Hello! My name is Eli Jones and I am the Founder/CEO of Norman & Young - a Dallas/Fort Worth real estate media company offering listing photos, videos and 3D tours to Realtors in the DFW area. Founded in 2016, Norman & Young quickly grew from a 2 man team to the 15+ we have now. During this growth process we noticed that the more we continued to grow, the more important it was to have an in-depth set of protocol and training resources for our employees to ensure quality and consistency of our product and service. As we worked to build out this training program, it became clear that there was a real opportunity to sell it as an online course, and with that Real Estate Photographer Pro was born. My day to day is currently spent on this online school and my photography company is managed by my COO Mark Davis & our operations coordinator.

©Madi Wagner

Eli Jones/ Success Interview

How to reach Eli Jones:

Website: www.normanandyoung.com
Online course: courses.rephotoprocourse.com

Location:

Fort Worth Texas

What's in Eli Jones's Camera Bag:

All my photographers use canon 6Ds with Canon 16-35. For aerials they use mavic air's.

Hello! My name is Eli Jones and I am the Founder/CEO of Norman & Young - a Dallas/Fort Worth real estate media company offering listing photos, videos and 3D tours to Realtors in the DFW area. Founded in 2016, Norman & Young quickly grew from a 2 man team to the 15+ we have now. During this growth process we noticed that the more we continued to grow, the more important it was to have an in-depth set of protocol and training resources for our employees to ensure quality and consistency of our product and service. As we worked to build out this training program, it became clear that there was a real opportunity to sell it as an online course, and with that Real Estate Photographer Pro was born. My day to day is currently spent on this online school and my photography company is managed by my COO Mark Davis & our operations coordinator.

What inspired you to become a photographer?

I grew up in Alaska, and there's really 2 things to do up there; hike and ski, and skiing was definately my thing. I was involved in freestyle skiing which is jumps and flips and stuff, and part of that culture is if you didn't get it on video, you're lying about it, and so I started in the camera world by shooting photos and videos of my friends at Alyeska Resort in Girdwood AK.

Tell us about your first photo that really validated your interest as a photographer?

To be honest I really don't remember a first photo that caught me.. I started shooting when I was about 14 so it's pretty much always been a part of what I do.

What do you enjoy photographing the most?

Apart from work shooting houses, I really enjoy shooting high end architecture. Our business model is pretty volume based so we don't typically shoot anything over $5m day to day, but occasionally we run into a gorgeous home and shooting those is NEVER work.

What has been your proudest moment as a photographer?

To be honest, it was the day I realized I needed to hire someone to keep up with the demand. So many people say it's hard to make a living taking photos, so it was a huge accomplishment to know that not only would I be supporting myself, but also had the business to support an employee.

How do you feel photography has impacted the way you see the world?

Taking real estate photos has allowed me to meet thousands of different people in their homes and see so many different kinds of people and viewpoints! Fun to be able to meet a huge variety of new people every day, and I've learned a lot from conversations along the way.

What is your best photography related tip?

Focus on your customers wants and needs if you want to shoot full time. Many photographers make the mistake of trying to design a market for their product, rather than designing their product to fit the market.

Your photos look amazing, what’s your secret sauce when it comes to post processing?

Simple, process based and consistent - this really only applies to real estate though as everything is about consistency and efficiency within this volume based industry. We rely heavily on software to do the work for us.

Speaking of which, what's your post-processing workflow?

Our process starts in lightroom where lens corrections are applied and white balance corrected, then straight over to Photomatix where the software blends the photos with our presets. From there its final tweaks in lightroom. We use photomatix due to how consistent and high quality the results our with our presets - we really don't have to do much to the images once they are done in photomatix apart from minor color and vertical corrections.

What would you like for people to take away from your work?

My work is less about art, and more about building a real business and supporting my family. It's a huge blessing and responsibility to have the processes and systems ive put together help support many employees and their families.

What are some 'must-have' items in your camera bag?

Personally, I use an iPhone 11 to shoot photos for myself...don't kill me but I love the ease of use and constant availability. I wholeheartedly agree with the statement "the best camera is the one you have with you" and my iphone is always with me. For work, I think a dang lens pen is the biggest must have - you wouldn't believe how dirty stuff gets without one!

If you were stuck on a deserted island, what is the ONE photography book you would want to have with you?

Yikes. I've only used youtube and forums for everything... so honestly I've never read a photo book. Can I choose my phone? haha