One thing about being a musician today, is you have to do a lot more than just write songs and practice your craft.  The key is to be savvy about business and marketing, while still remaining true to yourself and your art.

Since I was going to record a new album, I decided to update my press photos.  My friend and fellow singer/songwriter extraordinaire Kirsten Jones, had taken some phenomenal pictures with a photographer in Toronto named Emma-Lee, so I decided to do a photo shoot with her.  I started to gather gear for the shoot including umbrellas, lemons (yes, I have another lemon song on the new album!) different outfits, and miscellaneous props such as a toy little blue car, a lemonade pitcher, pink lemonade, and a mini grand piano that I happened to see in Kirsten’s friends studio the previous day.

I took a train to Toronto, and the night before the photo shoot I had such a hard time sleeping due to a combination of nerves and anticipation.  I think I only got about 3 hours of sleep that night.  Luckily my makeup artist Jessica worked her magic, and we ended up getting some great colourful shots.

Every step of this process has challenged me to let go and trust.  In this case, trusting that the financial investment would be worthwhile and I’d I’d get some photos that I loved.  Although the photo shoot didn’t go exactly as I had planned, (what in life ever does?)  it was a positive experience that helped move me forward in the direction of my dream.  And now I have some great press shots for the CD launch!

Jennifer xo

p.s.  Emma-Lee sent me some photoshopped pink lemons in some of the photos as a nod to my song “How Does Pink Lemonade Get Pink?”   In the end I liked the pics with yellow lemons better.