The Beginning

Our story begins right here in happy valley at Penn State University. Where exactly..? Right in the darkroom in the photo lab. In those days it was a second home to us photography majors.

Yep, that’s where all the magic happened between us… well, actually, no. Andrea wasn’t really impressed by Joel’s pickup lines, and Joel didn’t really appreciate how Andrea ate all his snacks. It wasn’t long though until we became great friends and it was not uncommon for us to stay up late for hours talking on the phone or working side by side on class projects.

And although Andrea was obviously madly in love with Joel from the start, (hey, who wouldn’t be, right?) it did take quite some time before anything more “developed” from our friendship. A short semester of hard work and Joel finally wore Andrea down!

The Early Years

After being nearly inseparable our senior year of college, through graduation, working odd jobs around town, and even assisting other photographers, we finally made the decision to step out and take a chance at our own business. One night during dinner at Ruby Tuesdays the light bulb went off and J&A Photography was born.

We started out small, shooting mostly weddings and the occasional portrait – all the time building our technique, equipment arsenal, and gaining valuable experience. It wasn’t long before we became well known in the area for our creative style and fun approach.

On a snowy day in December of 2005 we got married in Eisenhower Chapel at Penn State University. A couple of years later we bought our house in Pleasant Gap and immediately began renovations – including the old detached garage that we converted into our current studio space.

Us Today

Now here we are today, married almost 15 years with two lovable, crazy kids. Emelia is now 10 and a loving (most of the time) big sister to little brother Judah. They are simultaneously our daily headache and our inspiration and we could not be more proud to be their parents.

It has been a slow and gradual journey to make this our full time gig, but we feel ever blessed and privileged for being able to do what we love… together.

So what’s next for J&A? Who knows. But whatever the future does hold for us, we trust that God will lead us to where we are supposed to be.

“Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.”
– Proverbs 3:5-6