From The Top: Jenny Taylor to open photography studio in Chicago
By David Sharos For The Sun January 10, 2013 5:46PM
Jenny Taylor will open a second studio in February at 2232 N. Clybourn, Chicago. | Courtesy of Rebecca M. Ickes
Updated: February 14, 2013 6:29AM
A local photographer is having incredible success making women look and feel their best — especially in front of the camera.
A former employee in the corporate world who did design work, Jenny Taylor, 30, said she decided one day to become a photographer and open a business, much to the surprise of her colleagues.
“My photography skills have been basically self-taught, and I’ve learned things as I went,” she said.
Jenny Taylor Photography, launched in 2010 in Lemont, reopened last year at this time in Naperville. Now Taylor is opening a Chicago location in February.
“Last year, we worked with over 400 clients alone,” she said.
Taylor’s business specializes in boudoir photography where associates say she brings a particular skill.
“About 20 percent of our business is weddings and the other 80 percent is from women who have often been married a while and had a child or two and still want their spouse to know they’re hot after all these years,” said office manager Amber Willmer, 23, who has worked for Taylor for a year. “These women come in and they’re so scared to get photographed in their underwear, but by the end of the session, they’re so confident and comfortable they want to post their pictures on Facebook.”
Taylor says her target market ranges from women between the ages of 24 to 50, but that during her first year in Naperville, she worked with clients from 21 to 83 years of age.
“We see people on their 30th, 40th or 50th birthday as well as others who celebrate a divorce, an anniversary or really just about anything,” she said. “There is no nude photography at our studio. It’s all about feeling gorgeous, and there are ladies who do this just as a gift to themselves.”
Taylor said her services are unique in that photo shoots don’t involve just taking a series of pictures. Willmer said auxiliary services that involve professional makeup and hair styling are included.
“We provide a safe and comfortable atmosphere, and all of our employees here are women,” she said. “Other studios don’t offer the kind of services and environment that Jenny has created.”
Taylor’s success has been so great she is poised to offer a second studio in February at 2232 N. Clybourn in Chicago. It will offer more than twice the space of her Naperville facility and a complete view of the Chicago skyline.
“I wanted to make things more convenient for my clients as we currently have people coming from Milwaukee, DeKalb, Kankakee, as well as from across the country,” she said. “For those coming from out of town, having a location in the city will be a lot more convenient.”
Taylor said she chose Naperville for her business a year ago because “it is well known and has a good and safe reputation.”
“If you say your business is in somewhere like ‘Frankfort’ people don’t know where that is,” she said. “People know about Naperville and feel good about coming here. I feel like what we offer here is more like a spa day, and my goal for every person is to have them leaving here feeling wonderful and that I’ve knocked their socks off.”
