The Artist
A name built from her children. A business built from love. The reason everything started.
Zenassidy Photography was born the moment Renee Daley picked up a camera in 2016 to photograph her young daughter who was pursuing modeling. She had no idea she was also beginning to photograph herself into an entirely new life.
Renee grew up in rural Jamaica with an eye for beauty that had nowhere to go — until photography found her. Self-taught and unhurried, she learned her craft with a Canon T5i and the generous guidance of her wedding photographer mentor — a man who opened the door and has never stopped holding it open.
What she looks for behind the lens has never changed. A gaze. A story written in someone's expression — whether sad, joyful, alluring or quietly defiant. The true, unadulterated essence of a person or a place. Renee doesn't manufacture moments. She waits for them.
She photographs to tell stories. Her own. Others'. The places that refuse to be forgotten.
One image above all others captures why this work matters. Derval — a Rastaman in rural Jamaica, face lifted toward the sky, at peace in himself. Renee was afraid to ask. He was too intriguing not to. He said yes, and what followed was one of the purest moments she has ever captured through a lens. When she delivered his print — as she does for every subject she photographs — Derval was overjoyed, shocked, and absolutely overwhelmed. He told her it was the best thing anyone had ever done for him. She got teary eyed. That exchange is why she makes this work.
Among her most cherished images are photographs of her own children — caught in the unguarded moments when they express something real and heartfelt to each other. No direction. No performance. Just the pure, fleeting tenderness that passes between people who love each other completely. One of these images is her most treasured — too personal, too sacred to ever leave her hands. That one she keeps.
Since that first camera, Renee's photography has taken her across the world. Exhibited at ImageNation Milan, a highly respected international photography festival where her work was featured in Just Women, an exhibition celebrating international female photographers, and where she sat as a panelist in the presence of Alessia Glaviano, former Vogue Italia Photo Director. Galerie Joseph Palais, Paris, one of the city's most celebrated gallery spaces. Further exhibitions in Barcelona. Shows at Monad Gallery in New York -HerStory and Here & Now. Brooklyn Art Cave - Final Canvas and Where We From. ArtExpo New York 2023, one of the largest fine art expos in the country. An honourable mention in the prestigious Julia Margaret Cameron Awards. And most recently, an honorable mention in the TIPA camerAmore Contest 2026; recognition from one of the most respected photography publications in the world. And proud membership of Black Women Photographers;a global community of some of the most vital image makers working today.
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ImageNation Milan / Just Women exhibition - Milan Italy
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Brooklyn Art Cave
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Art Expo NY 2024