My husband's cousin Kyrie is a fellow SHSU Bearkat and is graduating this December with a Bachelor's in Mass Communications. She asked me to take photos to celebrate this exciting time in her life! She booked a Senior Portrait Session, receiving hair and makeup styling from Sonia with Freestyle Makeup & Co. Kyrie looked absolutely STUNNING in these beautiful photos taken in The Woodlands, TX. 

If you're someone who doesn't know me personally, then you may not know that I am a high school theatre teacher. I'm about to begin my 5th year of teaching and I love what I do. I love seeing students fall in love with theatre and getting to fulfill their dreams of performance. Three of my past students contacted me this week to get their head-shots done for their fall auditions at their various colleges and universities. 

As someone who has taught and directed these students, I think it's safe to say that the pleasure was all mine!  Their photos turned out BEAUTIFULLY and I am keeping my fingers crossed that they book plenty of auditions with these bad boys. BREAK A LEG YOU GUYS!!

Up first was Darren, who was in my 4th period class my first year of teaching. Now, he's a sophomore at Columbia College in Chicago and making us all very proud! Darren claims to be not to be photogenic (which isn't true!) and we got the winning shot immediately. Once he saw it, he called the photo session a wrap because it was way too hot outside!

After Darren, I booked Eduardo and Jessica for the same day and time since they're friends and I knew that having the company would make them feel more relaxed. We had so much fun!

Jessica was also in my 4th period class my first year of teaching and is now a junior in college. This year, she is transferring Texas Christian University. GO FROGS! Jessica was very different than Darren. She is an avid fan of America's Next Top Model and has been practicing her "smize" for years now. I think her hard work has paid off!

Next, is Eduardo! Eduardo just graduated from the school where I work and is headed off for his first year at Sam Houston State University, which as a fellow Bearkat, I couldn't be more proud! GO, KATS, GO! 

Eduardo is a person who I never actually had in class (there's more than one theatre teacher) but he and I bonded my first year teaching (and his freshman year) while trying to assemble some set pieces that the school had ordered for us that DIDN'T come with instructions, making it a memorable experience. I'm looking forward to seeing what he does at SHSU!

Two years ago, a freshman in high school was in my 7th period class and her name was Lindsay. Lindsay was a hard-working student with a fun, energetic personality. One day Lindsay asked me if she could take my class again the following year, and I told her the only way she could was if she signed up for Technical Theatre, so she did. Now, Lindsay is a person who I can't imagine not knowing and she has yet to disappoint me. She's someone I can depend on and someone who I always enjoy being around.

When I decided to pursue photography as a side business, I knew I would need some models to help me build my portfolio, so I called Lindsay to do a (non) Senior session, to which she happily agreed. We made the plans and off we went!

Lindsay's hair and makeup was styled by the talented Sonia Morgan with Freestyle Makeup Co. For senior sessions, Sonia and I are offering a package of hair and makeup styling with the photo session. Sonia is one of my dearest friends and is quite talented. Sonia works with a variety of luxury cosmetics including NARS, MAC, Stilla, Tatre, Laura Mercier and Bobbi Brown. She specializes in airbrush makeup application that wears all day and covers flawlessly. As you can see in these photos, Lindsay's makeup was beautiful, despite the exhausting heat! 

About a week ago, I took my son to the beach and took a few photos and I loved how they turned out! I posted the pictures on my Facebook and Instagram, and my old high school friend, Rachel, asked me if I could take pictures of her and her son together on the beach too. I immediately agreed and we set up a time to go, which was tonight. We had so much fun!

Rachel has an 18 month old son, Colt, who is as sweet and fun-loving as they come! He is bold and fearless, which created an interesting shoot! :) We didn't intend to get into the water, but like I told Rachel...he's a toddler, and it's his job to mix things up! With Rachel's stunning beauty and Colt's sweet smile, we had a successful beach session! 

With all of this excitement for building a portfolio, I decided to order a new lens, based on the recommendation of KeAndra, the talented photographer who is mentoring me. It came in over the weekend, and since then, I can't seem to take enough pictures, because I am LOVING how they turned out. 

I called my cousin, Emily, who has a beautiful one year old daughter, Layla, and asked if I could take pictures at the beach to practice with the new lens. Emily who never says no to pictures, quickly agreed and off we went!

Layla was the PERFECT model! She was happy and she's beautiful! She made my job easy!

Hello! I'm so glad that you've stumbled upon my website today! I just wanted to share a little about how all of this came to be...

If you know me personally, you can skip this part, because these are things that you likely already know about me. :)

My name is Jessica Hazzard and I'm an aspiring photographer. I emphasize the word "aspiring" because at this point, I don't think of myself as a professional. While I know a fair amount about photography in my own learning from friends and the internet, I know that there is still a lot to learn. I'm a Theatre teacher at Texas City High School in Texas City, TX. I've lived in Texas City for most of my life. My husband and I met as children and were high school sweethearts. We've been married for 4 years and we have one child, Nathan, a fun and sweet-hearted 1 year old. 

But enough about the basics...I wanted to post about starting this whole photography thing as a business (this is the part where if you know me you should start reading again!).

My interest started in college and really grew when I was planning my wedding, looking at tons of photographers' online galleries. Like many Momotographers out there, my pre-existing interest in photography really flourished once I became a mother. One of the first things I did as a mother was book a photographer for our newborn photoshoot, KeAndra Beck with KeAndra Beck Photography. I was mesmerized by the way she worked and couldn't believe it was all happening in my home. I called KeAndra again for more photos of Nathan at 6 months and at a year, and again, I was mesmerized. I was starting to get an itch.

In December of 2013, my cousin Emily called me asking if I thought I could take some pictures of her daughter. I agreed immediately and decided to build a backdrop frame and everything. The pictures of her daughter didn't really turn out, mostly because the baby was tired and Emily and I both had busy schedules. A couple of weeks later, I decided to take pictures of my son for Christmas using the backdrop I had built and they turned out great! I learned a lot from the experience.

Feeling confident, in January when a friend of mine had a baby, I called her and asked if I could take some newborn photos of her daughter, to which she happily agreed. I learned a lot from that shoot (including to bring an extra change of clothes for myself the next time I work with a newborn!) and the pictures turned out well. In March, I was able to practice again when my sister and brother-in-law welcomed my first niece into the world. That particular shoot was extra-fun! :)


After that, between work and life, things got really hectic and I wasn't really practicing or pursuing anything. Thankfully, the end of the school year arrived and provided me with several opportunities. I took a picture of my niece and nephew with their cousins on their dad's side for a Mother's Day gift, I took photos for birthday invitations and as well as a cake smash session with a few other opportunities sprinkled in between. As the summer has progressed, my cousin, Emily has really encouraged me to pursue this as something bigger than a hobby. I didn't really have much faith in myself when she started talking about it, but finally, I listened! A few weeks ago, KeAndra, our family photographer was looking for an assistant and I signed-up. I told her I wanted to learn from her, and thankfully, she agreed. She has also been available to an endless amount of questions and she's been an incredible encouragement to me along the way, giving me advice and cheering me on.


I am so thankful to be at this point where I have confidence in my abilities and the courage to take a leap-of-faith and pursue a dream. I have a supporting family and currently, I have a few photo-shoots lined up. I'm really excited about what the future has in store for me in this journey, and I cannot express the gratitude I feel for everyone who believes in me! :)