Wen McNally Photography - THE Senior Portrait Alternative... and that's just the beginning

At a very early age, Wen' had a ready answer for the question "what do you want to do when you grow up?"

"I want to get married, have kids and take pictures."

Over 20 years of marriage and five children later, anyone who knows Wen' knows that there will always be a camera close by.

Never satisfied with an average photograph, Wen' has spent the last few years endlessly snapping shots of her children, including a project to take a picture each day of her second daughter's first year. As more of her photos found their way into the pages of her scrapbooks (another one of her creative outlets) she soon found herself teaching classes to those eager to learn the basics of taking better pictures.

Wen's transition from hobby to profession began to come into focus around that time, while attending an advanced marketing and advertising course at the Wizard Academy. During this session, the Wizard himself vowed to feature two of Wen's photographs in a coffee table book in a show of support for her desire to see her photographs published. This initial publication was followed up with one of Wen's photographs being chosen for the cover of a book by a fellow Academy graduate, and an image being published in Family Fun Magazine.

With the pending arrival of her newest subject, Wen turned her sights to pursuits a little closer to home. Actually, a lot closer to home. The transformation of her family room into a "residential portrait studio" promised to be the next step in her journey to becoming what she wanted to be when she grew up.

Little did she know that within two years, she would be placing the finishing touches on a 3,000 square foot natural light studio just 10 feet from her home. With the addition of her husband Sean in August of 2007, the couple prepared to introduce the area to a photographic experience like no other.

The later part of 2010 and early 2011 has yet another number of changes, including the downsizing and relocation of the studio and the family (the studio was moved closer to civilization and her eldest son shipped off for Coast Guard Boot Camp) with many more surprises undoubtably in store.

Wen has also written a non-fiction piece for a collection of works and was a contributor to an article on maternity photography on Scrapjazz. Her images of emerging Sony recording artist Nellie McKay are featured in an online recap of the exclusive performance.

Wen has most recently become a mentor with After Dark Education, teaching some of the crazy things we do around here to photographers from around the country.