Welcome to Samantha Anne Photography, Hello, my name is Samantha Anne Kenison. I am 27 years old. I was born in Heber City Utah, but lived in Midway. I come from a family of six: my mom and dad, and 3 brothers, one of whom is my twin. He liked to tease me a lot. I graduated from Wasatch High School back in 2011. In Feb 2015, I was set up on a blind date. That is when I met my husband. Who knew blind dates could end well? At the age of 23, I was married to my wonderful husband Tyler. Now, I’m just living life, working full time, and hanging out with friends. Together we have 3 kids. Our oldest was born two weeks after our first year anniversary and he is now 3 years old. 2 ½ years later, on my husband’s birthday, we welcomed our twins, a girl and boy. They are now 1. 

In my first semester of senior year 2010, I showed an interest in photography, because my dad was a photographer and I loved seeing his work. I decided that I would take the Photography 1 course, which was basic photo taking learning the body of the camera and how it works. I could get some pointers from my dad because he had 25 years of experience under his belt. When my teacher was explaining everything about the camera, it was simple for me. But, when it came to the test about what we had learned, I felt like I didn’t know anything about it, so a  little bit of my anxiety came out. I told myself that I will never know how to work the camera, so I dropped the class. A few years went by, and, in 2014, I was looking at some of the photos I had taken on my phone of my friends and me. The photos were mini random photoshoots that we would do around town. I got a lot of compliments on Facebook about them and how good they look. I thought, “Hey! I should be using a camera, not a phone!” I went to my dad and asked if he had a camera I could borrow. He said he actually had one I could have. That was pretty cool for me! The camera he gave me was a Canon Rebel T3i. I started practicing on it and took a lot of photos of close friends. Then one day, someone made a comment saying, “I hate how people think they are photographers because they have a camera and photoshop…” That kind of hurt. Seeing that comment, I decided that maybe photography isn’t for me and put it away.

A few more years passed and, in February 2020, I was talking to my supervisor at work. We were setting goals to work on and I told her that I wanted to work more on photography. After I finished talking to her, I thought, “I have 3 kids, I don’t have time for that.” Later that night, I had a strong feeling that I needed to get back into photography.  I felt I needed to show people my portfolio binder, that is filled with all of the photos I had taken since 2014. Again, I found reasons not to. I thought, “COVID-19 just hit big, nobody wants photos taken.” Then I got to thinking that I could practice on family members and, when this is over, I will have the practice I need. I decided to go ahead and do this. I have had so many compliments about how good my photos look and, ever since I started taking pictures again, I have really enjoy doing photography!