Jen McKen-Behind the Scenes

I’ve been photographing weddings for almost 20 years at this point….and I still get hella nervous before each one. I think that shocks people sometimes but I just want to do a good job and my anxiety goes thru the roof before hand-mostly because with weddings, you never know what you’re going to get. You can have a timeline but weddings have a mind of their own and when you factor in all the different personalities, locations, weather conditions and lighting conditions (just to name a few)…you just never know what you’re going to end up with.

Even though there are a lot of things that are unknown heading into a wedding day….there are a few things that I can guarantee:

No matter how nervous I get before hand, once I get the camera in my hands and I start shooting, I get into a zone. It just all clicks and all the anxiety goes away.
I’m almost ALWAYS in all black. Mostly because it helps me blend in and not be obnoxious during a wedding day but also, let’s face, it black is more slimming AND I like to pretend think I’m a ninja! haha!
My hair almost ALWAYS ends up in a pony tail. I mean I try to be all cute and do my hair before every wedding but after I get into the zone, it’s almost like I roll up my sleeves, put the hair up and I immediately regret even spending the time doing anything to my hair! I mean, I have good intentions! haha!
AND…I can absolutely guarantee that I am ALWAYS smiling. I love my job, I love interacting with people and I get to be with people during some of the most exciting days of their lives. I couldn’t ask for anything more than that.
I am always in the weirdest positions and then I wonder the next day why I’m so sore! haha!
There’s always awkward behind the scenes photos of me at awful angles and horrendous facial expressions…..hence this blog post. I hope you have a few laughs at my expense!

I’m shooting my first wedding of 2022 tomorrow after taking a few months off for a surgery and some family time. I’m sure I’ll have lots of horrendous photos to share later in the week-trust me, there will be more laughs at my expense!