Meet Keela McCleneghan | Adventure Photographer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Keela McCleneghan and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Keela, why did you pursue a creative career?
I never actually wanted to have a career based on artistic talent! Even as a young child I loved painting, drawing, doing stage lighting, and was decent at them. I would compare artistic talent similar to a writer, sometimes you get writers block; sometimes you’re just stumped. What if you get stumped when it’s time to pay bills, or you’re in the hospital? You are your own source of income and your ideas. Should those be hampered in any way then it doesn’t matter how much talent you have if you cannot express them. I have held several other jobs in my life, many of which I got to utilize my artistic eye in aspects. I finally decided to make the leap and leave my Vetmed job because I was making more doing photography, and ultimately enjoying it more. It still gives me fears if something were to happen to cause my artistic eye to hesitate or flat-line, which is why I am probably all the more careful to not let that happen. Some of the things I consciously attempt to do to safeguard that is pace myself with projects, never take on more than I can handle, and in most things when I inevitably do, give myself appropriate breaks afterwards. Inspiration and creativity is inexhaustible, but those who use it are not.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
When I started, I was really just doing hobby stuff. I liked it sure, but I wasn’t really trying. It’s hard to put into words honing an artistic skill. There’s several ways to do it, one of them is pretty simple and just focus on things that you enjoy the most. As an example, someone like photographing flowers so naturally they become a macro photographer (photographing things up close). I had another issue, I liked TOO many things. I have traveled so far, seen so many things, held so many jobs, done everything from ice climbing, swimming with sharks, camping in ice cold weather, own a team of dog sleds, met wolves, not much wows me anymore. I wanted to choose something that wasn’t easy, I wanted a challenge. But it also had to be something I could market, repeat results but interesting that it wasn’t copy/paste and keep me interested and engaged and challenged constantly. I started photographing everything. Ultrarunning marathons, Off-roading vehicles, skijoring, my local dog sled races, nature, landscapes, and started crossing things off my list of what I didn’t like. This left me with a few things that I did like and of those were a common denominator. I was surprised what I chose, it wasn’t something that I would have guessed!
Intense emotion. Those still photographs you can empathize with and see an entire story written on people’s face or an animals face. The an image makes you feel like you are there in that moment, to smell the smoke, hear the music, have a raspy cigarette drenched voice touch your soul and then wrap a jacket tighter against the cold. These moments are easy to find, they happen everyday to everyone, but they are incredibly hard to catch. And catching those are my favorite thing to do. We all scroll so much, on apps, we SEE so much but we hardly stop and look. I want what I create to be a reason you stop and really truly look.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Haha, this is an interesting question. I don’t live in a city. I am located in Montezuma Colorado, which is a very small old mining town about 20 min outside of Keystone Colorado. Quite honestly I would probably hook up the dogs, pack enough food and take the team out into the woods for the weekend.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I defiantly want to thank my coworkers at the job I left, every time I did something or got a gig they were more than supportive, encouraging me, and ultimately when I decided to leave they miss me but they still send their love. It was hard to leave my job, but I still see them. I would also like to thank Dan Ballard and his workshops he teaches. I went to one and it was invaluable, absolutely helped me see things a different way and pushing me to use my camera harder and find it’s limits.

Website: https://sunshinephotography.smugmug.com

Instagram: Sunshine_and_Photo

Image Credits
Howie Stern (took my portrait photo).