Good Neighbor Podcast: Tri-Cities
Bringing together local businesses and neighbor of the Tri-Cities region. Good Neighbor Podcast hosted by Skip Mauney helps residents discover and connect with your local business owners in and around The Tri-Cities.
Is your business serving the residents of Tri-Cities? Then, we need to talk! Visit gnpTri-Cities.com to schedule your free interview.
Good Neighbor Podcast: Tri-Cities
EP# 212: Where Art Meets Adventure: Petrova Jones' Photography Journey
What makes Petrova Jones with Photography By Petrova a good neighbor?
Photography has the power to transport us to distant worlds while revealing the beauty in our everyday lives. Few understand this dual nature better than Petrova Jones, whose remarkable journey behind the lens spans from Arctic expeditions to intimate family portraits in our local community.
Petrova's approach to photography defies convention. As she explains, customization lies at the heart of her business. Rather than trapping clients in rigid package deals, she delivers all quality images from a session—because those perfect candid moments deserve to be cherished, not rationed. This philosophy extends to her shooting style as well, where she harnesses natural light and outdoor settings to capture authentic expressions rather than posed artifice. Her background as an educator gives her a special connection with young subjects, turning potentially awkward photo sessions into playful, genuine interactions.
What truly distinguishes Petrova's work is her global perspective. Having photographed in the Arctic seven times, documented coral bleaching at the Great Barrier Reef, and worked alongside Sami reindeer herders facing climate change challenges, she brings exceptional technical skills and artistic vision to every local portrait session. Yet beyond her impressive portfolio lies a deeply personal story of resilience. After losing her brother—who first inspired her photographic journey—to cancer twelve years ago, Petrova recommitted to pursuing her twin passions of photography and music (she plays eight instruments!). Her story reminds us that following our creative callings isn't just fulfilling—it makes us better in all aspects of life. Discover more of Petrova's work on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube at Photography by Petrova, or visit her website at photographybypetrova.com.
To learn more about Petrova Jones Photography go to:
https://www.photographybypetrova.com/about-me
Photography By Petrova
(772) 370-4676
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Skip Monning.
Speaker 2:Hello everyone and welcome to the Good Neighbor Podcast. So I am pretty psyched today because we've got a very interesting guest with us here in the studio and I'm sure you'll be just as excited as I am to meet and talk with them, because today I have the pleasure of introducing your good neighbor, ms Petrova Jones, who is the owner operator of Photography by Petrova Petrova. Welcome to the show.
Speaker 3:Thank you so much for having me and welcome to everybody else for joining us on the show.
Speaker 2:Absolutely Well. Like I said, we're excited. I'm sure our listeners are super excited to learn more about you and your business. So if you don't mind, why don't you start us off by telling us what you do?
Speaker 3:Yeah, so I run a custom photography business. What that basically means is, as a photographer, I customize my sessions to the client, to their needs. My specialty is landscape and conservation work and because of that it's brought me to some really remote and unique locations such as the Arctic, the Antarctic really kind of odd places, I guess I would say Most places that people don't choose to vacation. And I go there a lot of the time, once or twice a year for grant work, for conservation, climate change photography. But I kind of use my skills that I've gained there back here at home by being able to really customize sessions with my clients.
Speaker 3:One of my specialties is using outdoor lighting and working with the elements to really capture the essence of the people and the clients that I have in front of me.
Speaker 3:So instead of using a studio with all artificial lighting, I really have gotten to know the local areas, the best places to go to capture natural photography with families and kids, and I also work full-time, as you know, a teacher as well, so that gives me kind of like a little insight into working with the little ones to kind of capture those moments. So things don't look posed, things are much more natural, and so I take a lot of pride in trying to customize the experience for my families and give them something that you know they would love to be able to capture. But it's difficult. Oftentimes they're the ones behind the camera, or you know, it's just difficult when your mom telling your little one to smile and of course they're giving you that really awkward grin. So that's what I do here Everything from portraits to graduations to engagements you know, babies, anything really photography wise I can do for clients here.
Speaker 2:Awesome, Very interesting. So, Petrova, how did you tell us about your journey? How did you get into this business?
Speaker 3:Growing up in Europe, my brother was an architect and he was into architectural photography and so from a young age I would kind of follow in his footsteps and learn the elements of design and how to capture images. And even though architecture wasn't so much my passion, I did learn also the just the passion of capturing that moment in time and the beauty of being able to really capture that you know, and composition in photography. And he traveled extensively, which I think also kind of created this travel bug within me. So at first most of my jobs have been, like I was saying, conservation work and travel related. Like I recently did a survey of the Great Barrier Reef with the coral bleaching effects.
Speaker 3:I just came back from the Arctic. I was working with the semi-reindeer herders, trying to work with them on some of the issues that they're facing with, you know, climate change issues and also just getting, you know, their voices heard. There's been a lot of issues that they've been facing. So some of my work has been documentary, some of it has just been awareness. But trying to get awareness through an image has been kind of my passion where photography has been concerned. And then, you know, bringing that back here back home in a practical sense it gives me a lot of skills that I can offer a client that you know, a photographer that hasn't maybe had to, you know, hike through blizzards and climb up glaciers and different things. They may not have the same resume.
Speaker 2:You know resume you know, fascinating the Arctic Wow.
Speaker 3:Yes, yes, yes, I just came back from that and it was epic, as always, but quite different this year than it had been in the past. It was really warm actually, so this year was.
Speaker 2:How many times have you been there?
Speaker 3:How many times have I been? How many times have I been? I think a total of seven at this point.
Speaker 2:Wow, wow, that's incredible. That's incredible. I'm so jealous. I love to travel as well, oh wow.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Sounds amazing. Well, and of course, your business is very unique. So, or is unique. I don't know if you can be very unique. You're unique. So are there any myths or misconceptions in the photography business, or particularly in what you do?
Speaker 3:You know, I think, as a photographer, I don't see a lot of women in the field and so I would encourage anybody out there. You know, like I said, I teach young students and I do get the question a lot of the time. You know, can women be photographers and go out there and do what you do? And of course I mean outside of just portrait photography, and you know you know more family-based photography. I don't see a lot of women doing expedition style, which is kind of what I do as well, style photography. But I always tell, you know, my students and anybody who asks why not? You know, this is absolutely a career and a field that anyone can get into.
Speaker 3:But I do feel like it is a misconception that it is, you know, not for women, because maybe it's not safe, maybe it's a little bit more rugged or a little bit more dangerous or you have a lot of gear to carry. So that's been one misconception or myth I've had to work through. I've showed up to jobs before and had people look at me and ask where is the male photographer? This has been in jobs overseas, you know, in other countries where I've been working Because of the expectations, I think, of the type of job. So, regarding with what I do, that would be one of the biggest myths and misconceptions, I think, with regards to customers, I think when you're dealing with customers, I think one of the myths is that when you're purchasing photographs or when you're doing a photo shoot, that you have to buy packages of photos, and I personally feel that you know if you're doing a great job of a customer you should like.
Speaker 3:For example, when I do a shoot, I will do a shoot for an hour with a customer and I'll give them everything that I took in that hour. That is good, you know, not like the throwaways. In my opinion, if you have 50 images that are beautiful, what are you going to do with them, you know, and so I feel like a lot of the time, I think one of the misconceptions that should possibly be looked at is you know, can we work a little bit better with consumers to give them more images from sessions? And I think that a lot of the time, we're getting nickel and dimed, and that's one thing I don't want to do. I like to give my customers a nice experience where everything is customized and they get their day's shoot or their moment, you know, back.
Speaker 2:Wow, I'm telling you I am so fascinated. You mentioned the misconception of female photographers. I actually interviewed a wedding photographer several weeks ago who came here from Moscow, was Russian and she went to school in New York photography school to be a war photographer. And and she was a war photographer for about 20 years and she had a friend who said, hey, can you shoot my wedding? And she said, sure, you know, in my spare time I'll do this. And she did and fell in love with it. So now she's a wedding photographer and she had fascinating stories of shooting, you know, all over the world in war-torn countries, and so great example of another female photographer. You know all over the world in war-torn countries, and so great example of another female photographer you know doing amazing things.
Speaker 3:Absolutely, absolutely so outside of work.
Speaker 2:Petrova, what do you do for fun? Take pictures, probably, right.
Speaker 3:Well, I am a musician as well, so I love to write music, I love to sing, play my instruments and I love gardening. That's probably one of my favorite things here. When I'm rooted here in my home, I love to take great pride in my garden and just love being outside. I like the outdoors, like nature.
Speaker 2:Awesome, awesome. What instruments do you play?
Speaker 3:Play piano, I play um guitar electric, I play cello, violin and viola um. I play basically all the string instruments um classical string instruments, all of the um, you know guitar instruments, bass as well, drums um and then ukulele, banjo, and then I sing.
Speaker 2:Wow, Well, I was admiring all the violins and, uh, Is that a? That's not an Alembic bass behind you, is it?
Speaker 3:There is a, there is a bass and an electric guitar and an acoustic electric guitar.
Speaker 2:Well, I'm a. I don't know if you can see that I'm a I'm a guitar. This, this is my, my cup. Well, you can't see it, but it's a giant pick.
Speaker 3:Anyway, I play guitar. I'm a music nut as well, so wonderful, I'm in my music room right now, so it's where I teach virtually, from where I have, when I have to do virtual lessons. So this works well, you know.
Speaker 2:Awesome, awesome, I am so impressed. Well, let's switch gears for just a second. Can you describe a hardship or a life challenge, whether professionally or personally, that you've overcome and how it made you stronger when you came out the other side?
Speaker 3:Yeah, this is, you know, back to kind of talking a little bit about. I guess some of the inspiration of what drove me into photography was my brother and you know he probably didn't realize it at the time but he really shaped a lot of my path with photography and unfortunately he passed away about 12 years ago now. He passed away from lymphoma and I was there when he passed away and it was a difficult. It was like about a year and a half of really difficult just seeing him going downhill, you know, and I think that sudden loss and I had just had my son and there was a lot of things happening. Life changes, you know. You have birth and then you have this sickness diagnosis and I think it really it made me really think about life in a different way, because I realized that I did have this passion inside of me and I already had a full-time business but I didn't feel that I had time necessarily to commit to the photography again.
Speaker 3:But when I really started looking at things, doors started opening and it's hard running two businesses but I've slowly now been able to grow the photography business, you know, to just under full-time I mean it could be full-time if I allowed it to be, because my brother kind of has motivated me even though he's not here anymore, but to follow my passions, which have always been music and photography, and so I have found kind of a balance, I think, now between the two businesses and my two passions, and I'm really really grateful for that, because the times where I do get to travel, that's great, it's a great way for me to clear my head and to come back fresh and better for everybody Better as a teacher, better as a mom, better as a wife, better as a friend, you know, and also to do the work I want with conservation and awareness.
Speaker 3:So I think, yeah, I think that would probably be the one moment that kind of did kind of a spiral to change, you know, for me to look at my schedule and realize I need to make time for that, you know.
Speaker 2:Well, I'm sure, I'm sure your brother's looking down very proud of you, I'm sure.
Speaker 3:Thank you.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, absolutely Well, Petrova, if you could think of one thing that you would like our listeners to remember about photography by Petrova, what would that be?
Speaker 3:I would like them to just remember that photography by Petrova is unique. I am not a typical photography shop or business. My goal is to work with individuals and to customize my sessions and what I offer my clients, because I realize that everybody is unique and everybody deserves a custom experience.
Speaker 2:Awesome, great thing to remember, all right? Well, for those of us who are interested in learning more about what you do and seeing some of your work, how can they learn more?
Speaker 3:Yep, so you can visit me. I'm on Instagram. Photography by Petrova is on Instagram. I'm also on Facebook Photography by Petrova. I have a YouTube channel as well that I try to release every Tuesday a new video and also Photography by Petrova, and then my website is wwwphotographybypetrovacom as well, and I also have a retail store attached to that website, if people are interested as well. Very cool, have a retail store attached to that website, if people are interested as well.
Speaker 2:Very cool, very cool, all right. Well, petrova, fascinating interview. You're a fascinating person with a. It sounds like a wonderful life and I can't tell you how much I appreciate you taking time out of your busy schedule to talk with us and tell us about you and your business, and wish you and your family and photography by Petrova all the best moving forward.
Speaker 3:Thank you so much. I really appreciate your time as well.
Speaker 2:Awesome. Maybe we can have you back sometime.
Speaker 3:That'd be great. I would love it.
Speaker 2:All right, thanks so much.
Speaker 1:Thank you. Thank you for listening to the good neighbor podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to GNP trycitiescom. That's gnptry-citiescom, or call 423-719-5873.