Hey! I’m Jenni (she/they), a queer/nonbinary and neurodivergent freelance photographer based in the south San Francisco Bay Area. I’ve been capturing lifestyle portraits, family photos, headshots, and more for almost a decade. I love animals, crappy reality tv, nature, and I have a BFA in musical theatre. My fiancée Ali and I have been together for five years, and we have our own online presence (check out @aliandjenni on instagram and aliandjenni.com).
I want you to feel like we’re already friends when you arrive for your session, so let me tell you a bit about myself.
I started to be interested in photography because my mom is really into scrapbooking. I swear, I was the most photographed child of the late 90s/early 2000s! I don’t remember a time when I didn’t have my own camera, whether it was a wind-up Kodak, a pink point-and-shoot from Target, or a DSLR.
When I first began taking photos in middle school, they were all landscapes and macro photos of nature. I decided I wanted to work for National Geographic and explore the world! My senior year of high school, I took my first photography class. We had a unit on portraits, and I explained I had no intention of ever taking pictures of people. (If my past self could see me now…) My teacher insisted I complete the assignment (duh), and I begrudgingly asked two of my friends to pose for me.
I was blown away. Not only could I capture emotion and the essence of the person, I was totally in charge. Flowers and butterflies don’t really listen when you give them direction, you know? I fell in love with portraits and never looked back.
I brought my DSLR to college, just for fun. I figured I could make friends that way. However, I was surrounded by actors who needed headshots and I really didn’t know the rules and industry standards for headshots. I took a few online classes, practiced a lot, and Jenni Chapman Photography was created.
Since then, I’ve expanded my expertise to family photos, couples sessions, small weddings and elopements, and self-love portraiture for LGBTQ+ people that can involve anything from a bathtub full of flowers, to sweet candy-themed shoots, to dancing around a field of sunflowers. I am launching The Queer Soul Experience on June 1st – a groundbreaking new offer that’s part photoshoot, part podcast, ALL queer self love celebration! It’s all about creating space for queer people to honor and love their authentic selves while telling their story in an effort to humanize and educate about the incredibly diverse LGBTQ+ community! We need more intersectional representation out in the world, and each Queer Soul star’s story will make a positive impact on not only them, but society at large.
So what kind of photos are YOU dreaming of? Let’s make your vision a reality!
xo
Jenni
