I think my whole family is just chocka-block full of great people – but today, I want to do a little timely bragging about my SiL Tenley.
She started a photography business 3 years ago with a vision of combining good old hard work, professionalism, networking and business acumen with something she enjoyed and was good at – photography. I may mess some of this up – so all mistakes are mine – but the journey started with some technical photography classes and a camera. Tenley is NOT the photographer you see wandering around with 65 pounds of lenses, $20,000 dollar camera bodies with a back pack, vest pack and belt packs – she uses her eye instead to get the shot she wants.
She has been both having fun and has steadily been building a profitable business with a diverse local clientele. Till now that is, because she has broken out and gone national – as in National Geographic national !
One of Tenley’s photos caught Nat Geo’s eye while they were researching for their new book Abroad at Home: The 600 Best International Travel Experiences in North America The put two of her of her local photos in the book – including one on the cover! The scallops on the cover is her photo. They also included the iconic windmill that is the central touchpoint of her town – Solvang CA (from wikipedia – the short explanation of what Solvang is – the attraction for Abroad at Home is a natural: “Solvang was founded in 1911 on almost 9,000 acres (3,600 ha) of the Rancho San Carlos de Jonata Mexican land grant, by a group of Danes who traveled west to establish a Danish colony far from the midwestern winters. The city is home to a number of bakeries, restaurants, and merchants offering a taste of Denmark in California.”
The Santa Ynez valley is a wonderful mix of earth, food and wine – old time ranches mixed in with new wineries and great weather. That she got picked up to represent the local area is just great. I am even more proud of her taking the opportunity that this represented and getting others involved – a book launch party with the local bookstore – The Book Loft (where they sold a LOT of copies of the book) and an event with the restaurant (brain lock – I can’t remember their name – sorry!) where she did the scallops photo shoot – and other events as well – a whirl wind.
The book and her contribution has also been picked up locally and nationally
- The Weather Channel did a short video interview with the author and one of her photos is featured at 0:50 mark (complete with prominent photo credit – woot!)
- Jay Redfern of the Galesburg Register-Mail (Galesburg Illinois) did a full interview of Tenley (who grew up in Galesburg before moving to Solvang)
- Terravant Winery held a release party and book signing
- Jetset Times did a story and interview of Tenley and her work
- The Santa Barbara Independent picked up on the book in their review section and the launch party
- The Daily Beast put her photo of the Windmill in downtown Solvang front and center
- The Santa Ynez Valley News interviewed Tenley as well – Seeing the Valley Through Tenley Fohl’s Lens – grin
Good job Tenley (and faithful Igor/minion – Pete). The fully rounded approach of craft and business is just great stuff. Woot-Woot!
Oh – and I have a permanent plug to her website on the right bar of this blog – but here it is too: http://www.tenleyfohlphotography.com/ (edit – I am getting WordPress errors for some reason – I have moved the links to the TOP of the blog while trying to remedy it. No luck so far, but they are working again post move)