Meet Queenie Pennington | Senior Portrait Photographer

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

Hi Queenie, how has your work-life balance changed over time?
At first my life and my work felt like a volcano erupting. It was all exploding out of proportions. I couldn’t find the balance of it all and it was burning me out. With time, organization and scheduling things around my kids schedule, my job and some down time for myself; I have managed to do it all.

What should our readers know about your business?
Aloha, my name is Queenie, owner of Queenie Pennington Photography LLC. I am a Colorado based photographer and I specialize in High School Senior Portraits. I’m 26 years old and I am from a small island 2,200 miles (3,500 km) Southwest of Hawaii called American Samoa. Since 2016 I learned about photography through a good friend. I’ve witnessed him take portraits of landscapes, his family & friends & it inspired me to learn more about photography. I dabbled a lot in family, maternity, couples and even newborn photography. I learned a lot of pros and cons from those sessions. Many of my experiences brought light to my life and others made me feel like I need another epsom salt bath to cure my mental breakdown. I would self sabotage whenever clients were being extremely demanding, client requests that exceeded my level of knowledge/editing skills at the time or when I would have an equipment/technology malfunction. The photography industry has definitely been a learning curve and I’ve met some artistic, unique & creative individuals who have been a positive influence in my journey. I’ve read books about the introduction of photography, watched countless amounts of youtube videos pertaining to photoshop, collaborated with other photographers, models and make up artists with ways to improve my craft. I finally decided to focus solely on high school senior portraits just recently in 2021. I can honestly say balancing a hobby that you are trying to make into a business, being a mom of 2 boys, a college student, spending quality time with my husband and work, will definitely cause some chocolate ice cream & boba withdrawals. It definitely wasn’t a walk in the park and I’ve made countless amounts of mistakes when I was first starting out. With so much creativity that was flooding in me, I wanted to make everything happen all at once and because of the excitement, I proceeded to put every idea I had into reality. I overestimated myself and my inspiration that I didn’t realize I was putting myself in a situation where I became overwhelmed with everything. I approached photography with a mindset of learning things by doing them. I would flashback to those times where I would still be up at 5am, 4 galleries due, already on my sixth mocha latte and bags of gummy worms, a bowl of fruits or a cup of noodles somewhere on my computer desk. I lacked a lot of time management skills, consistency, and knowledge of the business side of photography. As time went by, my experience and knowledge on things improved tremendously. Therefore, it helped me oversee all my mistakes and learn from them. I prioritized studying a few aspects of photography that I didn’t know about and made sure I balanced my time spent with family & taking part in photography workshops at least once a year. With all the chaos that I’ve experienced first hand, it made me forget why I started pursuing photography in the first place. Truthfully, I don’t want my hobby to become the most challenging thing in the world, I love photography and I’ve decided to pace it steadily with everything else in my life. There are endless amounts of advantages my creativity offers: career advancement, being able to travel around the world, earning a living wage like no other, collaborations with celebrities, the list goes on. A big part of why I love photography is setting my own work hours. I cherish that! I want to keep and maintain photography to what it is right now; a pillar of self care for myself. I love making other people happy. To be able to witness parents or my high school seniors smile and sometimes get teary when they receive their gallery is always a proud moment for me. We have a philosophy in Hawaii that I love to live by “PONO: The Value of integrity, of rightness & balance. The feeling of contentment when all is good and is right.” I’m content with where I am with my photography business and I’ll continue to hone my skills one session at a time, it’s what makes me feel good. And that’s what my brand is about, cherishing and marinating that happiness for as long as you want it to be. Mahalo.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Sunday Denver Botanical Garden
Pack Sandwiches, drinks (lots of water) & snacks
Meow Wolf Denver
ChoLon- downtown for lunch
Stroll Downtown Denver
Ocean Prime for dinner

Monday
Vail, Colorado Ski Resort
Skiing (2-6 hours)
Stroll downtown Vail at the Farmers Market
Horseback Riding at Piney River Ranch
Best friend dinner picnic at Lost Lake Trail

TUESDAY
Hike Garden of the Gods
Stroll Manitou Springs
KFC for lunch
Shopping at the Citadel Mall
Get Boba/Mangonadas and walk around
FINISH THE DAY WITH A SPA SESSION at Mx spa
Dinner: HOME COOKED MEAL: Adobo chicken, mixed vegetables & Rice

Wednesday
Ice skating Acacia park
Top Golf
Lunch at L&L Hawaiian BBQ
Batting Cage at D-BAT
Go Kart Racing
Dinner at Texas Roadhouse

Thursday
Surf at Sand Dunes
Pikes Peak Cog Railway
Cheyenne Mountain Zoo
Places to eat: Panda Express (Can Never go Wrong with them), Lucky Dragon Chinese Restaurant and You-Ka Café filipino Food

Friday
Tour Miramont Castle
Colorado Springs Pioneer Museum
LUNCH: Hells kitchen
Tour Highlands Ranch Mansion
Tour Glen Eyrie Castle
Dinner: The Rabbit Hole

Saturday
CHILL at the house, a small stroll to the park, island snacks and binge watch favorite movies & Late Night TRIP to McDonalds

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Chavez Photography owned by the amazing Sterling Chavez. Life does have a way of overwhelming us and as a single working mom I second guess everything when it comes to my business and how I approach life. Sterling has been a patient, encouraging and caring friend in times of success and failure. With how busy schedules are we manage to find time for a little coffee & brunch. Im really blessed to have a friend who shares the same passion for photography as I do.

Website: queeniesphotography.mypixieset.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/queenie.penningtonphotography/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Queenie.PenningtonPhotography

Image Credits
Sterling Chavez Photography