Passion for pictures makes entrepreneurial photographer tick, and click

Jani Mae Den Herder arrived in Las Vegas in 1977 from a small town in South Dakota and has never looked back.

At 17, Jani Mae, who rarely uses her last name, arrived at McCarran International Airport on a one-way ticket. She had $200 in her pocket and didn't know anyone.

After landing a job her first day here at a family restaurant on the Strip, she spent the night with co-workers until she gathered enough money for an apartment.

Early in her photography career, she would sleep on a cot in the back of her studio after 20-hour days.

Although photography is her passion, Jani Mae positioned herself to do what she loves by owning and running businesses in the 1990s that she then sold for nice profits.

"I ran six businesses at one time," she said. "Sacrificing by giving up 10, 15 years of my life to have 20, 30, 40 years of not working so hard was a good trade-off."

Although she has sold those businesses, which included pay fax kiosks, pay phones, fresh water vending and air vending machines, she still owns three commercial properties and 15 rental homes.

Today, she focuses her energies on her professional photography and her specialty in boudoir lingerie photography.

Jani Mae recently opened her new studio in Henderson east of Green Valley High School. She designed it, oversaw its construction and paid for it in cash.

Question: When did you first start shooting boudoir lingerie photos?

Answer: About 17 years ago because I loved it. I absolutely loved it because it is so fun for me and so fun for them. You get such great endorphins when they say, "I can't believe that's me." They get so excited. The women find it such a positive experience.

Question: What types of women do these types of photos and why do they do it?

Answer: It's all walks of life and it's almost always for a birthday or anniversary. Christmas is a big one. Wedding gift. It is usually a gift to their husband or to-be husbands.

Question: How did you get into photography?

Answer: I lived in a small town of 200 people in Valley Springs, S.D. It was kind of like farm living, very rural. I got into photography because I love being an artist. I like to paint, to draw. I couldn't make a living at that so I picked up a camera and all the trades that followed lighting, angle and composition. I first picked up a camera seriously when I was 17.

Question: Why did you pick up a camera?

Answer: I was working two jobs and one of them was a darkroom technician. I learned the composition. I would be printing family portraits where they would not be shooting into the lights right, they weren't posing the hands right, the lighting wasn't right, the film was bad. I'm happy to fix things in the darkroom and that is how I said, "I can take pictures better than this." So I started and I had a natural eye for it. It's a blessing.

Question: What brought you to Las Vegas?

Answer: After I graduated I bought a one-way ticket to Las Vegas because I wanted to shoot the Mint 400 (a former desert auto race sponsored by the former Mint casino downtown) and the fights. And I did it. I got the job to shoot the Mint 400 back in 1977. I did boxing. My first fights involved Sugar Ray Leonard and Thomas Hearns. I was pounding the pavement hard. I was going to every casino and getting my name out there everywhere. A lot of the casinos said I was too young, what could I possibly know? But a lot of them gave me a chance and I produced.

Question: Who were some of the people or organizations that gave you a chance early in your career?

Answer: References through the Chamber of Commerce. I worked with Pro Events, so I did the rodeos. The Mint 400 was through the president of the Mint. I worked with the Marnells. I got The Howard Hughes Corp. account. I had that for 11 years. It was a very interesting account. I did a lot of aerials, flew around in helicopters a lot. I remember doing aerials of Summerlin and it was just beautiful scenery.

Question: Who are your mentors?

Answer: The people who influenced me were more in business. Bill Morgan, who owned Nevada Gaming and Technology, gave me a lot of advice. He said, "You have to wear all the hats. Photographer, chief cook, bottle washer, janitor. Wear all 14 hats." The best advice he ever gave me was, "Never buy it unless you have the cash for it." I was very young and that stuck with me forever. I'm debt-free.

Question: Did you get into photography because you loved the art or because you saw an opportunity to make good money?

Answer: Photography is a passion of mine. I don't need to do it, but I also saw it as a way to support myself. About 1993, I woke up one night and I said, "I am never going to be wealthy taking pictures because it is an exchange of an hour for a dollar. So I have to create something else." So I started doing all these other business plans. That is when I jumped into all these other businesses, which I built up and sold. I made a lot of money doing that.

Question: Who are some of the famous people you have photographed?

Answer: I've photographed Barbara Bush and Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton on several occasions. Bill Clinton was the most stressful one because he was late because he was golfing. He shows up late at the Rio and these people from the Democratic Party had paid all this money to have their picture taken with him. They had paid thousands of dollars. We had to (photograph) 58 people in 11 minutes because he was scheduled to speak in front of thousands of people. It had been scheduled for an hour.

Question: Do you still do other types of photography?

Answer: I do get my arm twisted from past customers because I've had some customers for 29 years. Either they're having an event or twist my arm to the family. But it happens very rarely.

Contact reporter Arnold M. Knightly at aknightly@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893.