Jena seeks out authentic emotion in her food and lifestyle photography with a strong emphasis on narratives and blending modern and heritage styles. Over the past 13 years, Jena has been known for her elevated earthy, artistic photography style focused on appetite appeal and brand storytelling. Her classical training as a fine art painter creates a unique photography style that perfectly complements both editorial and advertising campaigns.

The studio is centrally located between the Midwestern hubs of Chicago, IL, and Minneapolis, MN, surrounded by spectacular natural landscapes, rich soil, and the space to create big ideas.  Meet Carlin Creative at a destination, or go feel the hospitality of the studio in person or virtually by shooting remotely.

Jena creates for clients worldwide such as Ghirardelli, Martha Stewart, Kohl’s, Taste of Home, Sam’s Club, The Buckle, Press, Kerry Taste and Nutrition, and Iowa Premium Angus.

In addition to Jena’s commercial work, she prides herself on building the community and knowledge of commercial food photography through the Little Rusted Ladle blog, the Master the Art of Food Photography online summit, and her mentorship program Portfolio to Profit.

Jena seeks out authentic emotion in her food and lifestyle photography with a strong emphasis on narratives and blending modern and heritage styles. Over the past 13 years, Jena has been known for her elevated earthy, artistic photography style focused on appetite appeal and brand storytelling. Her classical training as a fine art painter creates a unique photography style that perfectly complements both editorial and advertising campaigns.

The studio is centrally located between the Midwestern hubs of Chicago, IL, and Minneapolis, MN, surrounded by spectacular natural landscapes, rich soil, and the space to create big ideas.  Meet Carlin Creative at a destination, or go feel the hospitality of the studio in person or virtually by shooting remotely.

Jena creates for clients worldwide such as Ghirardelli, Martha Stewart, Kohl’s, Taste of Home, Sam’s Club, The Buckle, Press, Kerry Taste and Nutrition, and Iowa Premium Angus.

In addition to Jena’s commercial work, she prides herself on building the community and knowledge of commercial food photography through the Little Rusted Ladle blog, the Master the Art of Food Photography online summit, and her mentorship program Portfolio to Profit.

Jena Carlin is a Midwest-based food and lifestyle photographer, videographer, and prop stylist. Over the past 10 years, Jena has been known for her earthy, genuine, captivating style focused on appetite appeal. She is a classically trained fine art painter which inspires a unique take on her approach to her photography style that perfectly complements both editorial and advertising campaigns. She seeks out authentic emotion in her food and lifestyle photography with a strong emphasis on narratives and blending modern and heritage styles.

Jena shoots for clients such as Ghirardelli, Martha Stewart, Kohl’s, Taste of Home, Sam’s Club, The Buckle, Press, Kerry Taste and Nutrition, and Iowa Premium Angus.

In addition to her commercial work, Jena prides herself on building the community and knowledge of commercial food photography through the Little Rusted Ladle blog, Master the Art of Food Photography online summit, and premium group mentorship program, Portfolio to Profit.

Jena Carlin is a Midwest-based food and lifestyle photographer, cookbook author, and prop stylist. Over the past 10 years, Jena has been known for her earthy authentic captivating style focused on appetite appeal.

She is a classically trained fine art painter which has a unique take on her approach to her photography style that perfectly complements both editorial and advertising campaigns. She seeks out emotional genuineness in her food and lifestyle photography with a strong emphasis on narratives and blending modern and heritage styles. 

As an experienced photographer, her images have a quality and elegance skilled at working with both natural and artificial light.

She shoots for clients such as Ghirardelli, Martha Stewart, Kohl’s, Taste of Home, Sam’s Club, The Buckle, Press, Kerry Taste and Nutrition, Iowa Premium Angus.

Jena founded Master the Art of Food Photography, an online summit engaging and educating the food photography community around the world.

Jena Carlin is a freelance commercial and editorial photographer, videographer, and cookbook author with nearly ten years of experience. While food photography is her specialty, she is also passionate about lifestyle, product, and fashion photography.

She regularly executes photo shoots from conceptualization and art direction to set styling and final imagery. This dedication to the whole process has led to many exciting clients including Reader’s Digest, Maurice’s, and Martha Stewart, where her work has been published nationally. 

Carlin Creative operates out of her photography studio, a 3,500 sq. ft. historic building in charming Auburndale, WI, perfectly situated between the Midwestern hubs of Chicago and Minneapolis. The studio is fully equipped for hosting clients and completing work remotely. 

Carlin Creative works primarily by capturing the client’s envisioned hero image first, and then quickly expounds on it through exploration of light and perspective. The result is a full library of images in beautiful vignettes, perfect for telling the story of a brand in many avenues, especially the ever-important world of social media.

Carlin Creative is a freelance commercial and editorial photographer, videographer, and cookbook author with nearly ten years of experience. While food photography is her specialty, she is also passionate about lifestyle, product, and fashion photography.

She regularly executes photo shoots from conceptualization and art direction to set styling and final imagery. This dedication to the whole process has led to many exciting clients including Reader’s Digest, Maurice’s, and Martha Stewart, where her work has been published nationally. 

Carlin Creative operates out of her photography studio, a 3,500 sq. ft. historic building in charming Auburndale, WI, perfectly situated between the Midwestern hubs of Chicago and Minneapolis. The studio is fully equipped for hosting clients and completing work remotely. 

Carlin Creative works primarily by capturing the client’s envisioned hero image first, and then quickly expounds on it through exploration of light and perspective. The result is a full library of images in beautiful vignettes, perfect for telling the story of a brand in many avenues, especially the ever-important world of social media.

Carlin Creative is genuinely fascinated by creating a narrative with light, composition, and texture.

Carlin Creative's approach to photography is nailing the first incredible, but in some cases "safe" image, like in any photoshoot you may have been in. Then, she quickly gathers a collection of angles, tweaking light and objects as we move around the set. In some cases these images become the hero and that first image becomes second best. Her team allows time and creativity to improve upon incredible. She has found these extra vignettes of product or mood to be extremely valuable to her clients, especially with the need to promote on social media and for those who want to build a library of images. She believes that investigating other angles can lead to more intriguing and unpredictable hero images, while at the same time create a story of supporting images. This will add value to each photoshoot by being able to portray your brand to consumers in various ways.

Visit Carlin Creative's website for more information.