hey! i’m jen mcken, let’s be friends!

Howdy people of the world! I’m Jennifer McKendrick but my “friends” have always called me “jen mcken”! I’m a lifestyle destination wedding and portrait photographer for some of the coolest clients EVER! I’m based out of SOUTHWESTERN, PA but I travel all over the world!

This blog is meant to be informal while following both my personal and professional life, and features images from the weddings and portraits I shoot, the places I travel and the friends and family that mean so very much to me.

I hope you enjoy stopping by every now and then to check out what I’ve been up to and to see some of the latest examples of my work. Please, make yourself at home here-hangout as long as you’d like, invite some friends over and while you’re at it, leave a comment or two so I know you were here!

Disclaimer: I’m not a writer, I don’t claim to be, I don’t want to be. I have horrible spelling, awful grammar and downright nasty punctuation...but I do promise, I AM college ed-uma-cated! haha! But on a serious note, this place is where none of that matters. This is my little piece of the inter-webber and I can say, spell and punctuate any way I want :-)

Go ahead-snoop around, I’m not shy!

May 16 2012

surrogacy: jack has arrived!!! | jen mcken, photography

Quite frankly….I’m speechless! I had all these things I wanted to say about how amazing today was…..it was a LONG day…but AMAZING….and I’m just overwhelmed with today’s events! I wanted to share a few with you today because TRUST ME, this isn’t ALL of them but I know that some of you have been faithfully following the surrogacy journey I have been covering and are excited for an update! For those of you who may be reading about this for the first time, visit this blog post for more information: Surrogacy: the journey.

This is how I spent my day……with two of the most amazing families I’ve had the opportunity to meet. Say hello to baby Jack……all made possible by a surrogate mom! I can’t not wait to share the rest with you! Those of you who aren’t photographers, do you SEE why I love my job! I get to document THE MOST IMPORTANT DAYS of people’s lives. It’s so much more than “taking a picture” it’s about people having enough trust in you to invite you into some of the most imitate parts of their lives. THESE moments are why I love my job! :-)

Stay tuned in the upcoming week for more photos…….in the mean time, meet baby Jack……

birth parents and surrogate mom! YAY!!!

contact | facebook | twitter | pinterest

by jen mcken

no comments

add a comment

link to this post

email a friend

May 15 2012

now booking seniors | jen mcken, photographer

Now that it feels as if summer if officially here, I’m starting to get the phone calls for people who are wanting to set up an appointment for their senior sessions. I wanted to post a quick blog just to remind everyone that I will be taking a LIMITED number of senior clients this year so that I can give proper attention to everyone’s session. My goal of going into business for myself was to never feel as if I was running an assembly line of portrait sessions…. but rather to actually have FUN while I was out shooting, which in my opinion helps me to photograph anyone’s true personality. For this reason, I’m am again (just as last year) not going to book back to back sessions this summer. I will be opening up a set number of available sessions each month from now until October.

I can’t wait to work with this year’s 2013 seniors and to pick out locations that scream YOU! So let’s chat, you know that place that you spent a lot of time growing up, what about that place that has fun colors/textures, do you have a location that means a lot to you, the location that will look awesome with that dress or those killer shoes…….. let’s go there! I’m giving YOU the opportunity to work WITH me on your shoot and together we can pick some amazing locations. I can’t WAIT to hear your ideas…..

……ohh and just so I can plan ahead for the summer. If you email me before the end of May 2012 to get on the summer schedule , you will receive $50 off of your total purchase. What What?!

contact | facebook | twitter | pinterest

by jen mcken

no comments

add a comment

link to this post

email a friend

May 14 2012

SW PA cookie table | indiana county, pa photographer | weddings

You may have already read the article in the New York Times about the notorious…………cookie table here in the southwestern part of PA. It was published back in 2009 but I came across it today and got to thinking…….what fun traditions do you have in your area? For instance, up yonder in SW PA we have cookie tables at each of our weddings. No they aren’t for dessert……it’s just a buffet of cookies-usually thousands of them.

As The New York Times describes it:

“For as long as anyone here can remember, wedding receptions in South Western PA, have featured cookie tables, laden with dozens of homemade old-fashioned offerings like lady locks, pizzelles and buckeyes. For weeks ahead — sometimes months — mothers and aunts and grandmas and in-laws hunker down in the kitchen baking and freezing. Then, on the big day, hungry guests ravage the buffet, piling plates high and packing more in takeout containers so they can have them for breakfast the next day.”-New York Times.

There many theories on WHY the cookies originated but no one is 100% sure. Some credit the Italian and Eastern European immigrants who wanted to bring a bit of the Old Country to the big day in the New World. Given that many of them were already well practiced at laying out a Christmas spread, baking 8 to 10 times as many treats for a few hundred special friends and relatives may not have seemed like such a stretch. Another theory goes that it got a jump start during the Depression, when elaborate wedding cakes were not as common. Cookies filled in the need because so many people could contribute, so the expense didn’t fall on one family. But even that is not certain. What ever the reason, it has been adopted as a rich ethnic heritage in our area!

The most fun is when guests from out of town and aren’t familiar with the tradition stare in horror as the guests around them raid what they THINK is the dessert table. “How rude!”, one of the out of towner’s said at a recent wedding. “Why are they attacking the dessert table before dinner?” As she says this she is looking towards her children, ” Don’t you EVEN THINK about going up there until after dinner is served!”. I had to politely explain to her that the cake was for dessert and that the cookies were simply seen as part as the appetizers…..to go ahead and help yourself. I could tell by the look on her face…..she.was.so.confused! So it got me thinking……..what kinds of traditions/etc do you have from your part of the woods that us outsiders would look at and say…WHAT THE <insert your choice of word>? For us….it’s cookies…..lots and LOTS of cookies!!! :-0

…..and the biggest fear? …….that you’ll run out of cookies!!

contact | facebook | twitter | pinterest

by jen mcken

1 comment

add a comment

link to this post

email a friend

melaniek - that is so fun…. I would be so confused because we definitely don’t do the cookie tables here in KC, MO (except a few old school Italian families but still they are considered dessert)…. my cousins live in TN and they have bridal breakfasts before the wedding, lots and lots of food, everyone dressed up (though not in their wedding finery) and I was blown away by that as well…. considering I had an 11am wedding, I barely had time to grab a granola bar between hair, make-up and photos!

May 11 2012

happy mother’s day! | jen mcken, photographer

Where I come from…. this should explain EXACTLY why I am the way I am! This is an ode to the women who made me ME! So if you ever think I’m too wierd…..blame it all on them! And the worst part…..it’s starting to rub off on Mallory!!

My mom was soo full of knowledge that it’s no wonder I turned into a perfect adult! BAHAHA I have turned into my Mother and Mallory has been sent here to torture me the same way I did to my Mom! I hate to admit it, but she was right!! Yes, I run a business and have to be professional (I try my best) but trust me, when it boils down to it, I’m just a mom looking for the rule book on life, making my own mistakes and who occasionally goes out for a nice romantic meal with Greg, enjoying some real adult conversation when I suddenly realize that I’ve reached over and started to cut up his steak. I’m not going to go down in history, I’m not inventing any new parental techniques-I simply say a little prayer every day that Mallory doesn’t someday need adult therapy and hopefully laughs a little everyday! Happy Mother’s Day out there to all you Mommy’s that are like me and learning along the way…..and may you all turn into your own Mother’s one day!

Here’s a picture taken with my camera phone a year or two ago. That’s my Mom, myself and my Grandma! Sing with me now……we are family…..!! I don’t remember exactly WHY we took this photo..but I do remember Grandma saying, “ok on 3 everyone press their face against the glass”…..yep, it was all Grandma’s idea!

ohh yeah…..we can “get down”…..

I’m pretty sure we don’t have one single normal family photo….(look at the dogs, they are even making funny faces..bahaha)

see…we.are.not.normal!!!! Do you people see where I come from??!!

5 generations! These women are the women that made me……ME!

a thorn between two roses! Do you know he had me convinced when I was younger that he was scalped by the Indians! haha!!

isn’t my Grandma gorgeous! Yeah…I know!

Me and my Mommy!!

Now go give your Mom a hug….and flowers…we LOOVE flowers!!

contact | facebook | twitter | pinterest

by jen mcken

1 comment

add a comment

link to this post

email a friend

Tanya - This is fantastic!!! Your Grandma is stunning! Your Mom is beautiful too and looks like she taught you how to have genuine fun. Come on, faces pressed up against the door, shut up! This is one of my most favorite blogs ever. Happy Mothers Day Jen and family <3

May 11 2012

cynthia: IHS senior | jen mcken, photographer

I’m in love with her hair…and her eyes! She has gorgeous green eyes and that’s not to mention her bubbly personality! She’s interested in photography as well…a girl after my own heart! We chatted about photography, played in the water (on a rather cold day), we jammed out to some music…and my car battery went dead! haha! True story…all a day in the life!

ps: i always get the most down to earth girls…I love it!

isn’t she gorgeous!?

You might see more of Cynthia in a few weeks….she’s coming back to rock the curly hair!