With this feature series, The Cullman Tribune is highlighting everyday individuals all around Cullman County who make our community a great place. #IAmCullman
She saved the money she received when she graduated and made a purchase that would result in discovering a remarkable talent. Jennifer Murphree bought a camera after finishing at Holly Pond in 2011, and she quickly realized she has an extraordinary eye and much more. Photography has transformed the once paralyzingly shy girl into a confident and outgoing woman.
Jen Jen, as her friends and family call her, recalled how it all began, saying, “The money I graduated with, I bought my first camera. I just wanted one to see how it went. I took some pictures and mama was like, ‘You should do this for a living!’”
She has a very large extended family who reinforced her mom’s advice, so she set up a Facebook page.
“I just wanted a camera,” she laughed. “I just played with it to see how it would go and it’s blown up now.”
Jen Jen said she used the family pets as her first subjects, and she enjoys nature and wildlife. She recently lost her beloved muse, a Yorkshire terrier named Taffy. Her earliest portfolio is filled with photos of Taffy and Teddy, who have both passed. She has a new puppy now, Scooter, who will undoubtedly be a new source of inspiration.
As Jen Jen scrolled through her vast collection of photos, it became clear that no critter was off limits to her lens. For example, there’s a series of photos of an amazingly willing praying mantis.
She smiled, “That’s literally on the front porch. It was on an air conditioning unit and I just played with it and posed it. Mom’s like, ‘You’re posing these insects and I can’t believe you’re doing this!’ I even saw a snapping turtle. She called me and she’s like, ‘You need to come down here. There’s a big ol’ snapping turtle!’ Here I come in my pajamas and laying down in the yard to get a picture of this turtle.”
Jen Jen’s talent for capturing nature can make the most cringeworthy of creepy crawlers seem lovable, including a smiling stink bug and an adorable spider!
“The spider was in my car,” she smiled. “I put the car in park and had to get a picture of it.”
Her work with the praying mantis has been used by Nikon on its Instagram page. She has won numerous ribbons from the Cullman County Fair.
Living in rural Cullman County has its perks as Jen Jen has a plethora of wildlife around her home and plenty of places to explore with her camera and her new micro lens. Her original $500 camera purchase has grown to several thousand dollars’ worth of different equipment and lenses.
“I’m more comfortable in nature than I am with posing people,” she said. “I have my personal bubble and getting in someone else’s personal bubble is uncomfortable. I just stick with my animals.”
Jen Jen’s work has also been featured by the Gadsden Museum of Art.
“They have a show called the Focus of Photography exhibit and I’ve been picked the last four years,” she explained, saying her work was chosen for the exhibit through a juried selection.
Recently, the museum selected images Jen Jen captured of the moon.
As for a favorite photo, she said, “I’ve got so many favorites! I like to play around, and one of my most selling pictures is one of the Catholic church (Sacred Heart) that I took with my iPhone!”
She spoke about the difficulty artists experience when selling their work.
“I try to be competitive (with pricing), but it’s so hard to make a living off doing this stuff.”
A Birmingham-area magazine chose one of Jen Jen’s photographs for publication, but, she said, “They didn’t want to pay for it. It ended up costing ME money to buy the magazine to see it. People support you and like your work and talent, but they don’t seem to want to pay for it.
Jen Jen has Asperger’s, a form of autism.
“I am high-functioning,” she said, explaining that, for years, she stayed at home because the Asperger’s primarily affected her socially.
She described her school years as being difficult, sharing, “I had a few friends. I got teased and bullied in school. I have a speech problem, so they would make fun of me and I would go to special ed.”
She lacked confidence after high school, but photography changed all that.
“I picked up that camera and I started to realize that I’m proving myself to everyone that said I couldn’t do this,” she smiled. “I have the words now, and I’m speaking up, too. I have the confidence now, and everyone looks up to me now at Flourish.”
Jen Jen has worked at Flourish of Cullman, Inc., a local nonprofit, as a receptionist and in media relations.
“It has changed my life!” she said. “I’m going out and socializing now because of Flourish. Before Flourish, I would stay at home…Ever since I joined this program- I used to not put the miles on my car enough to even get the oil changed! I can go and need an oil change now!”
Jen Jen said she has fond memories of one of her elementary teachers.
She said of Deanna Stephens, “I’m still friends with her, and she’s like a second mama to me. She was always nice to me.”
Stephens, like Flourish, is among those who knew Jen Jen could do whatever she set her mind to.
She is definitely proving that to be true with her photography. She has a Facebook page, www.facebook.com/only1jenjenphotography with many of her photos for everyone to see. Those interested in a print or with questions can message Jen Jen through her page.
Jen Jen hopes to continue building her name in the world of photography as well as explore new locations. She said she hopes to visit Wheeler Wildlife Refuge to photograph the cranes.
As for that once shy girl?
“I am happy now,” she said. “Getting out and doing things in the community now- life is good.”
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