Am I a Mr. or a Ms.? | Jules Ko Photography | Boston

I grew up part of my life around an extended family, where men were valued over women.  I’m not blaming all my hair-raising sensitive views on “equal-value-between-the-genders” view to be in reaction to that, since in my own immediate family there were no hints of that.  But having the name “Jules” can humorously be mistaken for a guy’s name on paper.  Julius and Julian can be shortened to Jules, I know… the gender neutrality is one more reason I appreciate my name, but every once in a while I do get mistaken to be a Mister.

I’m not into cutesy  things, but I do have occasional fun with a little Disney Princesses outlet.  The extent of this stops at having some of the DVD’s and all the princess soundtracks up to Mulan.  But my personal checks are also of a Disney castle collection.  =)  Might as well have some fun when sending money away, right?  But small organizations have received a check from me and would send me a mail addressed to a  Mr. Jules…  =p. Really?  Was it the name, or the check, or the fact that I was paying the bill?  =p

In my first career, Industrial design, the field used to be 10% women.  So I worked hard to beat the odds.  I guess I find it a little ironic that in the photography field, the old ratio was similar, but in the recent times, women have had equal footing, if not more, thanks to their general appreciation for wedding beauties, and love for babies. I do every once in a while get inquiries addressed to a Mr. Jules, though.  I guess most of us grew up with a man-photographer covering our family portraits and our relatives’ weddings.  But the reality is that majority of the times, women are the target clients for this business.

Brides connect with photographers who understand their physical concerns and make them look and feel beautiful.  Not to mention changing into their gowns in front of a woman photographer has noticeable comfort over the other gender, (though, not a deal breaker).  Similar to mom’s in family portraits.  If there’s an image where everyone looks great, but mom doesn’t look her best, forget about it, that image isn’t selling.   So ladies, go ahead.  I have no gender biases. 😉

On another note, while preparing for this past weekend’s Bat Mitzvahs, I was bewildered to notice that leaves had started falling!  Is summer gone?

A sneak peek into Hannah’s Bat Mitzvah:

*

Be a friend of Jules Ko Photography on Facebook | Follow me on Twitter | Subscribe on Google Reader