From 2007-2010 she was the sole staff photographer for the Idyllwild Town Crier newspaper. During her time there, she was awarded First Place by the Society of Professional Journalist Inland Empire Division 2007 for Best Sports Photo in all circulations of Riverside, San Bernardino, Orange and East Los Angeles Counties. She has also received multiple Second Place, Certificates of Achievement and Honorable Mention awards from The Better Newspapers competitions sponsored by the California Newspaper Publishers Association, placing her in the top 10% of competitors in the state of California. In 2013, Jenny received international recognition from companies in France and Germany, as well as national recognition, interviewing with Wolf Blitzer from The Situation Room on CNN and Ashley Ludwig from the Temecula Grapevine in Temecula California for her coverage of the Mountain Fire in the San Bernardino Mountains in Southern California. Her photos were also featured on NBC, CBS, The Huffington Post, Good Morning America, Idyllwild Town Crier, Valley News, Fox News 31 out of Denver Colorado, Hemetradio.com and Lanemedia.com. Photography has always come naturally to Jenny. Some even say she was born with a camera in hand. At the age of 15, she received a scholarship from the North American Nature Photography Association, being the youngest of ten high school students in the nation selected to attend. During this one-week program, she attended seminars, workshops and worked hand in hand with world famous photographers including Frans Lanting and Art Wolfe of National Geographic. The next year, she was accepted to attend the internationally acclaimed Idyllwild Arts Academy. During this time, she was taught more about basic camera and photography mechanics, spending much of her time photographing everything in sight and then hiding away in the darkroom. Her abilities also expanded into digital media during her high school years. With these skills, she can take her artistic photos and merge them into the world of conventional art. In 2000, she created a digitally altered poinsettia, for which she received an award at the Del Mar Fair. In 2003, Jenny learned the basic's of studio lighting and techniques while working for the nations largest employee owned school photography company, Lifetouch Inc. The company worked out of all 50 states and Canada, and Jenny captured priceless photos of students of all ages while employed in the San Diego and Riverside, CA. She has a broad spectrum of abilities and experience. She helped shoot and design the book covers for “Rock to Riches: Build Your Business the Rock & Roll Way” by Chapman and Silber and‚ “Equinox” by Nora Charles. She has been involved in fashion and model photography, head shots for musicians and even senior pictures for soon-to-be graduates. She is often called upon by local businesses to photograph vacation rentals and cabins, many published on multiple website throughout Idyllwild and the surrounding areas. In mile-high Idyllwild, her outstanding nature photographs can be found in the annual Idyllwild Phone Book, quarterly Visitor’s Guide, and on the front web page of the Mountain Community Telephone Directory. It is not unusual for her to be out with her camera photographing both wild animals and domestic pets, even just as a leisurely activity. Locally renowned, Jenny is the top choice in Idyllwild for wedding photography. She has captured love in all settings, not to mention the festivity and joy of receptions, big and small. In addition to photographing sporting, social and civic events, Jenny has captured compelling night scenes involving armed gunmen, drug pushers, wildfires and over-the-side car accidents. Winning their confidence, Jenny has accompanied Palm Springs and Hemet city police officers multiple times on their nightly rounds, and is a regular at incidents with Idyllwild Fire Protection District and Cal Fire/Riverside County Fire officials. Creative, talented and dedicated, Jenny Kirchner is the photographer to call to capture the scene, the memory and the moment.
