ABOUT JS PHOTOGRAPHY - JEFF & SABRINA WILLIAMS

Sabrina wrote our formal bio below the collage with all our degrees and such but then asked me to write a little about us on a personal level, so here it goes:

On a Personal Note:

Sabrina and I met in grad school at UF about 8 years ago. We both studied photography and I had a crush on her right away, she had really cool artwork plus she has a really nice Brazilian accent so I made sure we became friends. After five years of dating, I finally asked her to marry me, and we had a really fun wedding in Sabrina's hometown of Rio De Janeiro, Brazil. Together we have 2 boys and a cat. I really love the kids but the cat could go and it wouldn't bother me, mainly because I am so allergic to her. Sabrina is an excellent mother, she loves children and I am so proud of her ability to be a professional, a mom, a wife and an artist; she even finds time to read to our little boy and me every night before bed.

Along with being a very sensitive and patient person, Sabrina is the best friend I could ever ask for. She has a unique ability to bring that caring motherly quality into her art as well, making her an awesome photographer. She is the most family oriented person I have ever met, she talks to her sister 20 times a day, then with her brother and dad, then meets her mom online. I guess it's a Brazilian thing. Every morning when she wakes up, before me of course, she plays these cute Brazilian children's song for our little boys who dance to them the whole time they are on.

Her love for travel was another thing we had in common, we have been all over the eastern US camping, hiking, fishing, and rafting everywhere we could. She has takenme to the most unexpected places all over Brazil, introduced me to the best food I have ever eaten, brought me to see waterfalls in the mountains, and my favorite - dune bugging in Natal.

One day, like it was no big deal, Sabrina said to me in her charming accent - "We need a store front photography studio." Faster than I could say, "Huh?" she had found us one and we remodeled it ourselves about 3 years ago. It was the best and most expensive thing we have ever done, but totally worth it. Sabrina is always right about these sort of real-estate business deals, researching and reading about them into late hours. Ever since we remodeled our studio we have had 6 people try to seriously buy it from us, due to it being such a good location. Not only do we work with photography in our business, we use it in our personal artwork as well. Our work, like ourselves, has traveled a little outside in and out of the US. We are currently working on a new body of fine art work that you can check out at www.jeffandsabrinawilliams.com

--Jeff

Well, after reading what Jeff wrote I saw that it was all about me and nothing about him so I will fill in the blanks. Jeff is from the outskirts of Memphis, TN and can fix or build anything. One of the things that amazed me when I first met Jeff was his outgoing personality. He is funny, full of life and super energetic -- as a bonus I think he is pretty cute too.

We make fine art together and get a lot of inspiration from each other; since grad school all of our personal work has been collaborative. Our current fine art consists of miniature sculptures that are based on true stories presented as photographs to hang on gallery walls and in private collections. Besides being an amazing photographer who has taught me a lot through his critical eyes (he is a Virgo, lots of attention to details) Jeff is also a potter for fun, he has a wheel and a kiln at home, most of our friends and family have a beautiful collection of handmade pottery from him. Even though our jobs are in the creative art field, Jeff's passion is also to make art, he lives and breathes it; pouring creativity into everything he does, he is the most creative person I have ever met, it's crazy.

Ever since we met, I knew Jeff would be a famous artist and each day I see our path getting closer to that. We are fortunate to lecture at universities about our experience as artists in the commercial world and about technical aspects of photography. Although we have won awards every year we entered wedding print competition through the PPA and FPP we are spending less and less time and money devoting to such competitions to focus on the blue chip high art world which we feel enriches our creativity much more.

The greatest gift we share is parenting together. Jeff is the best dad and it shows, our son Felipe is crazy about him and likes to wake him up in the morning by jumping on his head (I'm gonna do that too one day).

Having a family of our own has taken our studio to a whole new level, making us really understand each milestone and the true meaning of each moment in a family's life. My mom always says children bring good luck and I believe that, we have been growing and thriving more and more since the arrival of our first one. Not to be greedy with our luck, we will stop here at two. Oh, before I forget Jeff has been caught many times telling our cat how much he loves her!

--Sabrina

Accredited University Degrees and Education:

Jeff and Sabrina Williams, owners of JS Photography, are both Master of Fine Arts degreed professional photographers with 8 years of formal fine art photography education from accredited universities. Jeff and Sabrina have been photographing weddings and families since 1996. Their outgoing and friendly personalities along with their love for photographing people guarantees you will have a great time while your story unfolds. They understand the importance of each milestone in a child's and a family's life.

Jeff and Sabrina regularly photograph weddings and portraits throughout Florida, the greater United States and even some internationally.The JS style is a blend of creative photojournalism and contemporary classical photography.

Both Jeff and Sabrina hold a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Photography and Electronic Media from The University of Florida; the MFA is the highest degree achievable in photography from an accredited university. Jeff and Sabrina also hold a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Photography and are the only photography team in Florida with both of these qualifications. Jeff and Sabrina are both certified professional photographers (CPP), a prestigious certification awarded by the Professional Photographers of America. Jeff holds two Specialty endorsements from the PPA in portrait and wedding photography.

Most Recent Exhibitions

2009- 50th International Award Exhibition - Juror Julia Marciari Alexander, Phd., History of Art, Yale University Deputy Director for Curatorial Affairs, San Diego Art Institute Museum of the Living Artist, San Diego, CA

2009- Emerging Artists 2009 - Limner Gallery, Hudson, NY

2009- 41st Annual VAST Visual Arts Exhibition, Denton, TX

2008- TrailerTrash- Building 202- Santa Fe, NM

2007- Addressing Iraq- Mail Art about the War, Group Traveling

Awards:

2007-Print Titled "Waiting for the Moment" awarded into the PPA Loan Collection (National)
2007-1st place Bridal Portrait PPNCF
2007-1st Place Portrait PPNCF
2007-2nd Place Portrait PPNCF
2007-2nd Place Bridal Album PPNCF
2007-Honorary Album Award at SEPPA (Regional Award)
2006-1st Place Couple Portrait FPP (State)
2006-Various other Print Merits Awarded at FPP
2005-1st Place Bridal Portrait FPP (State Award)
2005-1st Place Bridal Portrait PPNCF
2005-2nd Place Bridal Album PPNCF
2005-1st Place Portrait Print PPNCF
2005-3rd Place Portrait Print PPNCF
2005-1st Place intersectional Competition FPP (State one of 4 in the group)
2004-1st Place Bridal Portrait PPNCF
2004-2nd Place Bridal Album PPNCF

Publication:

2008-Print Titled "Waiting for the Moment" Professional Photographer Magazine
2007-Wedding and Receptions Magazine (Summer Cover)
2006-Professional Photographers Magazine (October Highlight on Family Portraiture)
2006-Gainesville Spring Arts Poster Photographed Artist
2006-Wedding and Receptions Magazine (Spring Cover)
2005-Wedding and Receptions Magazine
2005-Gainesville Today Magazine January cover
2001-American Photo on Campus Magazine"MASTER CLASS by Jeff Williams"
1999-Tea Magazine "Visual Poetry" by Sabrina Habib Williams

Professional Experience:

Jeff has been photographing weddings, events, portraits and freelance commercial art since 1996, having photographed well over 550 weddings. Sabrina has been a professional photographer since 1995 having photographed over 400 weddings in America and internationally. Her work has traveled to Brazil (her native country) and around the USA. Jeff and Sabrina are also teachers of photography, having taught for several years at the University of Florida. Classes Jeff and Sabrina taught in the past include Photoshop, Lighting, Large Format, Alternative Photographic Processes, Design and HTML, Black and White Film, and Color Film.

Ethics and Honesty:

We guarantee that every image on this web site was created by either Sabrina or Jeff, for clients. None of these images were conceived, composed, captured, or edited under the instruction of another photographer, and no paid models are featured in any image. All images were created for our clients

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