My Four Hens Photography

06/05/2023

My sweet friends. Today is a big day around here for me. Today I turn 40. And if you had asked me about turning 40 when I was 30, I would have made some self deprecating joke about being “old.” 30 year old me was afraid of aging and what it entailed and implied by societies rules and expectations. I dreaded it.

But what a difference ten years can make. Because today on my 40th birthday I feel hope and joy and excitement for all that is to come…for each season of life ahead and all the lessons I’ve learned from the ones behind me. I’ve shed so many versions of myself throughout the years… learning and unlearning. It’s been a slow beautiful unraveling. And the woman here today is wholly new and yet a culmination of all the versions I was before this point. I really like her. 🥹And I’m still growing.

I’ve been here in this industry for half of that. Half of my life. I started at just 20 and you’ve been a big part of my journey too. Your kindness, your stories, your grace, your encouragement, your validation, your advice, your support. YOUR FRIENDSHIP.

You are also a big part of me. So I’ll always want to share these seasons with you too! I threw together a sale for the next few days. You can grab any of the editing tools or educational guides you’d like at a steep discount. Just use the code in the graphic. I’ll also be choosing a winner through the invoices at the end of the week and you’ll win the remainder of my shop and a mentorship!

Thank you for being here with me through these years. 🥹 Our community has always held a sacred place in my heart and I’m so grateful I get to share space with all of you.

11/27/2021

**🌟The Family Appreciation Sale is now live sweet friends!** 🌟🌟

Im coming from Instagram with some news! ♥️I am sharing directly so I’m hopeful it shows up as it should!

I can’t begin to tell you how thankful I am for each of you that has trusted me with your families throughout the years. I don’t think it’ll ever feel real that I not only get to support my family doing something I love, but that I get to know each and every family that comes to me.

Every year I host a huge Black Friday sale on both family sessions and educational opportunities and I’m so incredibly excited to share this year’s offerings are now live. I’m sharing a link in my bio but there’s also info linked in my stories!

I’m also so in awe of each of you that entered the giveaway and took time to leave such amazing comments. ♥️♥️♥️Congrats to the amazing whom I am so excited to fully make my best friend haha! I wish I could have all of you!! The one day workshops did go live as well though and I would at the very least LOVE to have you there 🥺♥️ I made sure to include it in the Black Friday pricing! Those details are also in my stories!!

11/09/2021

Hi Sweet Friends! I have been busy just wrapping up my season whilst doing al the things to get ready for the Holidays and my annual Black Friday session sales. How is it already November?! How have you all been??

I also opened up my Online Creative Processing Workshop today for registration and I am so excited to finally get to do this. I know I tend to hang out on instagram a bit more so you may have seen me chatting about it quite a bit in my stories there if you do.

09/15/2021

Last month was a bit of a doozy. In the middle of a very busy month my camera broke, I got locked out of Facebook and because everything seems to happen in threes my website contact form stopped working. After a while it almost started to seem comical. I am hoping that this is all now behind me haha (knock on all the wood right?!)

It made me realize that I need to stop relying so much on social media for messages though and go straight to e-mail so until I get all this worked out I am going to turn the messenger off here on FB and put my e-mail in my bio so I don't miss you!! If you need me, just shoot me an e-mail!

08/04/2021

Hello sweet friends!! Facebook memories let me know that yesterday was my 12th business birthday. Every year I try to do something special to celebrate that, so I have something in the works. It never fails to amaze me that with such humble beginnings, I still get to be here. That I still get to do this. I will never take this for granted.

I picked up a camera almost 16 years ago as a way to document my own family, but if I am being entirely honest-- more so to fill a void. My husband was the bread winner for our family and we very much lived paycheck to paycheck. We had three small children and one on the way at the time, and my camera was a gift we were only able to afford through our yearly income tax refund. I NEVER bought anything for myself so Wes decided to surprise me. He worked long, insane hours and often times it was just myself in a small apartment with our children. There weren't really photography communities or mentors at the time, so I put my camera on manual and forced myself to learn just by doing. I photographed my children everywhere...everyday. After a while that camera became an extension of my body. It curbed the loneliness and depression that I didn't even realize had been creeping in for so long.

I can't tell you how many times I considered selling that camera. It felt selfish to own something when we never seemed to be able to get ahead. Four years into owning that camera, I decided to take a leap of faith and begin photographing others in hopes I could help buy milk and bread and maybe put enough gas in the car for Wes to make it to work. I would have never dreamed of all the amazing things that would come from this business. I just wanted to help make ends meet.

Twelve years (and five more children later) my husband is now a stay at home dad and I support all ten of us with my business. If I could go back and speak to that younger version of myself now, I would have told her to hold on. That it's okay to dream big. And I tell my story to anyone that will hear it because if I can be here--truly anyone wanting this can too. I would be delusional to think however that any of this wouldn't be possible for this community and all of you.

07/21/2021

I can't get over how much the Facebook format has changed since I was here last. It took me a solid 15 minutes to figure it out yesterday. 😂😩

But also, what are we doing with our cover photos these days?! It used to be like a carousel of images haha. We don't have that anymore I see.

And lastly (I promise!) that giveaway I promised yesterday is posted on insta!! Just in case you haven't found me there yet it, it's but I apologize for how often you have to see my face in stories in advance haha! Just a warning-- we are the naked neighbors in our neighborhood. I promise I wear clothes but it isn't always pretty haha!

Thank you for the love yesterday! I don't know why I have been so anxious to post!! You are all the best!!

07/21/2021

Hello my long lost friends! Remember me?? After all this time I wouldn't be surprised or offended if you didn't. ❤️

I have been totally guilty of posting on Instagram exclusively this year because shooting has been busier than ever and life with a bunch of kids during summer time is crazy town. I do miss you all!! If you are still here after all this time... THANK YOU! I don't deserve ya but I am so very thankful none-the-less.

I have so much going on around in here, including getting ready to celebrate a bunch of years since I decided to be vulnerable and a bit brave in photographing other people's precious families.. I honestly am always in amazement that I still get to do this all these years later. I'm also working on some actions and I will be giving some of those away before they are out there tomorrow on insta. I am also closing the chapter on so many things (like for sure having babies haha) but also on my Leap retreat I have had the honor of hosting for the past five years. It's been a chaotic but amazing year so far and I promise I will be better about checking in here.

PS How precious is this sweet mama and her babies?! I have been spoiled this year!

01/12/2021

I thought going into this year I was going to flip my entire perspective on Mondays! I was going to embrace it for the opportunity for a fresh start and be my most *shiny* optimistic and productive best. So far... it’s really not working out. 😂 But there are still plenty of Monday’s to turn that around.

One amazing thing to come out of this Monday however is I got it together long enough to get the sale in my shop up and live! That means ALL of my educational guides are on sale along with the Shooting with Heart shooting video and the actions!! There is no code needed and I’ll add the link right to my bio.

I didn’t make an abundance of goals this year because I want to be really intentional with the few I have. I’m finally almost done with this website (miracles happen 😂) so once that’s goes up the sales will go back to just being on my business birthday and the holidays. ❤️ Last year admittedly got the best of me and things just didn’t get done the way they needed to, so if you’ve been thinking of grabbing anything but especially the guides— now is the perfect time. The Tapestry action discount will finally also be ending soon and they will be full price when the new shop goes live.

So, what are these workshop guides?? They are HUNDREDS of pages together and bundled (or you can grab them alone) with full insight on how I not only photograph families (they cover gear, settings, emotional prompts, lighting, composition and so much more) but also how I create an experience with my family, handle burn out, navigate my shooting workflow, conduct my sessions and everything under the sun. If you can’t make it to me for a workshop these are literally the next best thing! And they are a STEAL right now! ♥️ I did this not only because I really need to support my family but I because I really want to help you support yours!!

11/28/2020

Hi Friends!!

All of our Black Friday offerings are live and booking for 2021 its officially open!! You can find the details here:
https://myfourhensphotography.com/2020/11/27/2021-sessions-more-are-open-and-a-sale/

In true 2020 fashion the website is running slow, but hopefully it gets you where you need to go. If you have ANY questions I am here!! Our in person mentoring is also open and you can find details on that here:
http://myfourhensphotography.com/shop/mentor-me-in-person-mentoring-options/ I can only host five of these next year so once they do book, they are all gone.

The sweetest family met me in the mountains for a surprise session for Mama. I have never met a more soulful or inspiring crew. I love their hearts and the moments they gave me.

11/27/2020

Hello my sweet friends!! I am SO incredibly sorry for my hiatus here on Facebook. For those of you that found me on insta, thank you so much for keeping up! I have truly missed this community and all the beautiful souls and friends I have made here. This year has been crazy as I am sure you all know. We had our 8th child in the midst of the pandemic and then we have been remote schooling since March of this year, so trying to find some semblance of balance has been tricky. I have still been shooting just as much so trying to stay on top of it all has been important. After we had our daughter Selah however, I began dealing with some very heavy postpartum anxiety and I had to also take care of myself so I could be everything my family needed me to be. I support our family with my small business, so trying to wear all of these hats gets tricky sometimes. I am feeling SO much better and trying to catch up with everyone and everything!

I am coming by now to share this precious family I photographed (and I have lots more but I will be blogging again soon too if you want to see even MORE of each session.) I also will be opening up my 2021 bookings tonight at 5pm MTN time with my annual specials so I will be back with that info too.

From the very bottom of my heart, thank you for your grace and patience this year. I don't know that I would have survived it without that! I plan on being much more present.

07/07/2020

Helllooo my beautiful friends! I have been keeping a little bit of a secret. If you follow me on insta, I guess it's not THAT much of a secret... but I have been working on brand new photoshop actions for quite a long time. I finally released them tonight and wanted to share here as well because I am pretty proud of them. For those that have been here a while now, this used to be a pretty common thing but it's been about four years since my last release so I would say it's been a long time coming.

In true form there is a HUGE sale but I have also included a couple of exclusive editing videos with this release that comes with purchase and there are 36 actions in all (including my current workflow actions.)

If you want to peek you can find them right here:
http://myfourhensphotography.com/shop/the-tapestry-action-collection/

There are also a ton of before and afters over that way. I am still working hard over here!! Miss you all!!