Photographer on a ‘Sojourney’ in valley communities

Moments are ephemeral. There aren’t some ways to return to the particular ones, those that make us keep in mind when mother pushed you on the swing or your brother hugged you after highschool commencement. 

Photography is a technique to keep in mind these moments and Jenn Cleary, proprietor of SoJourney Photography, loves capturing these moments. 

“I love those candid photos I get, where I’m truly capturing a moment of love,” Cleary mentioned. “Without poses and without everything being so formal.”

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Cleary initially got here from Maryland and whereas she misses the blue crabs and seafood of the seaside state, she remembers seeing mountains and figuring out she wished to go there. 

“I came out here for three months to write for TravelRunner Magazine,” Cleary mentioned. “It’s been 10 years since then.”

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After paying for an emergency Jeep restore in Iowa, Cleary arrived with no cash to her title and two suitcases, figuring out nobody across the valley. 

“I got a job at SkiCo and I learned how to snowboard,” Cleary mentioned. “I still work for SkiCo but I’m also doing photography.”

Cleary has two passions, writing and images. 

“I want to write nonfiction and fiction books, and I have the bare bones of a book right now,” Cleary mentioned. “I love writing, I went to school for writing.”

Magazine writing didn’t take for Cleary, as a result of it wasn’t the precise platform or kind of writing she wished to do. 

“When I was at the magazine, I remember sitting in a windowless room, thinking, ‘the people I’m writing about are having adventures, I want to have those adventures,’” Cleary mentioned. 

Instead, Cleary adopted her images ardour. 

“I was the friend in high school who was the go-to photographer,” she mentioned. “I didn’t think I was good enough and I started with landscapes.”

However, Cleary wished one thing else within the landscapes, as a result of it didn’t really feel like a whole story. 

“Anyone can take a photo of Maroon Bells and they’ll look amazing,” she mentioned. “I wanted to tell a story with the photos I was taking though, so I started looking into elopement photography.”

Weddings are an awesome place to seek out these moments of real love between individuals, however typically they get misplaced within the variety of individuals or poses, Cleary mentioned. 

“I’ve had some friends tell me that the day they were most stressed out about was their wedding and I thought that wasn’t how it’s supposed to go,” Cleary mentioned. “I want to do my photos around their schedule, this is their itinerary and I’m there to get those moments between them.”

Cleary seems for these candid, intentional moments in all the things she does, making an attempt to provide again what she has been given. 

“God has shown up in my life and I’m grateful for those moments,” Cleary mentioned. “I’m trying to give back the essence of love.”

Cleary clarified she’s not making an attempt to push her beliefs on others and that she is making an attempt to be good to the individuals she interacts with. 

“How I act and interact with people is warm, approachable and inclusive,” she mentioned. “I’m trying hard to be a loving person.”

The moments that Cleary interacts with individuals are simply as essential because the moments she images. 

“Those individual moments matter to people,” she defined. “How you react, how you speak, they matter to people.”

Cleary mentioned that the phrase “sojourn” impacted her significantly whereas she was studying the Bible. 

“To sojourn is to wander, to be lost in the desert, to stay a short while,” she mentioned. “I really related to that and how we’re all kind of doing that.”

Sojourn, an obscure phrase now, is to be in a spot briefly, particularly as a visitor, moments that matter. SoJourney Photography is known as for it. 

“I don’t think everything is possible, but if you have the drive to do something, then I think you should,” Cleary mentioned. “I have this fire to do this, to show the moments that matter and they make me hopeful.”
Cleary is offered for photoshoots on adventures, elopements or intimate weddings, sports activities and way of life occasions, and proposals and engagements. Contact her via her web site at sojourneyphoto.com/.