We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Laura Jennings a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Laura, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?
I have been a full time photographer for the last 13 years, photographing families on the beaches along Northwest Florida. The majority of my sessions are at sunset, and if you’ve ever seen a Gulf Coast sunset, you know they are spectacular. Witnessing these sunsets every day for the last dozen years has created an immense library of landscape and sunset photos.
My husband and I purchased our first investment property here in Panama City Beach back in 2018. We gutted the interior of the condo down to the studs when Hurricane Michael tore through our town. It destroyed the pool area and the glass enclosure leaving piles of broken glass.
After several months of disaster relief work in our hometown (through our non-profit), we returned to working on the rebuild of our condo. I gathered as much of the original (broken) glass as I could and we created custom poured concrete countertops in our condo with this glass- a little reminder of what once was for our building.
With the piles of extra glass, I wanted to create something that I could keep, a small keepsake in case we ever sold the condo to remind me our first investment purchase (I couldn’t take the counters with me!)
So I took one of my sunset landscape photos, printed it on canvas, used the broken glass to follow the water lines in the image and create a 3-D effect and sealed it with a glossy resin.
The result was even more beautiful than I had imagined, and the response I received after sharing our little piece of history was immense. This type of art took off as I started creating hundreds canvases with my beach images, embellished with glass and sealed with resin.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
Laura Jennings sits on the beach until dark because she does not want to miss a moment of the brilliant, captivating beauty of a sunset. Each one is different, but all of them take her breath, and she cannot look away.
Laura discovered her passion for photographing sunsets during family portrait sessions along Florida’s Emerald Coast. The colorful glow of nature creates the perfect backdrop for what Laura considers just as natural – the love, beauty, and connection of a family.
Having her own children inspired Laura to pick up a camera after her daughter was born in 2000. She and her husband Chris brought three sons into the family. While on maternity leave with her second son, several families hired her to take their family portraits. She decided not to go back to her full-time job and take on more of what really brought her joy—photographing families and sunsets.
Laura, an award-winning photographer, took her artistry to another level when she discovered the technique of glass and resin. She and Chris bought a condo right before Hurricane Michael tore through Panama City Beach in 2018. After the storm, Laura collected as much broken glass as she could, and with her family, created a countertop in their kitchen made from broken glass and resin.
This gave her the idea to enhance her coastal images. She spreads glass along the waves and foamy shore then covers it with the clear resin so the natural colors of the water come through. After she posted her first piece on social media, a business was born as followers began to request these works of art for their own homes.
Laura’s special signature is a triangular piece of glass that is included in all of her resin photography art. It symbolizes a special ring Chris had created for her with a diamond cut in the shape of a triangle. It’s known as a trillion cut and represents the deep love between them.
The Jennings family is knit closely, and all take part in The Sunset Gallery—a place Laura created to share her most special sunsets. While Laura is the artist, her children help her sift through glass setting aside triangle pieces. Chris is a real estate investor, and founder of All Things PCB Outreach, which blesses families with a member facing a terminal disease with a beach vacation and family portrait session with Laura.
The Sunset Gallery is a place people can visit to experience the beauty Laura has captured in every sunset. Some are bright and cheerful, and others are dark and moody. Some of her favorite sunsets come after a storm when the colors are deep and rich. She loves watching God paint the sky and does her best to capture what He paints.
Sharing her work with others is a gift Laura cherishes, and she can’t wait to share it with you.
Can you talk to us about how your side-hustle turned into something more.
I think with most photographers, this starts out as a side hustle. It was the same for me for several years before I “quit my day job”, decided to just make the leap and go full time. This happened while I was supposed to be on an “unpaid maternity leave” from my professional job and in those 3 months of being home and bonding with my newborn (my husband also worked from home at the time), I had made more than I would have for an entire year at my day job.
It was a no brainer for me and my family for me to not return to work full time outside of the home and pay for daycare for someone to watch my children when I could build my own business, be home with my kids and live the lifestyle I had dreamed of.
Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?
Covid times were really hard for most businesses, including mine where my clientele is National and relies on tourists that visit our area. It was a quiet year for me and my business, but I spent time carefully marketing, providing excellent customer care and working to serve them even after our time together was over.
Contact Info:
- Website: TheSunsetGallery.com and LJenningsPhotography.com
- Instagram: LauraJenningsPhotog
- Facebook: LJenningsPhotography and The Sunset Gallery
Image Credits
I am the photographer of all of these images!