Jean Kenny Photography, catching family moments

Jean Kenny - back behind the viewfinder.

Kilcullen woman Jean Kenny was walking around Galway last year when a boarded-up window with weeds growing from it caught her eye, writes Brian Byrne. Her first thought was, 'That's beautiful, I must take a picture'. 

"It was the first time in ages I had felt like that," she says, recalling how the moment triggered her to get back into photography after years away from the craft while raising a young family. Now she has built a full studio at her Kilcullen home and is taking commissions for family and portrait photographs.

Jean completed a third level Media course when she was younger and from there had developed a career in wedding and portrait photography. But after getting married herself and the arrival of children, all that was shelved. "I've been in the trenches of family since then," she says with a laugh. "But now the children are at the age where I can give some time to my photography again."

Since building her studio, she has been getting commissions from friends, and hopes to expand her work from there. Even in these times when everyone is a photographer with their phone cameras, she feels there's a viable space for the professional who can provide memories that will live long on family home walls. "For a start, how many of all those thousands of photos taken on phones ever get to be printed? Very rarely, it's kind of sad. And there's always someone missing — the person taking the photograph. If you're marking a family moment, you should be in the picture with your family."

There is something special about a family or special occasion portrait that has been produced by someone who gives the time to take more than a snapshot, especially in the ambience of a studio with proper lighting. Once-in-a-lifetime family events, such as First Communion and Confirmation, also deserve a little more attention than a rushed smartphone image can provide. "I always loved doing Communions, I think they are very special," Jean says, and while her purpose-built studio is an ideal working location, she will also go to people's homes for family occasions, bringing professional lighting equipment to the event.

She has a particular interest in portraiture, in catching the moment of perhaps a fleeting thought that brings personality to the image of her subject. Before taking that long break she had especially enjoyed doing child portraits, and she loves meeting the people who come into focus through her lens.

She says it's good to be back behind the viewfinder, 'being creative again'. "I know a lot of people in Kilcullen, but they mostly know me simply as a fellow parent. For many of them to see me now also as a photographer will be a surprise."

Hold that pose ... and phone 087 6335160.

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