. My job would drag into the evenings, my daughter would be sick, I learned that all is just life, there is no work life balance, it is just about meeting the need of the time, managing priorities, managing expectations, finding joy in it. Much like the flow state of a wedding shoot, it’s about being in it, rolling with it, recognizing that some supernatural force has put the wind to my back and encouraged me the whole time. The struggles have made me who I am, and I think the greatest achievement in life has been learning to involve myself completely in whatever it is I am doing, whether it be the dishes, the photoshoot, the protocol amendment, the data QC, the math homework. It’s all here to help me grow and that’s what I’ve decided life is all about.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
Jill of all trades, master of none. I have really struggled to find my niche in photography. I have been told by so many that I am too diverse in my subject matter, that I need to really hone in on one area and double down on it. I find that advice to be hard to follow. Any new lens that I get gives me a new insight to a world I never noticed before. My dad gave me a 300mm f4 prime lens 15 years ago, and I hated the thing, I was so into my 50mm 1.4 that I couldn’t see what a gift I was given. I found the lens to be clunky and the glass was slow. Fast foward years later, I have found that this is the best lens for taking candid photos of my wedding clients, they can be enjoying an intimate moment, not even realizing that they are being photographed. Those are some of the best moments, the second someone knows they are being photographed, they look at you, smile, and get rigid in their bodies, the formula for awkwardness is so predictable that I’ve really had to develop my coaching in order to get the ease to come through.
A couple years ago I picked up a macro lens and my world changed. I got so into taking photos of bugs. It was such a different subject matter, I never paid much attention to them, but once I could see the intricate structures, the movements, the fibers, the scales, the hairs, it really blew my mind open. I could see the detail, it was almost a spiritual experience for me. All my life I had paid so much attention to elk, bobcats, deer, birds, but never realized that the Creator paid as much attention when creating an ant, a butterfly, a praying mantis. So I decided to photograph insects every chance I got.
Not a portrait photographer but I love taking portraits, not a wedding photographer but I love shooting weddings, not a landscape photographer but do my best to capture the awe of a sunset, not a macro photographer but I enjoy the attempt at photographing all of these things. Is it good for business? No. Is it good for my soul….. a YES resounds.
Can you talk to us a bit about happiness and what makes you happy?
A slow morning, a homecooked meal, a shared moment of laughter, a hard days work, the sound of my 5 month old nursing, the sound of my 9 year old laughing, a smile from a stranger, the first cup of coffee in the morning, learning a new skill, refining an old one. There are too many joys to note. I have put in some work over the last few years to grow my capacity for joy, to work on the areas of life that I find challenging, to look at the areas of my personality which limit my vessel to receive joy, pleasure. I found my way into my 30s, sourcing happiness from exogenous sources, a smoke, a buzz, a vacation, a partner, I found that outsourcing my joy left me on the hunt, constantly looking for ways to satisfy an internal emptiness. I’d always be disappointed, when I woke up with a hangover, all the seratonin for the week, spent one night out, disappointed when my first husband could never forgive me, disappointed when my daughter gave me her honest feedback. I remember telling friends how my soul felt tarred and feathered, like I couldn’t get the ick off me, the depression off of me. I was lead to a series of spiritual teachers, mentors, friends and scenarios which kept repeating the same mantra- ‘you must take full responsibility for all that you are, and all that you are not.’ No more blaming life for not coming at me in just the way I want it, in just the right dose, just the right temperature, just the right way. I learned to want what is, and this profoundly transformed my ability to access happiness, joy, pleasure. Learning to allow what is, welcome it, digest it and presence it, has taken me from the seat of victim to the seat of the creator of my life, and with it, abundant happiness.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://theloewlight.com
- Instagram: @lady_loew_life @theloewlight
- Facebook: Jasmine Elaine Loew
Image Credits:
Jasmine Loew
