Today we’d like to introduce you to Peter Norgren and Douglas Rowland II.
Thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, how did you get started?
Doug and I have been friends for a long time now. We both had an eye for the creative arts. While he would pursue film and video in Florida, I would go on to follow photography here in KC. Time passed, and when he visited, we would make short films together, but in between trips, we would document our own families. With our cameras, we began capturing every big moment and milestone that life brought our growing families. But frightening times hit both our homes. Doug discovered that his wife and children were diagnosed with life-threatening illnesses. My father did as well. Cancer came quickly and hard, and my father passed away. Doug’s family was able to beat it, but not without causing a ton of worry and trips to the OR.
This put a different perspective on life for us both. When he moved back to KC, we both had this common goal. We wanted to ensure that no matter what happened, every moment would be unique, and we would document it on camera to last forever. Whether it be capturing our children, parents, or grandparents, we know each time we get out our camera, it means something special to us. Being able to go back and watch our now middle school and high school age kids as five years old again was like looking into a time machine. They were different then, and seeing them at this age again brought back so many forgotten memories. Being able to see them this way is so amazing and emotional. Going back and showing my children who their grandpa was on lazy Saturdays at home brings smiles to their faces. Being able to see a loved one that has passed before their time and revisit them helps to keep them alive in your heart.
We realized how lucky we are and how much this means to us and our families. We have this unique outlook based on our experiences and want everyone else to see the world through our lens. We want other families to have the opportunity to have their special memories with those they care about documented so they always have something to remember about each life event and be able to visit it whenever they want to go back to it again. With this in mind, we started PennyDukesMedia. We are new to the business world, hoping to help as many people as possible never to miss having life events documented in a way that we haven’t seen done in KC.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Family comes first. Life is always throwing curveballs at us. We had very young children when we first tried to get our business up and running. Taking the time out of our extra time was cutting into being fathers. We were and are both working full-time jobs while trying to figure out how we can get our vision off the ground. We got our ideas ready but wanted to ensure we spent time raising our kids. Fast forward, and our kids are getting older. We were prepared to roll. We booked multiple gigs, everything looked great, and it will work out. Covid hits the country, we start to see lockdowns, and Doug ends up getting Covid himself, canceling all our gigs and halting our progress. Since our business is a face-to-face business, we were forced to retreat and work on ourselves for a few years independently. Once released back into the world, we picked ourselves back up, dusted off the lenses, and started booking again. We have been taking gigs when we can, still working on ourselves, but we are ready to push ourselves in our business once more. Our families are in the right place, and we have learned much and grown within. We have had our struggles and knockdowns, but nothing will keep us from the purpose we have found through our struggles. We are back to help others make timeless memories that last.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Every part of our business comes from somewhere personal to us. Our growing families have shaped us to walk this path so that others can have what we cherish for ourselves. We want everyone to have the experiences and quality we put into our family home memories. We want to give to others our best, without all the things we had to go through, to realize how important it is to have these documented memories the way we see them. Children change so much from one year old to five. They are different from when they were five and are full-blown teenagers in high school. The emotions from being able to re-live those events that you forgot in detail, now that your kids aren’t so little anymore, mean the world to us, and we couldn’t put a price on it. Our calling comes deep within us to help people, not just for the immediate now but their future time capsules. We want others to feel the love we do for their family memories. We pride ourselves on creating stress-free and effortless sessions. There is no pressure. Suppose you are a parent who has set up a family session before. In that case, we understand the stress of coordinating outfits, getting out to the perfect spot, getting everyone to be in the perfect pose, and ensuring everyone is in the right mood. With our family video sessions, that isn’t a problem. We are here to capture your life. Each session is at a location you love visiting with your family. Wear what makes you comfortable. Since we capture your family doing what they love, there is no need to pose a certain way or be in the perfect mood. This is your real life. You have fun with your family like usual, and we will take care of the rest. Live your best life, and let us record it.
We’re always looking for the lessons that can be learned in any situation, including tragic ones like the Covid-19 crisis. Are there any lessons you’ve learned that you can share?
We learned two things from the Covid shutdowns that really hit us. The first is that no matter what happens, don’t get discouraged. Keep working on yourself when life gets you down, even when things don’t look like they are going up. The one thing in life you have control over is you, so make the best of it every step of the way; even if it looks like you are moving backward, keep pushing yourself forward. The second thing we learned is that every moment is worth living in the moment. You never know when something can happen. The shutdowns shut down our start-up. Everything we planned was put on hold, but we made the best of it at home, taking the time to live in the moment and capture those more intimate moments with our family. Those moments mean a lot, and sometimes we forget to savor them.
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Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.pennydukesmedia.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pennydukesmedia/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pennydukesmedia
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@pennydukesmedia2404/featured
