By Sandi Tomlin-Sutker
Starting and sustaining a small business is challenging enough. Add to that process a marriage and birth of two children and it takes an amazing woman to succeed.
As a young woman in her early twenties, Bren Dendy was deeply into active sports; white water rafting on West Virginia’s legendary Gauley River and rugged New River and trips to Colorado in the winter for skiing. To fund this exciting life, Bren tapped into her passion and skill at photography, working for rafting companies to snap and process candid photos, and even videos of customers running the rapids.
As a young woman she was exposed to photography through two grandfathers. One was a wedding photographer, the other was a strong hobby photographer. At age 14, she began to receive camera gear from one of them. “They just enabled, influenced, and inspired me. I was surrounded by their work and it was always a priority in our family life (photos or portraits to commemorate even the simplest days). When she decided to settle down in Asheville it was a natural progression to grow that passion into a business.
In 2006, with her dog and all her things in her truck she drove down to Asheville to visit friends from the boating world. During that time, she worked in the hospitality industry and at Wachovia bank. Seeing the “writing on the wall” in the news every day, she realized it was time to create work that better fit her independent streak. So, she enrolled at AB Tech community college, taking a variety of photography, business and marketing courses. “I had professors who had worked at Harvard, decided to move to Asheville and taught a couple of courses there. I really had a strong pool of people to pull from.”
Just before the 2008 real estate crash her husband-to-be Joe bought a house, they got engaged, and began their married life. In the midst of it all, she gave birth to their first child, a son they named Quinn. She was lucky to have a professor who supported her in bringing the child to class when needed, and she worked for him as a teaching assistant. She also worked at her computer at home, sometimes nursing the baby in her lap in the middle of the night. She and Joe wanted to have their kids while fairly young so two years after Quinn, they had their daughter Charlie.
Luckily, Bren is a self-motivated and resourceful person, determined to succeed and finish anything she starts. They didn’t have family here at the time who could provide physical support, no solid babysitter, so it was all on them to figure it out. As she built her business Bren says, “I worked a lot at night. Since it is digital, I can process the photos when the kids are sleeping. When they were babies and I had to get up with them, I’d just stay up and work. I had very little sleep for quite some time.”
Self-care in that situation was not really on her radar! “We are in a place in our society right now where we expect women to be strong career women and to also be very involved in raising their kids. You can’t get it totally right and taking care of yourself ends up on the bottom of the list.”
With a supportive husband she did find ways for self-care, and she was able to take workshops, join a book group, and basically take time to figure out who she was and what else she wanted in life. And in terms of growing her business she found doing wedding photography especially workable; since the events were typically on weekends, she didn’t need to find a babysitter.
With her children back in school, and a new schedule, Bren decided to end the wedding photography part of her business. Fortunately, she found that shifting out of wedding photography was a natural progression. And, she’s on track to meet or exceed her previous income from weddings with her commercial branding work for a range of clients. “I capture a complete and curated collection of images to fully represent the values, mission, and sales of a company. Here at Bren Photography we believe in listening to clients and we assist with style concepts, logistics, models, and location suggestions.” Supporting her clients to reach their visual marketing goals is primary.
“Asheville is all about relationships and supporting each other, so finding photography jobs was initially mostly word of mouth.” She does a lot of branding photography work, for instance, for Motif Medical, which is a branch of Aeroflow Healthcare on Sweeten Creek Road. “I have done product photography, lifestyle photography, and general branding photos for them. My work is consistently on their website and that showcases me to our community.”
Another great example of “personal, genuine connections” in her work is a Chicago company, Hadley Capital, a business that hires her to create natural images of owners and the operations for a variety of industries around the country. Achieving a natural look actually takes a lot of planning and attention to detail before going to these places, often sight unseen.
Her natural and personable style helps clients feel comfortable about a process where many might feel vulnerable. “I love the ability to give and share with others, to create a lovely image.” After ten years in this business she now focuses on work that is a good fit for who she is. Her strong background in outdoor and adventure sports has led her to attract clients who are concerned about the environment, are caring and have a positive attitude. That concern also shows up in her new online campaign (see the link on her website) to raise money for clean water initiatives around the world by selling prints of landscapes she has taken during her travels.
“My business needs to evolve and grow with me. I don’t feel like being in a box! And I listen to what the Universe is telling me.”
That attitude will continue to lead Bren Dendy to a full, satisfying life of family, friends, and business relationships that truly do “fit who she is.”
[email protected]
brenphotography.net
(828) 419-0484
