class of 2024,
free grad photos.

My services are primarily meant for low-income students. If you can afford a professional photographer (I'm not one), you are encouraged to find someone else to take your grad photos. There are so many amazing photographers out there who are much more skilled than I am. Consider booking someone else and supporting your local photographer!

eligibility

• You must be graduating in 2024 (or have already graduated in fall 2023) from a 4-year university in California.

• This excludes high schools and community colleges. Sorry, adding those schools would extremely overwhelm me.

• Lastly, you must legitimately need photos and aren’t able to afford a professional.

bookings.

This season, all bookings will be done through my Instagram page.

@jays.jpgs

I understand that you may not use social media, but given that I offer my photos for free, this is the easiest way for me to book people. Emailing people individually is extremely time-consuming, so I hope you understand why I’m doing it this way.

why you shouldn’t book with me.

It might seem weird to tell you “why” you shouldn’t book with, but I’m going to be completely honest and upfront about doing grad photos with me.

1. I might not give you unique and special photos. As you can tell by my portfolio, my grad sessions aren’t anything exceptional. They’re pretty repetitive and basic. I don’t do any special planning ahead of time. I will literally show up to your grad session for photos, edit them, and deliver them to you. That’s it.

   If you want someone who will capture your unique story, you’re better off going with someone else to help create a vision for your grad photos.

2. I easily get stressed and it might rub off on you. You probably already noticed, but I do grad photos at multiple schools. Not just NorCal. And not just SoCal. It’s literally the whole state of California. Fitting over 250 sessions at 20+ different schools during grad season isn’t an easy task, especially with all the travel.

   If you want someone who has good energy and is more upbeat about doing things, you may want to consider someone else for your grad photos.

3. I don’t consider myself to be professional. Honestly, I never wanted to be one. In fact, back in 2020 (before the pandemic), I wanted to drop grad photos. But now, I kind of fell into it and it became a full-time thing for me. That doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy it. I just have other career goals in mind that aren’t closely aligned with photography.

   If you want someone who presents themself as “professional” and someone you can potentially work with in the future, like for weddings, consider another photographer.

At the end of the day, most of you aren’t going to care about this and just want to book with me because you like my style of photography or maybe you can’t afford doing a grad photos with someone else.

And that’s fine! But, just be aware that getting through grad season isn’t easy for me. There are so many unique challenges and hurdles I have to face that other photographers don’t have to deal with.

more info.

Because grad sessions are free, please “self-serve” as much information to yourself as you can. Please take a look at the FAQ and my tips by clicking on the buttons below.