Creator Spotlight with Nature Photographer Jackie Schletter
This week, we’d like to introduce you to nature photographer Jackie Schletter. Jackie is an award-winning photographer who has achieved numerous accolades over the years, including placing first in Soba’s 30th Annual Judged Show and being the Judges’ First Choice in 2024 at the American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP) Awards. After you read her spotlight blog, be sure to follow her on Instagram.
What was the inspiration behind becoming a creator? What do you enjoy most about the creative process?
I can’t say my inspiration came from any one moment, but it did start early and my parents fostered and encouraged it. I tried a lot of different artsy endeavors that allowed me to create, but a high school photography class opened up a whole new world of creativity. I am old enough to remember dark rooms, processing chemicals, developing rolls of film, and printing images. There was a special magic in that room with the red glow, watching your creation slowly come to life. A job in a fine arts gallery for years, while I was in college, kept me close to the creative process as well.
Fast forward to our digital age: I think the creative outlets available now would have led me into a career in photography. The creative process is so infinite at times it can be overwhelming to choose a direction for an image! My process almost always involves long sits at locations like beaches, wildlife management areas, butterfly gardens and other natural settings where something unexpected can unfold. It’s often a “fly by the seat of your pants” process based on the time of day, the light, and the subjects. I do as much creatively as I can in a camera with ISO, shutter speed, and aperture to add atmosphere and ambiance to an image and sometimes that is the final product. More often than not, however, I feel the need to add an essence, a feel, or some drama that was present the moment the shutter clicked, or in some way beautifies the subject. For instance, I use very sunny days to create high key images that naturally evoke a bright, high energy feel. At the end of the day, it is enhancing the aesthetic that drives me.
Can you talk through your creative process? How long does it take? Does everything you produce make money?
The creative process is long and goes beyond the camera work. Nature photographers spend a lot of time learning about nature, so there is book work so to speak. I took a university extension class to become a certified master naturalist and it has served me well. I’ve honed birding skills so I know what is present before I see it. I am always researching behaviors and habitats…you can never know too much. Then of course there are untold hours in the field. I shoot for at least 20 hours a week on location but weather is a factor so it doesn’t always happen. Out of state and travel abroad helps to keep me fresh creatively as well. I spend another 20 hours a week post processing, sorting images for shows, exhibitions, gallery pieces, and other opportunities that come my way. Some images present an obvious endgame but others I may sit on for months, occasionally revisiting the image to see if something new has presented itself from a creative standpoint. Not everything makes money, and part of the fun, for better or worse, is the surprise factor of what sells or evokes emotion from viewers.
What do you think is the biggest misconception about your line of work?
I struggle with the word original being applied to most art, but not photography. Every frame is an original creation that a photographer brings to life using skill and knowledge. Every frame is one of a kind. I think because we must print our work, and it can be reproduced, it is somehow viewed as a less creative process when the image takes its final shape on paper, canvas, metal, glass, acrylic…whatever medium the photographer has chosen. Cell phones, of course, have gone a long way to allow everyone to own a camera, which is a fantastic thing. Mobile images are an important and valuable arm of photography and the quality can be really amazing. However, I do think that many people see how “easy” it is to take a picture nowadays, and apply that to those of us that spend time in a more complex photographic arena. I think this is a big part of what sparks my creativity. It is really satisfying when viewers walk up to a piece and ask me what they are looking at…is that a painting? A watercolor?, etc. It’s fun to educate the public about the artful side of photography and explain just what a process this is, the investment in equipment, and the never ending learning as photography evolves.
When did you first become aware of copyright, and why?
I became aware of copyright infringement working in a fine arts gallery. In my business career, I really paid attention as I began building websites and marketing. As a consultant, I would find clients using images they “right-clicked” for their own web use and often had to drag them begrudgingly into the world of paying for stock images. Of course, now I have an even deeper appreciation for the time and effort that artists put into their craft and why the rest of us should be happy to reward them for it monetarily.
Have you experienced copyright infringement and, if so, how has it affected you personally and financially?
I have had a couple of images show up in places without my consent and, of course, it is incredibly frustrating. The frustration just builds when one realizes there is often not much we can do when it happens. Financially there is not a large impact, though I have started paying for programs like Pixsy that scrub the web for unauthorized use of images so I keep up with that and thankfully, 99.9% of matches are verified. Personally, I find there is a silent infringement for photographers that occurs more than we know.
Oftentimes, our work (photography) is used without permission by artists using other mediums. It is an infringement with much less press because there is no digital footprint. I have been asked on multiple occasions if someone could paint my work, and I always say yes and thank them for asking me. However, I have had the occasion to see my work in painted form, without my permission, and of course this work was being called an original. This artist told me unabashedly that he had painted my image, and did not at all understand why that was inappropriate. We spend so much time worrying about digital theft but for photographers, our work is “stolen” in other ways. Some galleries are very aware of this and state in their call for entries that if a piece of art is created from a photograph, the artist must have taken that photograph themselves. That is the correct approach.
So, I think there is still a lot of education to do. I greatly appreciate the work of organizations like the Copyright Alliance. All creators need someone in their corner protecting their work.
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