Moments are ephemeral. There aren’t many ways to go back to the special ones, the ones that make us remember when mom pushed you on the swing or your brother hugged you after high school graduation. 

Photography is a way to remember those moments and Jenn Cleary, owner of SoJourney Photography, loves capturing those moments. 

“I love those candid photos I get, where I’m truly capturing a moment of love,” Cleary said. “Without poses and without everything being so formal.”

Cleary originally came from Maryland and while she misses the blue crabs and seafood of the seaside state, she remembers seeing mountains and knowing she wanted to go there. 

“I came out here for three months to write for TravelRunner Magazine,” Cleary said. “It’s been 10 years since then.”

After paying for an emergency Jeep repair in Iowa, Cleary arrived with no money to her name and two suitcases, knowing no one around the valley. 

“I got a job at SkiCo and I learned how to snowboard,” Cleary said. “I still work for SkiCo but I’m also doing photography.”

Cleary has two passions, writing and photography. 

“I want to write nonfiction and fiction books, and I have the bare bones of a book right now,” Cleary said. “I love writing, I went to school for writing.”

Magazine writing didn’t take for Cleary, because it wasn’t the right platform or type of writing she wanted to do. 

“When I was at the magazine, I remember sitting in a windowless room, thinking, ‘the people I’m writing about are having adventures, I want to have those adventures,'” Cleary said. 

Instead, Cleary followed her photography passion. 

“I was the friend in high school who was the go-to photographer,” she said. “I didn’t think I was good enough and I started with landscapes.”

However, Cleary wanted something else in the landscapes, because it didn’t feel like a complete story. 

“Anyone can take a photo of Maroon Bells and they’ll look amazing,” she said. “I wanted to tell a story with the photos I was taking though, so I started looking into elopement photography.”

Weddings are a great place to find those moments of true love between people, but sometimes they get lost in the number of people or poses, Cleary said. 

“I’ve had some friends tell me that the day they were most stressed out about was their wedding and I thought that wasn’t how it’s supposed to go,” Cleary said. “I want to do my photos around their schedule, this is their itinerary and I’m there to get those moments between them.”

Cleary looks for those candid, intentional moments in everything she does, trying to give back what she has been given. 

“God has shown up in my life and I’m grateful for those moments,” Cleary said. “I’m trying to give back the essence of love.”

Cleary clarified she’s not trying to push her beliefs on others and that she is trying to be good to the people she interacts with. 

“How I act and interact with people is warm, approachable and inclusive,” she said. “I’m trying hard to be a loving person.”

The moments that Cleary interacts with people are just as important as the moments she photographs. 

“Those individual moments matter to people,” she explained. “How you react, how you speak, they matter to people.”

Cleary said that the word “sojourn” impacted her greatly while she was reading the Bible. 

“To sojourn is to wander, to be lost in the desert, to stay a short while,” she said. “I really related to that and how we’re all kind of doing that.”

Sojourn, an obscure word now, is to be in a place temporarily, especially as a guest, moments that matter. SoJourney Photography is named for it. 

“I don’t think everything is possible, but if you have the drive to do something, then I think you should,” Cleary said. “I have this fire to do this, to show the moments that matter and they make me hopeful.”
Cleary is available for photoshoots on adventures, elopements or intimate weddings, sports and lifestyle events, and proposals and engagements. Contact her through her website at sojourneyphoto.com/.