Check Out Tina Magee-Jenks’ Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Tina Magee-Jenks.

Hi Tina, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
If there’s one thing you should know about me it’s that I’m from a very tight-knit family and my family is my world. Photography is how I connect with my family and is a huge part of who I am. Growing up, I was always surrounded by cameras.

My dad is a photographer, his grandfather was a photographer who had his own photography studio here in Kansas City in Columbus Park. My dad always had a camera with him, capturing memories of our family as my sister and I were growing up. My connection to my childhood and family is through photographs. I was never able to meet my great-grandfather (the photographer) on my dad’s side who passed before my grandma was married) or my grandfather on my mom’s side (who passed when my mom was only two), so I feel like photographs were the only way for me to get to know these important people in my family.

Because of that, I feel the reason I photograph people so candidly is to capture their true personality and essence for their families to remember who they really are. I’ve been using photography as a tool to express myself and to document important memories for as long as I can remember. As a kid, my parents would buy disposable cameras for my sister and I for our family vacations. As my mom puts it, I would “use up the entire roll of film taking photos of my stuffed animals in the backseat before we would even get to our destination,” haha.

In high school, I became even more intrigued with and serious about photography and I started taking classes. I would bring my little Canon 35mm film camera on our annual family road trip to the artsy little town of Eureka Springs, AR. I would be completely absorbed through my lens the entire time and could not wait to get back home to get my film developed and see how everything turned out, it was truly magical. When my sister had her first baby, I was OBSESSED with capturing every special moment of my (first!) niece’s life, so much that I think she thought my face was a camera for the first year of her life.

The funny thing is, my photography business started very organically. I went to the Kansas City Art Institute for illustration and design and after graduation, I tried to start my own business designing wedding invitations. I would also spend a couple of days a week at my parent’s house, helping my mom with her daycare and taking photos of the kids for fun. My design business was going nowhere and some of the daycare parents started noticing the photos I was taking of their kiddos and were loving them, so they began asking me to take their family photos.

I quickly realized I was MUCH happier capturing the sweet, candid moments for these families than I was designing invitations.

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle-free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
It hasn’t always been a smooth road, I’ve gone back and forth struggling with comparing myself and my work with others. It’s something I continue to work on. Social media can sometimes be such a wonderful place for inspiration but can also be a reminder that I’m not doing enough, or am not as far in my career as I “should be” which I know is ridiculous because we all have our own path and it’s different for everyone but it still comes back to haunt me every now and then.

Traveling is something that never fails to inspire me and gets me out of my own head, even if it’s just a short 30-minute road trip to Weston or something as simple as taking a walk in a new place and photographing the beautiful flowers or fall leaves can be enough to get me feeling more inspired. That and socializing. I call myself an introverted extrovert because I’m pretty shy but I love meeting and connecting with new people, it’s one of the things I love about taking portraits.

Socializing always energizes me and fuels my creativity. At the beginning of my photography career, one of my friends asked me to start a blog with her, The Employee Lounge, where she would interview people in the service industry and I would take their portraits. It was one of the most fun and exciting jobs I’ve ever had, it got me out of my (shy) comfort zone and more comfortable photographing strangers. It gave me the confidence to put myself out there and try new things.

This past year and a half have been an extremely difficult and isolating time due to the pandemic and I’ve had a really hard time picking up my camera. It gave me a lot of time to think about why I love photography and how I can be inspired during these hard times. I’ve had the realization (which is probably so obvious) that I don’t always have to share every photo I take or every shoot I do. I can just create for fun and to grow and continue to flex that creative muscle.

So, I’ve started creating photoshoots just for me, shoots that I’ve been dreaming about doing someday for clients but have been waiting for the perfect person who wants to be more creative. Taking that pressure off of myself (of not having to share) has helped a lot. Sometimes it helps to pick up a different camera and start using that instead, especially analog.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I would say my specialty is untraditional, candid portraits. Photographs that make you feel something. The moments that happen so quickly and are over in a second but you want to remember forever are the ones I get excited about capturing the most.

I get so many comments from my clients saying “how did you capture that? I didn’t even see it happen!” I love photographing people as they truly are and feel like posing them creates this facade of someone they are not.

I mostly photograph families and senior portraits but am starting to branch out a little and do some editorial sessions. I’m pretty stubborn and prefer to only use natural light. I feel it really gives the photos more depth and tells the story more authentically and I like the challenge.

The photos of my loved ones that I hold dear the most are the natural, candid shots that were unposed because I can remember how they were as a person and not just how they looked. I don’t like forcing moments or posing people because we all interact with our loved ones differently, we all have different quirks and antics that our people love about us and I want to capture my client’s true personalities.

My favorite photoshoots are the ones where my clients can just let loose and play, I usually end up getting the best photos in those situations. I try to give them the space to relax and be more themselves while also giving them a little guidance so they’re not just standing there wondering what to do with their hands, haha. Kids are especially fun to photograph because they don’t overthink anything, they’re just themselves and don’t care how they look on camera. I love the perfectly imperfect.

How do you think about luck?
I feel extremely lucky that I grew up in a house surrounded by cameras, creativity, and playfulness. My parents have always encouraged my love of art and fueled that passion by giving me the space to create. They made me feel like I could do anything I put my mind to.

Growing up in a home where my mom had a daycare, made me very comfortable around kids and babies and I believe it was what ignited my photography business. I had so many clients right at my fingertips because of all the daycare parents who wanted photos of their growing family and wanted someone they knew their kids would be comfortable around.

After my dad retired, I was able to inherit his camera and lenses. I recognize that I am very privileged and that is not something a lot of people can afford as they’re starting their photography business. Camera gear is an expensive investment and I feel very lucky to have been able to have such an easy start to my career.

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: mysticmemoryphoto.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mystic_memory_photo/