Professional photographer and artist formally trained in Cleveland, OH

Sarah Jae earned 3 Associate degrees at Cuyahoga Community College—an Associate of Arts, an Associate of Small Business Management, and an Associate of Photography. She graduated summa cum laude with all 3 degrees. While studying photography, she entered one of her photographic pieces into one of the student art shows and received second place. She also received second place for submitting a video of herself doing an oil landscape painting to the school’s talent show during the pandemic in 2020.

Sarah has explored a wide variety of photography genres. Some of her favorite subjects to photograph include (but are not limited to) boudoir, queer love/people, animals/pets interacting with the world around them, small details in nature, portraits, and candid moments she sees unfold before her. On National Coming Out Day in October of 2023 at the age of 26, Sarah Jae finally felt comfortable enough in her sexual identity and herself that she was able to publicly come out to her friends and family. Being a queer woman herself, LGBTQIA+ advocacy has always been a core value of hers. She decided to pair her love of queer advocacy with her talents in photography to create ample change in her community—because she feels that, “No one should have to wait until they’re in their late twenties to finally be able to safely experiment with and fully understand their sexuality. No one should have to wait as long as I did, or heal as much as I did, to be able to live authentically to themselves.”

Sarah Jae grew up in an area of Ohio that was not accepting of queer individuals, and in a Christian church that was not accepting of queer individuals. LGBTQIA+ children in the schools in this area receive relentless bullying and discrimination—not just from their peers, but from their educators, parents, coaches, counselors, church leaders, and other authority figures as well. It’s such a discriminatory area that even kids who identified just as allies to the community received harsh bullying as well. She was not immune to the hatred of society in her day to day life growing up in a more politically conservative area. This environment is so unsafe that people in the area who know they are queer are unlikely to be openly out. Those who are questioning their identity (like Sarah did) often do not feel comfortable or able to question or experiment with it, because doing so could mean serious harassment, violence, or in the most extreme cases, death. Sarah Jae wants the artwork she creates of queer people, the queer experience, being queer in America in this hateful political climate, and her own life stories as a queer woman to impact societies like this for the better. She wants queer people of all ages to be able to live their lives authentically, and be able to explore their gender and sexuality without receiving shame from society. She wants to show those who’ve been misinformed by hate and fear in the media how innocent and beautiful queer love truly is, so they may hopefully begin to understand why us LGBTQIA+ members fight extremely hard to protect it, our rights, and stand alongside us in this fight. Sarah is accepting of people of all sizes, ethnicities, religions, genders, sexual orientations, etc. She values creating a safe space for her clients. She will use your name and pronouns correctly, listen to your opinions and preferences regarding your photographs, and work with you to capture who you are on the inside. In doing so, Sarah creates photographs that show people for who they truly are, aside from societal expectations, assumptions, and discrimination.

She has also been trained on dog body language! Sarah Jae worked at a dog daycare and was trained to be able to spot body language that shows discomfort in dogs, so she will not push them past their limits. She’s educated in positive reinforcement training as well, so she has learned how to get dogs to work with her in a kind and loving manner. She understands that some dogs may be shy around a camera, Sarah Jae greets the dogs and lets them warm up to her before picking it up. She likes to bring treats to each shoot, so if your dog has any major allergies, let us know so we can accommodate them! With all of these things combined… she has yet to meet a dog who didn’t like her!

She doesn’t just photograph dogs, though! She is a huge animal lover and will photograph any kind of pet you have. She will sweet talk them and spoil them while taking their portrait just as she does dogs. Contact us for a consultation for other pet(s), she’d love to work with you!

In 2021 during her studies, Sarah created a photography book titled, “Through My Dog’s Eyes.” The photographs are taken from the viewpoint of her service dog, Scout. A GoPro in a harness on her dog’s back was used to create photography at her dog’s eyeline. In viewing this body of work, we get to shrink down and see what it’s like to walk a mile in someone else’s paws. See Sarah’s book at the button below!

Sarah Jae cannot wait to meet you and bring your photographic visions and dreams to life!

Makenna penned her first book at 5 years old and hasn’t quit writing since. Writing not only allows her to better express emotions, it also aids her mission for advocacy. She has used her writing to speak on injustices around the world, including the abhorrent policies impacting LGBTQ+ children in American public schools. 

Makenna’s love for photography started at 11 years old when she was gifted her first camera. Her pets and nature were her first muses. Eventually, combining her writing with the photographs to speak on issues important to her became her goal. Her passion continued to grow and eventually she started posting her photography work online & entering her photos into competitions. She enjoys entering photos into local competitions and is honored to have won two best of shows for digital photography. She started learning digital editing and has won awards for it, including a Silver Key second place in the Scholastic Arts & Writing Competition for digital photo restoration & colorization. 

One of her proudest accomplishments is winning a Gold Key first place in the same competition for an original poem & photo entitled “Waterfall” about her chronic illness, neurodiversity, & chronic pain.

Makenna has studied previously in university for pre-veterinary medicine before pausing her studies due to chronic health issues. In college she was a board member & public service relations chair of a community service sorority that provided hundreds of hours of volunteer work for her community. In fall of 2023 she worked with her fellow high school alumni to found South Side Alumni for Inclusion—to create a safe & inclusive school for all people, especially LGBTQ+ students. She was recognized by the Beaver County Pennsylvania Democrats for this effort. She is trained extensively in animal behavior and loves using her knowledge & skills to get the best photographs of pets. She was accepted into Cuyahoga Community College for Fall of 2024 to study photography & women and gender studies.

Makenna & Sarah

Fall 2023

Restoration of Makenna’s great grandparents. Done manually by her on Photoshop in 2015.

Restoration of Makenna’s great grandmother’s wedding photo. Done manually by her on Photoshop in 2015.