Today we’d like to introduce you to McKenna Ashcroft.
Hi McKenna, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
McKenna Holly Photography wasn’t something I had always dreamed of creating and running. I have always been creative and always had a passion for art. For as long as I can remember I would color, draw, paint, and craft. In high school, I took my first darkroom photography class. We took film images and developed them in our school’s darkroom. After that class, I had completely fallen in love with the art of taking images. I immediately signed up for another photography class. This time I signed up for a digital photography class.
I purchased my first digital camera my senior year of high school. It took me months to save for this camera. After purchasing my camera, I spent every free moment I had shooting. I shot my friends, my sisters, the trees, flowers, etc.
My first paid session was from a friend at work. She asked me to shoot her boys. I had no intention of getting paid, but she forced me to take $20 from her as I was leaving. Shortly after I had more families and high school seniors asking to hire me to shoot their images. I wasn’t marketing or advertising; everything was spreading via word of mouth. I had fallen into a photography business. I was in school for dental hygiene and working at Costco full time. I never thought I would be getting paid to shoot photographs.
My first bride asked me to shoot her wedding in San Fransisco. She would pay for travel, pay for food, and pay me to shoot her wedding day. This was so exciting and a pivotal moment in my photography business. Luckily, things had gone as smoothly as they could for it being my first wedding. I had never shadowed a wedding and if I were to do things again I definitely would!
Fast-forward a couple of years later, I was working full time in an endodontic office while running my photography business on side. I had shot about 35-45 weddings at this point and had grown so much as a photographer. During this time, a good friend of mine was launching a children’s clothing company in San Diego. She wanted to hire me as their leave photographer and creative director for their catalogs and website e-commerce images. Her business would pay to fly me out to San Diego every 3-6 months. I would spend a week there to document all collection pieces for the next quarter. This was the most exciting thing that had happened in my photography career to this point.
I shot for her children’s clothing company (Haven Children) for several years while continuing to shoot family, high school seniors, and weddings. I feel so incredibly blessed for this opportunity because while I was on a business trip for Haven Children in San Diego, I met my now-husband. We met on the Mission Beach roller coaster. We instantly fell in love and dated long distance for some time.
Long story short, we got married, I moved to San Diego for a few months while he was searching for a new job in either in Portland Oregon (where my family lives) or Denver Colorado (where his family lives). He found a job in South Denver Colorado and we moved to Castle Rock where I now run my business out of Denver. Denver has been so amazing. We love living here.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I feel so blessed to say that things have somewhat fallen into place with my business. I have moved around a lot since starting my photography business but luckily it is easy to travel. I have clients based in Portland Oregon, Salt Lake Utah, Southern California, Arizona, and obviously Denver Colorado. Photography has been a huge blessing and saved me when I was going through hardships in my personal life.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
McKenna Holly Photography, LLC is a Denver Colorado based photographer specializing in Family and Wedding Photography! We have our passports in hand and are ready for travel always!
Places we visit frequently: Portland Oregon, Salt Lake Utah, Los Angeles California, Phoenix Arizona, Chicago Illinois & Serving all of Colorado out of Denver.
We believe those little moments in life matter. We believe in capturing life as it unfolds and documenting life events in an authentic and journalistic way. We provide poses with moments that result in natural body movement and realistic imagery. We enjoy capturing authentic heirloom photographs that last a lifetime. Each one of our clients become family.
McKenna Holly Photography is just that. We strive to capture photographs the way we feel moments. We want you to look back at your wedding day album and feel the same emotions you felt experiencing them.
Can you talk to us a bit about happiness and what makes you happy?
Things that make me happy:
By now I hope it is pretty obvious that I’m a portrait and wedding photographer living in Denver, CO but it’s also important to note that I am a wife to my hard-working and handsome husband Joey. Those two things are the most important things in my life. We eloped on Catalina Island in November of 2019. Three short months after we celebrated with our families just before the global pandemic! Our wedding day was the absolute best/most happy day of my life. So, I get it! This is why I love documenting weddings. I understand how important it is to capture the little moments on the most important day of your life and finding someone who cares about getting you some bomb portraits with your person and the people you love!
We are so excited because we are also expecting. We have out little baby girl arriving middle of May. We can’t wait and we are so excited and happy to meet her.
Other small things I love:
– Chai Lattes
– Long morning walks in the sunshine
– The Oregon coast
– San Diego
– Our cozy home (we have almost finished our remodel)
Pricing:
- Our wedding packages range between $1800-5000
- Family sessions are $350
- Engagement Sessions $350
- Other sessions (HS senior, Maternity, etc) $350
Contact Info:
- Email: mckennahollyphoto@gmail.com
- Website: www.mckennaholly.com
- Instagram: @mckennahollyphoto
Image Credits
McKenna Holly Photography LLC
