We recently connected with Jenn McKinney and have shared our conversation below.

Jenn, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Almost all entrepreneurs have had to decide whether to start now or later? There are always pros and cons for waiting and so we’d love to hear what you think about your decision in retrospect. If you could go back in time, would you have started your business sooner, later or at the exact time you started?

Life is a journey of experiences and life lessons. I feel that our experiences and struggles help prepare us for our purpose. I also feel that the people that we allow to speak into our life can also hold us back, can give us fear in pushing towards our dreams. I have learned that surrounding myself with people who do not value what I believe my calling is and do not encourage me are people that I need to politely push to the back burner and find those who will help and encourage me to succeed. I have felt called for many many years to work with teens, a pull towards helping them in this difficult and complicated world. To be there for them as another adult to listen to their problems and lend an ear to listen and comfort them. I also have a passion to help them realize how beautiful/handsome they truly are. I have always been a creative type and amazed with photography. In 2019 I felt a call to start a photography business and step away from my job as a web designer. I needed a career that was more fulfilling and had more of an impact, along the way I realized I could combine by calling to help teens with my photography. I am self-taught, learning how to create the style I wanted with my portraits. I wanted to be able to see the beautiful color of the sky and the twinkle in the subject’s eye in one portrait.

Part of me wishes I would have started this business sooner in my life, but I think fear was holding me back. Fear and feeling unworthy of being able to accomplish what I felt I was being called to do. I have come to realize that certain people were holding me back as I felt they viewed me as not good enough. Separation from that type of negatively and stepping into friendships with others that encourage me and help me see my worth has done amazing things for me. I wish that I would’ve not cared what others thought and been bold enough to believe in myself. But life is a journey, and I probably needed that criticism to realize that I don’t need their approval and to keep pushing forward on my passion and serve the ones that I am called to serve!

Jenn, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My name is Jenn, and I started my photography business in 2019. I am a high-school Senior Portrait Photographer based in the Raleigh, NC area. I mainly photograph teens and seniors; however, I do have a wonderful client base of families that I have photographed for years. I am a mom of two teens, a 19 year old daughter and 17 year old son. The struggle is real for us moms watching our teens enter into adulthood and the heart strings that are pulled in the process. I love being able to capture this time in high-school senior’s lives – memories to treasure for a lifetime.

I strive to create custom sessions for each senior, something that is unique and special to them. I want their personality to jump out of their images. I want their parents to look at their images and hear their laugh and easily remember their teen when they are away at college or later in life grown with their own new family. I create sharp and vibrant portraits that are like their child is standing right in front of them. It is important to me to capture their eyes in their portraits using off camera flash so that there is no shadow on their eyes and we can see their eyes clearly. It is more than digital images to share on social media, it is creating albums, prints and wall art to enjoy day after day.

I also have a Senior Model Team that I spend an entire year with. This is such a blessing to me; I get to know them so well throughout the year. We have several sessions during their senior year starting the summer before school starts and ending with cap and gown. By the end of the year, they are so comfortable in front of the camera that 100% of their true personality is shown in their portraits. We laugh, cut up and have the best time all the time creating amazing images for them to enjoy forever. While this is amazing, I get so attached to these teens, that this year I started a Teen Squad – 9th-11th grade. We don’t have as many sessions as the model team, but I don’t care how old your child is, you need to remember them at each stage of their life. Even the braces stage needs to me remembered LOL. Both teams are a combination of teens from different high schools so new friendships are created. I highly encourage no drama on the teams, I want it to be a safe environment – no competition – just nice friendly teens. There is enough drama that these teens deal with on a regular basis with school, sports, and other activities. I love hanging out with all these teens and creating these amazing relationships with them.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

I think my passion and calling to work with teens sets me aside from others in my field. It’s more than a job for me of creating beautiful images. It is the experience that goes along with the session starting with the first consult call. On a consult call my first question is always to the senior to tell me about themselves. I want to know who they are and their passions so I can create an amazing experience for them. I want to get to know these teens and help them realize how special they are inside and out. I am always surprised when moms come to be after a session and tell me that they can see this is my passion and what I am called to do. They can see it in the way I interact with their child and time after time I am told how much you can see their personality in their portraits. This means so much to me when I get these compliments – It just drives me to keep pushing forward and confirms that I am doing what I am called to do!

Have you ever had to pivot?

I started out offering styled mini sessions – for just about any holiday. This is where burnout sets in for some photographers and completely set in for me. Do not misunderstand, I love creating images for my clients but creating a styled setup and the strain of setting up and taking down over and over was killing my back and was absolutely exhausting. After having several senior sessions, I realized this is where I was at my best. I think I was fearful to step into the role of mainly being a senior photographer, so I was trying to hold all these mini sessions. So instead, I have pivoted to concentrating on creating unique senior sessions instead of planning styled mini setups. I am still offering just a few mini sessions for my families during the fall months, but it is at a few different locations instead of a styled setup. I feel like this is a good compromise so I can continue to serve those loyal clients and still fulfill my purpose and calling to work with teens.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.jmfhoto.com
• Instagram: @jennmckinneyphotography
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jennmckinneyPhotography
• Yelp: Jenn McKinney Photography
• Other: TikTok – jmfhoto Pinterest – Jenn McKinney Photography @jmfhoto