Brenda Ahearn Photography

04/25/2026

So, one of the best parts of this postcard project so far has been the verses I did not plan. ☺️
I have a plan. It's one verse from each book of the Bible. I just placed the order for the first round of postcards. They should arrive May 8 and I'll get them sent out this week.
But for my first subscribers I also decided to send both the Genesis card and a card based on their favorite verses. This has been so wonderful and I really can't wait to get these shipped to me then out.

If you'd like to subscribe drop a comment and I'll send you the paypal link. I'm not posting the Genesis postcard until it arrives to subscribers, but all of them will be shared here in facebook so even if you prefer not to get the tangible cards, you will still be able to see all of the work.

This is one of the gift cards.

04/18/2026

A few days ago, I shared about a new way I’m beginning to offer my photography. The idea grew out of a simple joy, receiving art in the mail, and wanting to share that experience with others. I’ve also been inspired by another artist whose work I subscribe to, and this project, including the $8 per month price, is shaped in part by that model.

Over the past weeks, I’ve been compiling a list of favorite verses from each book of the Bible, narrowing them down to one per book, and pairing them with photographs from over 20 years of my work.

My hope is to have the first round printed and mailed by the end of this month.

For the first few people who subscribed, thank you, truly, this is new for me. I wanted to offer something personal: a custom card, not part of the main set, pairing a photograph with a verse of their choosing.

There are two of these custom spots still available.

This card was created for the first person who signed up. It felt right to begin with Montana, and I’ve heard that Big Mountain, the one you see here, just received a fresh blanket of snow.

If you’re interested in subscribing, or in having a personal card designed and mailed to you, feel free to comment below and I’ll message you with the details.

04/10/2026

A confluence of things I love...
Once upon a time, before I became a photographer, I found a copy of National Geographic that paired beautiful photography with quotes by Walt Whitman. That idea, pairing images and words, has never left me. Many of you who follow this page have seen this over the years. My tendency to add a quote to a photograph shows up often. Years ago I heard someone call it “quotography,” and the name has stayed with me.

Part II:
A few months ago I began a subscription with an iconographer. Once a month I receive a card with an icon and a short explanation. And I find myself quietly joyful when something real shows up in the mail. That is me. I am old school. I like things that are tangible. I also like supporting an artist, and eight dollars a month feels doable to me.

Part III:
I am having my Bible rebound. The company I have chosen has said they can make extra room and add pages. So I have been selecting one verse per book and pairing each one with images from my twenty plus years of photography to create a cover page for each book of the Bible. The first images have been from my pilgrimage to Israel, but I am keeping those limited. I have also traveled throughout Europe, across the United States, and I have ten of my favorite years of photography from Northwest Montana.
Before I build this out fully, I wanted to ask if this is something people would be interested in.

I have been considering creating a monthly collection for those who want more than just an image on a screen. Each month you would receive a 5x7 card and a small note. I am still working through the logistics, but I wanted to ask first before moving further.

I am not asking anyone to commit to the whole journey. This would be a cancel anytime kind of offering, because that is what I would want.

If you think something like this would bless your life, I would love to hear from you.

I am planning to keep it around eight dollars per month.

And whether or not you choose to join, I will still be sharing the work here. Most likely on a similar monthly rhythm, just a little later than those receiving the cards.

This is the first image I created. Right now they are out of order, but the collection itself will move from Genesis to Revelation. Alongside each verse, I have also chosen a single word, often from Hebrew, Aramaic, or Greek, because I love word studies.

I am likely to begin in May or June, depending on interest, so let me know. Thank you kindly.

03/11/2025

Yesterday I shared this on my personal page, and on Instagram. Several people liked it, so I thought I would share it here. I hope you like. :)

Today I found myself thinking of the twists and turns my own life and the way photography is the golden thread through it all. It suddenly called to mind the Flathead River back home in Montana. That river is too large for me to capture its winding path in a single image, perhaps a drone could do it, but I’ve never captured the full route. So this is not a photo per se, rather just me making some more art for my walls.
To create this I went into Google maps and took several screenshots of the Kalispell region. I then opened those in Photoshop and selected only the blue of the river. I used cut-copy-paste and put the river onto a plain black background.
So, with the help of Maps, this is the Flathead Lake down at the bottom, all the way up to the North Fork. It’s some of the prettiest country I've ever seen.
My life has been less like a tree branching out, and more like the twists and turns of the Flathead River where paths shift and change over time, where some tributaries are abandoned and others become soul-deep. I am always grateful for where this life has taken me.

01/04/2025

I've shared this photo before, so many of you all will have seen it. But here is the backstory. Days before leaving Montana I was fortunate enough to head up into the Glacier National Park for the best sunset that I got to see in my entire decade living there. Watching that sky change—the transition from the bright white and blue of daylight, to gold, then vivid pink, then deeper still into the darkening night—was truly awe-inspiring. I will never forget it. In a lot of ways this sunset felt like one final gift from God, to make the parting sweeter. I'm so grateful.
A number of people have purchased this print from me, but I haven't gotten around to printing it for myself, until now. Thanks to my brother.
I've just ordered a 24x48 of this for my own walls. I've wanted to do this for a few years, and I wasn't settled and the time was never quite right. This way I get to start the year with fondest memories of Montana and a reason to smile and think of my brother every time I look at this.
It's a lovely start to the year.
Happy New Year all!

12/30/2024

This post is going to be a bit different because these are NOT my photos. These are from NASA and as such, they are publicly accessible to anyone. Most of these images were created by the James Webb Telescope (which has some connections to UMich and our College of Engineering), the others are from Hubble.

This collection contains the images I used to create my calendar for 2025. To make these I first sorted through the photos available to find the ones I liked best. Chose 13 (12 plus one vertical for the cover image). I then sat down with the book of Psalms and searched for the verses that spoke about God and the heavens.
I then moved into Photoshop and began designing the quote-collages using a font I purchased years ago.

I hope you enjoy them. Happy New Year!

11/15/2024

This is one of my photographs from my pilgrimage in Western Europe in 2004. It is a sunset view of St. Peter's Basilica, the largest church in the world by interior measure. I cannot fathom how many people have traveled here over the centuries, making sketches, paintings, photographs, videos and the like in almost 398 years since it was completed. (Ironically, it will reach 398 on November 18th).
Now St. Peter's is being documented in an entirely new way: with no concern for the artistry of the individual image, favoring the capturing of the entirety and using photos, videos, photogrammetry, computer renderings and artificial intelligence to preserve and share it in an incredible new way. Four hundred thousand photos have been stitched together to create what they are calling a 'digital twin.'
Someday I hope to return to Rome and see this and other favorites again. But before then, I'm going to be checking out:
https://virtualbasilicaprod.azurewebsites.net/en/home
Personally, I'm really hoping that Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem is next.

10/09/2024

One of the things I find myself missing from my life in Montana is the Northern Lights. I had never seen the Aurora Borealis before living out there, and I find them captivating to the extent of becoming an obsession. But Ann Arbor is further south, and there is a ton more light pollution, so I haven't seen the lights since moving here.
Rumors were flying this weekend that we might have enough power in a recent solar flare to cause the Northern Lights to reach down here to Michigan, so I decided to drive up to Mackinaw (the tip of the mitten) on Saturday night to see if I could catch them one more time.
Nope. 'Fraid not. Not even a hint of green. But I did catch the beginning of a lightning storm moving toward the historic lighthouse up there. It's the lightning that is causing the purplish light in this photo.
It was a long drive, and not a lot of photography success, but even so, it was worth it. That's the reason I still love photography after all these years, even when I don't get the image I am dreaming of, I find that the lived-experience of chasing after it is still worthwhile.
Note to self: this was too much driving for one night (9 hours) next time I'm going to plan at least one night in a hotel.

09/25/2024

Oh my goodness!!! The Warmilu LLC feature story (the one that took me to Kenya last year) is finally fully online. It was published in our alumni magazine this spring, but I had to finish the video.
For a project that was photographed and filmed almost entirely in two weeks, this has consumed my life for more than a year. In the best way.
The biggest and scariest part of this for me was that in order to get permission to go all the way across the world, I had to promise to do both photography and videography. And I have had minimal video experience. Some, but not enough for UMich level. I could not have done this without the amazing team that I work with. And the best part going forward is...I am going to be taking videography classes. :)
I have resisted learning video for years. Partly because I am still so in love with stills, even though the world seems to move further and further from them. The other part of my resistance is size and scope that video demands. It is similar to photography, but truly it is its own art form. I have a metric ton to learn, but isn't that the best of life?
So thank you to Grace Hsia Haberl, the friend whose journey I got to document. To Gabe Cherry, the brilliant writer who went with me. And to Jooyoung Chung, Grace's intern to was helpful every step of the way. I've posted all the links (to the story and photo gallery on my LinkedIn) but for now, I'm just sharing the link to the video. When you hear it, that's me doing the voice over.

Born a pre-mature baby, Grace Hsia Haberl dedicated her undergraduate studies at Michigan Engineering to finding a solution to protecting premature infants f...

08/05/2024

There are people who come into my life as a photographer that are such a blessing. Sometimes they are only with me for a day, but some days, sometimes even some moments can be enough to create deep bonds. I love that about this work. Today I am sharing photos of one of the sweetest photo sessions I've had here in Michigan. And ironically, the roots of this day go back to my Montana newspaper days.
Here's the story. Once, on assignment, I was sent to Whitefish to photograph an Eagle Scout ceremony. The youngest of four brothers, all who earned the rank of Eagle Scout, was having his ceremony and I was there to photograph the event for a feature story for the paper. Little did I know that he and his family and I would continue to cross paths. At the time he was a high school senior. And over the years we've stayed friends. Rock skipping in Glacier, photos up the North Fork, and of course, the Fly Fishing and Philosophical Society meet ups. During one of his assignments in medical school he even came out to Orlando and since I was in Vero Beach at the time, we got to meet up out in Florida. Three years ago he and his fiancé asked me to come home to Montana to photograph their wedding on the top of Blacktail Sky Resort in the fall. That day could not have been more perfect.
Well, as it turns out, his wife is originally from Michigan. So when he applied for residencies the University of Michigan was one of his favorite options. :) He got in. They moved to Ann Arbor. And now they have an addition to their family. Their son was born this summer and I got to be the photographer for his first photo session out in the world.
We met at 5:45 in Ann Arbor and headed out with no clear plans towards Chelsea, Michigan. And in a beautiful way it was like a repeat of their wedding day. My friend has been on enough photo shoots with me that he knows to just drive around until I spot light that I want, and then I'll put them into the right place. And that's exactly what we did. We went out and found this light just waiting for us. Having things so unscripted is definitely a risk, but serendipity and the providence of God are powerful influencers.
So here is the family, that's little Jeremiah.