We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Keela McCleneghan a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Keela, appreciate you joining us today. So, naming is such a challenge. How did you come up with the name of your brand?

Naming a photography company is hard, especially in today’s day and age because there are just SO many popping up. I wanted to go with something (like most) that are generic, but my name itself isn’t particularly easy to spell, nor is it short. So then I considered something catchy that also describes what I do (photograph extreme sports, off-road vehicles, etc), and came up with “Full send Photography” rolls off the tongue well right? Well ultimately I found it too cheesy. I was really struggling for a good name for my business and LLC that wasn’t terribly common, wasn’t taken, and ultimately easy to spell, pronounce, and find. I then remembered that my grandmother who raised me used to call me Sunshine. My grandfather had always dabbled in photography, shot Nikon like I do, and he always shot very happy/ warm things- like sunflowers and other close up foliage macro. Then decided as an ode to their kindness and inspiration to name it “Sunshine AND photo”, to compliment my warm-outgoing personality and my childhood name, which is of course easier to spell and pronounce than “Keela”, my given name.

Keela, 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?

Hi! My name is Keela and I am a photographer who accurately captures extreme sports such as dog-sledding, ultra-running, off-roading, rock-climbing horseback riding, portraits of wolfdogs, and so many other activities. My interest in extreme sports specifically stems from my own passion to do sports such as these, my comfort level while doing these sports to hold a camera whilst doing them. Some of these also require keeping up with elite athletes, while balancing camera gear in hand. I love the challenge of capturing candid beautiful portraits of people doing what they are passionate about. Being in extreme weather, especially intense cold inspires me instead of dissuading me.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

For a long time I didn’t actually want to be a photographer, or do a career that was art based. Generally the careers don’t pay very well, there’s certain downsides like no provided health insurance, working on weekends, no holidays. But on the other hand having a job that I can bring my dog with me, traveling to amazing places, getting out in the world, seeing new places, meeting people and seeing their sport and experiences through their eyes. To me, photographing people doing their passion is the most empathetic way to see through someone’s eyes. To really get the shot that evokes so much emotion, whatever that moment is, pain, love, fear, sadness, the photographer has to empathize with them through the lens while they are experiencing that. It’s a very intimate moment to essentially be shoving a lens in someone’s face while they are experiencing it, and to me that is the most rewarding of this job.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

I think one of the “lessons” and this is a vague terminology- that I to unlearn was following photography strict “rules”. Thinking of them like strict black and white rules, things you cannot do, and think of them more like hints, and not always pertinent in every situation. There’s no perfect recipe and creating some of those expectations and following a strict formula removes the art part from some of the photography. The uniqueness, the creation, the process, is where the beauty and the actual ART comes from. Shooting from the heart, what feels “right” is ultimately the best “rule” to follow. I think with social media, influencers, the stress to make money can really pull that passion away from what photography really is, which is an art form.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://sunshinephotography.smugmug.com/
• Instagram: Sunshine_and_photo