Today we’d like to introduce you to Dena Denny.
Hi Dena, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I started taking photos on my iPhone 4 when I lived in Kansas. I had big dreams of someday being a photographer but was stuck in an abusive marriage and hardly had the energy to follow those dreams. So, I kept learning composition with my iPhone until I left my marriage and moved back to Minneapolis. I eventually met my fiancé and business partner, Matt, who was a filmmaker. He put my first camera in my hand six years ago and taught me lighting. I started taking headshots out of the entryway of our basement apartment in a very small and difficult-to-light space. Together we began filming weddings and events and comedy sketches for the internet. Eventually, I found my love in portrait photography, and we moved into our own photo/video space a year ago and formed M&D Media.
We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
The first struggle I had was space to work in. I loved studio lighting and didn’t do much with natural light photography. Outdoor photography didn’t appeal as much to me at the time. So, we worked in very small spaces for years, which tested our ability to light subjects. But, learning a craft in difficult environments makes the transition to more suitable environments much more exciting. I struggled a lot with confidence as a photographer in general. Portrait photography, especially close-up portraiture, is a super intimate style of photography. I always want to capture my clients in a way that makes them feel seen. I struggle with perfectionism in general, so ensuring I captured clients perfectly was constant anxiety of mine. Eventually, I learned to accept small imperfections and focus on capturing personality. I told myself that as long as their eyes were bright, in focus, and well lit with catch lights, their personalities would come through. Eyes are everything to me in photography. I’ve struggled a lot with color correcting in post-production. Skin tones have always been hard for me to edit. It took a while to find a style that I liked to edit in, and I feel like that’s always going to be a challenge and something I change and adapt to as I learn more and grow more.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I am a photographer and a videographer. I specialize in studio portraiture for photography and mostly weddings for videography. Recently I’ve been deciding to build my own sets in the studio. I get ideas for set designs and figure out how to make them happen. Last year around this time, I built a forest in the studio with an old grill canopy, some chicken wire, and a lot of greenery from craft stores. This year I built a mushroom forest which I’m super proud of. I’ve been trying to stretch myself creatively, and building photography sets does that for me. Placing subjects in the little magical worlds, I crafted and built is fun. I also love photographing theater promos. Filming theater promos is another passion of both mines and my fiancé’s. Working with performance artists and capturing their art on my own is something I’m very proud of and brings me a ton of joy. We also love working with non-profits who do what we like to call “the good work.” Any organization that is out there working for human rights, animal rights, and our Earth are organizations we love doing photos and videos for. Providing an artistic platform for LGBTQ and BIPOC voices and artists is our passion.
Any big plans?
I have so many plans for the future. All I do is dream big, sometimes absolutely outlandish dreams. I am in the process of filming a documentary which I’m very excited about. It’s about a local daycare provider who teaches her daycare kids how to grow their food in the city. It’s been beautiful to film and see the kids love growing things. So I’m looking forward to finishing that and hopefully releasing it. I want to start doing more nature photography. I recently returned from Oregon and fell in love with the forests there. I took some photos and realized how much I love photographing nature. So I’ll likely end up crouched in the woods somewhere with camo on and a 600 mm lens waiting for a fox to come by and hopefully being crawled on by chipmunks. For the studio, I plan on building more sets and getting weirder with my photography in general.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/dena_denny
