Jonathan found his love of photography and light while working in Yellowstone National Park in the summer of 1999. During his time there, he mentored under a professional photographer that taught him how to see and capture light - the very foundation of photography. Upon returning home to St. Louis after that summer, he began pursuing a career in professional photography. In 2002, Jonathan accepted a position with a St. Louis Studio as a portrait & wedding photographer and studied under five different Master Photographers. In 2006, he and his wife Lindsay moved to Colorado and opened Jonathan Betz Photography in Colorado Springs.
Jonathan earned his Masters of Photography Degree (M.Photog.) in 2019 and Certified Professional Photographer (CPP) in 2015, conferred by The Professional Photographers of America. His work has been recognized with honors at the national and international level, most recently receiving the Platinum Medal and earning highest honors with a Grand Imaging Award. Jonathan served five terms as the President of the Professional Photographers Guild of Colorado Springs. He has served on the Board of Directors for state and regional professional photography organizations. He's committed to lifelong learning and continually seeks to elevate his craft through professional training, education, and teaching opportunities to help younger photographers refine their skills and businesses.
Studio Manager | Lindsay Betz, Cr.Photog
Lindsay joined the photography industry when she and Jonathan moved to Colorado in 2006, filling the integral role of studio management in the business. Our client families benefit from her guidance for everything before and after the photography session.
As she has embraced the photography industry, she loves opportunities to teach and present to the community of professional photographers from her expertise on the business side of photography. She has presented to professional photographers on the national platform every year since 2018. In 2022, she was recognized with the National Award for Business Education by Professional Photographers of America (PPA).
In 2019, she earned her Photographic Craftsman (Cr.Photog.), the degree that recognizes those in the photography industry that serve through professional-level teaching. She was elected to the National Council for PPA in 2016 and continues that leadership into her third term. She also serves on the PPA Education Advisory Board Committee. Additionally, she has served on the Board of Directors for the Professional Photographers Guild of Colorado Springs since 2015.
It’s an honor to capture different stages of life, and the baby stage is one that goes by so quickly. We have known the Martinich family for a couple of years and have enjoyed doing family and child portraits. This year was special because their family has grown and the Martinich family wanted to have six-month portraits of their daughter. The studio is climate controlled, so it’s a great option year-round, and it offers a great option for littles who only have a short window of opportunity to be photographed. We love building relationships with families over the years and this family has been such a joy to work with. We hope you enjoy these sweet images!
Jonathan & Lindsay, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Let’s start with a fun one – what’s something you believe that most people in your industry (or in general) disagree with?
From the launch of our business in 2006, we committed to growing debt-free and at the speed of cash. We have always known that as long as we spent less than we make, nothing could really sink our business. We grew slow and with the right clients. We grew cash reserves to have sustainability to weather the ups and downs. We choose not to use credit cards. By remaining debt-free and being intentional with where our money is spent, we are able to plan ahead for purchases and forward-fuel the needs and dreams in our business while never carrying the risk and weight of debt.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
Jonathan’s journey into professional photography began in the film era. His training under multiple master photographers taught him invaluable skills of getting the image right in the camera and being intentional with every click of the shutter. This has carried into the digital age his ability to remain disciplined with the number of images taken during a portrait session, confidence in capturing the image correctly in the camera (thereby saving hours of time behind the computer developing his work), and a mastery of lighting and posing that gives his work rich colors and timeless appeal.
Our portrait business is focused on legacy for our clients. Every experience ends with finished prints and products for a family to proudly display in the home. We take each family through a guided experience so they can relax and know we have their back.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
Knowing that the portrait art we create for each family will outlive us. We freeze a moment in time through the portraits we make, and the value of the memories brought to mind from these images grows in value for each family.
After the passing of Jon’s much-loved Grandma B, we vividly remember spending hours looking through boxes of her tangible legacy…hundreds of photographs, some dating back to the early 1900s. Our brother-in-law commented, “This next generation probably won’t ever get to do this.” He was touching on the reality that while more photographs are being taken today than at any other point in history, very few of them ever appear on anything other than a digital screen. We know the tangible photograph still matters.
That is why tangible legacy is at the heart of everything we do. More than ever, our digital world creates a greater need for printed pieces and human connection. Families deserve to have their legacy preserved and childhood recorded for their kids. We enter this space and love telling a family’s story through our portraits.
How’d you meet your business partner?
We are a husband and wife small business. We met in St. Louis, where Jon is born and raised, after Lindsay moved there after college. We met through a Bible study and began dating. We married in 2004 and began dreaming – we set a two-year goal to move out West and live in mountains and dry climate. Jon was working with a multi-location wedding and portrait studio and making plans to launch his own photography business in the new city. Along the way of early business planning, he invited Lindsay into that vision. We arrived in Colorado Springs in 2006 and launched Jonathan Betz Photography together shortly thereafter. It’s been a source of strength to build and run the business and our family with shared determination and a unified vision. We have loved watching each of our strengths work individually in our business. And we truly love working as a team and doing all of life together.
It’s always exciting to turn the page from our 2024 graduates to the upcoming 2025 class, and AJ’s studio session is a great one to start off this class. AJ will be graduating from Air Academy High School this coming spring. He is a defensive lineman on the football team, and it was fun to incorporate this passion into some of his images. AJ is described as kind, energetic, and helpful. He is known as the “BBQ King” and enjoys cooking.
We wish AJ the best as he looks forward to his upcoming graduation! AJ hopes to play football at the collegiate level and possibly pursue a degree in sports psychology.
Parnika graduated from Discovery Canyon Campus this past spring and is beginning her college experience at Rice University, but we didn’t want to miss the opportunity to highlight her diverse collection of senior portraits. Her passions include music and the medical field. Growing up, she participated in the children’s chorale for eight years and later was involved in All State and National competitions. During her four years at Discovery Canyon, she was a part of the honors biomedical program and received the role of club president during her senior year. Her senior portrait session included both an outdoor session at Garden of the Gods as well as a studio session. This allowed for lots of different outfit options from formal to casual and even a stunning sunset silhouette at the end of her outdoor session. We hope you enjoy some of our favorite images!
We wish Parnika the best as she begins her studies in pediatric medicine!
We love it when families come together to celebrate an accomplishment and decide to pair the celebration with family portraits. The Backora family was all together to celebrate a college graduation, so we joined them at Red Rock Canyon to photograph their family. The trees were starting to bud and the grass was turning green, so it was a beautiful time to showcase the stunning spring colors against the red rocks. We hope you enjoy some of our favorite images from their session!
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