Trained as a clinical social worker, I turned to photography while raising my own children, and have spent much of the past fifteen years photographing families, while also immersing myself in several long-term documentary projects.

Some of this award-winning work has been featured in exhibitions at home and abroad, has been published in the New York Times and the New Yorker, and is in the permanent collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. I am a recipient of the Duke Center for Documentary Studies Essay Prize, and recent Graduate Fellow at the beautiful Headlands Center for the Arts. You can see my complete resume here. 

I’m really most alive when I’m taking photographs. Behind the camera, I’m endlessly curious and engaged, and I think that energy shines through in the photos I make.

But perhaps the simplest and truest thing I can say about my work is this: I fall in love with the people I photograph. To me, being invited into your world to do this work is a huge privilege, and there’s nothing that makes me happier. I look forward to working with you.

“Jessica’s images are imbued with empathy and a refined sense of color and light. When gathered together, they form a kind of stained glass window into the lives of her subjects. The intimacy of her portraits reveals the deep trust she establishes both as friend and photographer.”