Hi! I’m Jennings! Most call me Jenna, but I love both! I’ve been taking pictures for over 12 years now! I love capturing the joy in others, especially the little ones! Some fun facts about me: my favorite sounds are ones in nature, I like all things coconut, gardening and learning about horticulture, hiking mountains, gliding over water in paddleboards, sailboats and kayaks. Cross country skiing feels like dancing and hiking combined, and I dig it. Water views calm by soul and campfires bring me back to the present. I am passionate environmental protection and promoting awareness around early childhood neuroscience on stress and behavior. I believe everyone has a gift to give here on planet 🌍 I also have a kettle chip and Beechers cheese love, although I limit their allowance to take up residence in my home :) I live with my love, Zach, and our two pups, Arlo and Willow in our 1911 urban farmstead in West Seattle. As life evolves, I find the simpler my life is, the more meaning it has. Lastly, I love seeing others following their joy, so capturing it fills me up!

How my love for photography started…..

Reflecting back on my childhood, I often remember noticing and feeling the stillness in a moving world. The goldens rays peeking through the swaying trees of a weeping willow. A bird perching on a ledge, sand falling through a child’s hand on the beach, the outline of the ocean’s shallow whitewash moving in and out between my toes like the tide. I think you can call this daydreaming, but as I got older, I realized I was seeing the beauty of everyday moments, stillness in a world of motion. Some could call it meditation.

I was gifted a Canon DSLR back in 2012. Over the next year, I experimented with different lens, blurred shots, took online courses, recruited friends and their new babies to practice on and eventually I got there. Well….I don’t think any of us ever really “get there” wherever there is, but I started to really love my work, proud even, and experienced immense joy as I saw and felt the raw emotions and authenticity of others.

As months turned into years, and as I continually refine my skills, I still see that light beaming behind a toddler’s smile feeling the sand move through their hands, golden rays peeking behind swaying trees, birds perches on a ledge but this time, I can create a still shot for a lifetime …because…well…life is really an accumulation of unscripted moments, and I am passionate about capturing them.

When not behind a camera, I am also a professor of infant and early childhood mental health and run www.rootsofresilience.co - a pediatric educational program for parents of young children to learn, connect, and thrive. So, blending photography with families and young children flows organically.