We shoot about 80% of our sessions on location. Of that number, about half are clients that I’ve never met before in person and have rarely spoken with them on the phone. This has happened hundreds of times over the years and there has never been a single issue of mistaken identity where one or both of us approached the wrong person. That record doesn’t sound impressive until you learn that more often than not, their first remark to me is “I didn’t know if you were going to be a guy or a girl!”.
My first name is legally J. The period you see behind that letter there is actually on my birth certificate. I try not to end sentences with it like that because I’m still unsure if there is supposed to be a second period denoting it’s end. I’ve never gotten a great answer from my parents but there’s a minor understanding that J. was intended to be in the thread of the great southern tradition of names like F. Scott Fitzgerald, where the first letter is just a warm up for the main event. We’ve had our ups and downs. I even went J-a-y for a year in 5th grade to blend in. It’s a nightmare when signing up for anything online because there’s only so many times you can hear “name does not contain enough characters”. I once tried to leave the period in there when signing up for my bank online and 4 branches closed.
I’ve grown to like my name and the fact that it’s often misunderstood, discounted entirely, and flat out denied. It’s a great conversation starter. I even get pretty defensive of it these days. There are two other J. Bell Photography’s out there, neither of which is owned by an individual with the first name J. I wish Jennifer and Jerry would use their own boring names and step off. See? Defensive. I used to answer the constantly asked “what does J. stand for?” with “nothing”. I don’t like to think of it like that anymore. It stands for J.(end of sentence)
Seriously, can someone tell me how to end that sentence!?