Welcome
If you’ve come to this section of my website, you’re probably wondering who I am! Allow me to introduce myself; I’m Jennifer, the owner and photographer of Painting with Sunlight Photography, located in the Louisville Kentucky area. I knit, sew, throw pottery and photograph everything. I’m a strange combination of type-A, perfectionist and artist all rolled into one. There was a time when I would have called myself a workaholic, except that it wasn’t just work, I was constantly doing all of those things that made me, me. I was working as the director of project management for a software and consulting company when I started photography. I suppose it was inevitable, growing up with a dark room in the house and working to imitate my Mom with one of her old film cameras. I loved both jobs for different reasons and was easily consumed by work, spending many nights working into the wee hours of the morning.
Then I had kids, and I spent a lot of time lost in my own chaos. The long days, the longer nights, hearing everyone tell me how much I was going to miss it when it was gone, but really I just wanted to scream at those people. How can you appreciate something that everyone tells you is so amazing, when you can barely survive the day?
And then I discovered how to catch those brief moments of beauty in the middle of the chaos. Stop the clock, and visit the good times anytime I wanted. When you close your eyes to get away, where do you go? In my mind, I create a place of peace, of happiness and love. As a mother of three small children, this place in my mind is also crisp and clean, it’s my ‘me behind the mom’ space.
As a photographer I’ve learned how to capture those little moments. I can take a picture and hand that tired, stressed out Mom, a glimpse into her world that she might not be able to see right now. I can show you “that thing” that everyone says you’ll miss so much. You don’t have to wait until it’s gone to see it; you can hold it in your hands, gaze at it on your walls and live in those perfect little moments any time you want to. This is your story and it’s one worth remembering, no matter how fast the world is spinning around you.
Just in case you’re still wondering about me, here are a few more things you might like to know…
Top 6 Things you should know about me
- I am a story teller. – I love documenting life as it happens. This is something that I do passionately for my own family. I am obsessive and complete about my need to document our story, almost to a fault. Whether I’m snapping a quick shot of my 18 month sneaking into the cupboard before telling her “No” for the 12th time that day, or peeking around the corner to capture my 3 and 5 year old boys, while they dance around on the furniture because the floor is “hot lava” yet again, I want to capture it all.
- I’m patient. I’ve learned to be very patient. I wasn’t ever a fly by the seat of my pants kind of gal, but these days I have no choice but to have it together. My kids have more energy than they know what to do with and believe it or not, sometimes chasing around someone else’s kids almost feels like a vacation.
- I love gummy bears. I mean, really love them. Too many times, I’ve found myself eating an entire bag (and not the little bag you’re probably thinking of) until I can’t even look another gummy bear in the eye. Sure enough, the next day… I have to have more.
- I believe that life is messy, exhausting, difficult and wonderfully beautiful. Living in the chaos of daily life makes it difficult to see. I love giving someone a chance to smile and live in that happy little place that we all know exists. Looking at a beautiful image that embodies all that is wonderful about this crazy life, can melt away even the worst sleepless nights.
- People intrigue me and I love being surrounded by them. Not the, no elbow room, long lines, zero parking, holiday shopping kind of surrounded but just being with people. There’s something interesting and unique in everyone. I think this is why I’m smiling most of the time. Well, unless I’m in one of those holiday lines; then all bets are off!
- I have a bachelor’s degree in Nutrition Science from Penn State, a master’s degree in Bioinformatics from George Mason University and I’m a certified PMP Project Manager. I worked in IT and Project Management for many years before making the full leap into photography and I’ve never been sorry. It turns out that photography requires the perfect blend of technical skill and artistic creativity. After years of study, late nights, and hard work I can confidently tell you, I am just as happy and enthusiastic about this art now as I was when I started. It’s everything that’s just… well… me.
“To photograph truthfully and effectively is to see beneath the surfaces and record the qualities of nature and humanity which live or are latent in all things.”
~Ansel Adams
308 N. Evergreen Rd. Ste 240B Louisville, Kentucky 40243
Photographing the Louisville, KY area including: Louisville, St. Mathews, Lyndon, Hurstbourne, Anchorage, Middletown, Prospect, Crestwood, Jeffersontown, Simpsonville, Shelbyville, Taylorsville, Jeffersonville and Clarksville IN and surrounding areas.