I am a wife, mother, social worker and photographer. When I was younger and had my first film camera I did a lot of landscape pictures - old churches, fall leaves, river scenes, straw bales etc. During University, I worked at Sears Portrait Studio learning the basics of setting people up, but really realizing that I enjoyed working with people. At one point very much introverted, I started enjoying getting to know people, even though they were strangers. It's here I feel I came out of my shell a bit. When our son was born, almost 7 years ago, my hands were gifted with a digital SLR. I learned all the manual settings and enjoyed snapping gorgeous shots of our son and then being asked to do other kids and families. When I was asked to do a wedding for my best friends brother, my dad told me to 'get that business name registered' and become legit. And so it began! In October of 2008, Jennifer Klassen Photography was born!
My style is a mix of posed and natural portrait imagery, filled with true to the eye color and feeling. I love to photograph outdoors or right in the home; areas my clients have a connection with, somewhere they can relate to and are comfortable. I enjoying capturing moments of children & families, taking headshots, schools and team photography. I love working with artificial lighting to really make my subjects stand out. I am a strong believer in getting the lighting just right. No matter what type of location I'm given, I know I can get a great shot for my clients.
I have post secondary education in both photography and Videography, graduated with a diploma in Media Production in 2011 from Assiniboine Community College, and a diploma in Professional Photography from Prairie View School of Photography in June, 2015.
My work in Videography spans from corporate to entertainment work, while also including wedding production work.
First Class Photography is a company based out ofour home in Portage la Prairie, Manitoba.The photographer is Mike Essery, who has manyyears experience in the photography field. He hasworked for companies such as Walmart PortraitStudio, Sooters, Canadian Baby Photographers,etc. while at the same time always doing his ownprivate work.Tanis Essery is in charge of administrative dutiesand handles all lab work, including digitalmanipulations and designs greeting cards andportrait collages. She spends some of her free timeincreasing her knowledge and experience in thisdepartment and is always working on new ideas todisplay your portraits.Together, we have witnessed the good and bad ofother companies. We have taken this informationand isolated what we felt were the best qualities ofeach system. We are confident you will be satisfied.Give us the chance, you won't be sorry. We careabout your photographs and want you to be happyand proud to display them in your home.