Kelly Lynn Jordan, owner of KLJ studios at 424 First Street in Woodland, is passionate about instilling confidence in people through photography. Born and raised in Woodland, Kelly lived in Los Angeles for 12 years photographing musicians. She returned to Woodland a few years ago to raise her family close to relatives. “I believe in multigenerational support and I wanted my daughter to grow up next to my mother.”
In fact, through her mother, Kelly’s connection to CASA began. “My mother was one of the founders of the Yolo Conflict Resolution Center which shares an office with Yolo County CASA. Once when I went along with her to the office she introduced me to Tracy, the executive director of Yolo County CASA.” Tracy told Kelly that there were a couple of foster youth who she was afraid weren’t going to get access to having senior portraits taken. “I couldn’t believe that these kiddos may not get senior portraits. I volunteered to take portraits of them right then and there.”
One of the youth she photographed commented that he never really thought of himself as attractive but when Kelly printed his photos for him, his opinion changed. “He emailed me and said that he never knew what he looked like. Looking in the mirror is so much different than a photo and foster children don’t really get a lot of photos of themselves.”
Kelly loves that through photos, she can instill confidence in people. “A few months ago, I was talking with a group of UC Davis students who did a study about printed photos. It turns out, children who see themselves in photos hanging on the wall are much more confident than children who don’t. I always encourage my clients to get prints rather than just digital photos as much as I can for that reason.”
Additionally, Kelly has made it her mission to make sure that foster children get photos of themselves. “I recently did a fundraiser for the Foster and Kinship Care Education program. I photographed children dressed as fairies and donated profits to the organization. I also took photos of foster children for an extremely small fee so that they would have photos of themselves. In January, I am doing the same thing for Yolo County CASA. Every child should have a chance to see themselves and believe in themselves.”
Kelly also takes complimentary photos at Yolo County CASA’s yearly dinner and auction. “In addition to instilling confidence in people, I also believe that photos instill awareness. An image really can speak 1,000 words, and I want to make sure worthy organizations get the recognition they deserve.”
