As promised, over the next few weeks, I plan to share the full sessions that accompanied the Artist Spotlight features because I realized that I want you to see how much fun we have lol.
So today? We have Anastasia! We got together back in September of 2013 for a fun mini session :) Maybe the warm imagery will help warm you up on this cold winter day lol.
If you’re interested in booking a session and would like to have the DFinney Experience yourself, email me and schedule yours today! Currently booking: March and April 2015.
You guys, I have been beyond thrilled with how this teaching thing has been going. Seeing the immediate improvement in a photographer’s images, workflow, and just overall understanding is just… I don’t even know how to explain it, but I never get tired of it!
After this past weekend’s sessions in DC, I have now officially taught over 55 photographers, can you believe that?! I can’t lol.
Since 2015 sessions are gearing up, I just wanted to take a moment to reflect :)
The weather this weekend was FREEZING. And that is not an overstatement lol. So due to the weather, we had our practice session inside and it turned out wonderfully! The same principles I use when shooting outside are exactly the same when shooting indoors, so the attendees were able to put them into practice in a slightly more challenging environment and they did a beautiful job photographing our lovely model Jennifer!
The two photos below were taken by Stephanie Decker who previously was very hesitant about sharing her work… but in one day we got rid of that! ;)
Such gorgeous shots! What I love most about these programs is that I don’t teach how to shoot like me. I teach how to honor YOUR vision and how to use the techniques that I do to get a well-exposed photo every time (I say well-exposed because what that means is up to you- everyone’s eye is different so what’s correct to me, may not be to you and vice versa)and bring to life what YOU see.
Ready for an AMAZING before & after? Boudoir photographer, Bonita Elias attended the DC session this past weekend and walked away with stunning results!
Before our mentor session:
After our mentor session (well technically after just a couple hours lol)
I was soooo happy with how quickly she was able to apply what she learned and get these great photos of our beautiful model!
From Bonita on her experience:
“I had a blast and was pleased that DFinney Photography taught so many wonderful ways to shoot in natural light by changing a few settings in the camera. I love the small size of the workshops and already began to put to use the things I learned that will save me time. Danni is also a lot of fun with a great relaxed sense of humor. Well worth the investment!”
Thank you so much Bonita! I can’t wait to see how well you capture your subjects now in beautiful natural light :)
Next month, I will be holding sessions in DC (March 6 & 7) and Houston (March 13 & 14) so pleaseemail me ASAP if you’d like to attend because booking will end for DC at the end of this week and for Houston, at the end of next week!
Also, I’d like to see if there is enough interest to hold sessions in Richmond, VA, Phoenix, AZ, and San Francisco, CA. If you live in or near any of those cities and are interested, please email me and I’ll keep you in the loop if dates are added for your city :)
That’s it for today! I have lots of photo sessions to share with you this week and another artist spotlight so stay close!
I have a brand new creative to share with you today! My wonderful friend and fellow photographer- Erika!
I’ve known Erika for maybe a little over a year as we first met at a Munaluchi event at the end of 2013! We kept up via social media and finally met in person last year through Sugar of Taylor and Hov! I love linking up with like-minded fellow creatives so it has been a pleasure to get to know Erika, and I knew she would be a great feature for the blog :)
Erika has such a warm spirit that is conveyed perfectly through her work and I am consistently drawn to the emotion that she is able to capture in the sweet “in between” moments that I sometimes forget about.
Anyway enough from me! Lol Meet Erika!
What is your name? Erika Layne Salazar
Where are you located? Silver Spring, MD
What do you do? I am a professional wedding photographer, wife, mom of two, artist, plant lover, thrift store shopper.
How long have you been a photographer? That is a bit tricky to answer. I’ve always known I was an artist. I didn’t have to choose a specific art major in college, but I found that each year, my schedule was built around my photography interests. After graduation, I taught darkroom and digital photography for seven years, while working on my own personal projects and building by professional portfolio and client base. Two years ago I was able to transition to being a full time photographer and business owner.
How did you become interested in photography and when did you know you wanted to make a career out of your passion? Since elementary school, I remember going to summer art camp at MCAD, a small two year college that has since been adopted by the art program at Montgomery college. So I’ve been encouraged to explore art and been surrounded by it from a young age. They had a dark room and as soon as I was old enough to take the course, I did just that. When I was too old to attend the camp, I started assisting the teacher for my community service credits in high school. From the moment I found out that you could make a career out of the arts, and actually go to college to study it, I knew I was going to be an artist of some kind.
Who are some of your influences/inspirations? I have always loved the great photographers, Gordon Parks, Annie Leibovitz, Richard Avedon, I also draw inspiration from a number of photographers I stumble upon on Instagram or the web. When I find photographers with unique styles, I might have their work in my mind when shooting my next session, or when I’m editing I’ll try to draw inspiration from the mood of their photo when post-processing.
What has been your favorite project that you’ve worked on so far? Definitely the #LoveYourLines campaign oninstagram that Alex Elle and I created @loveyourlines. This project has fulfilled me in ways that I never imaged. I have always felt self conscious about my own body, specifically about the many stretchmarks I have had since I was a teen. I knew I couldn’t be the only one. You can Google stretchmarks and all you see are remedies to get rid of them and photos of celebrities who just had babies who seemingly don’t have any. It can really make you think that stretchmarks are not supposed to be there and something is wrong with you if you have them. It gives me new life, to think that I had something to do with changing everyday women’s perception of their themselves for the better.
What other types of creative work do you do? I love to craft, and make things in general. I like making things for the house or the kids rooms. My father and I made my son a speed racer bed, back when he was into race cars. Now I want to convert it into a cloud bed for my daughter. Lately, I have had an urge to sew, so that’s on my Sunday afternoon to do list. Most of my creative projects are born out of a want of need, for example I needed a new work desk, so I found an old affordable one I liked from the thrift store and painted it purple.
What inspires you? Nature, good conversations, seeing other artists making a living.
What keeps you motivated? Brainstorming with other creative thinkers, and doing a mix of what I want to do with what I have to do.
Any advice to fellow creatives (in your industry or otherwise)? The lesson I have to constantly remind myself is that I am making my dreams come true at my own pace and try not to compare my achievements to other creatives. Also, as a wedding and lifestyle photographer, I don’t want to get caught up in thinking I’m supposed to be shooting in a particular style. I love Elizabeth Messina as a wedding photographer, and her work is greatly sought after. While I want to draw inspiration from her work, I don’t want to copy her, I want to develop my own style and always be true to myself with everything I create.
Any other fun tidbits we should know about you? I think I merged the answers to this question into the other questions. But what I didn’t share yet, was that my husband Carlos is now in business with me. He started out as my second shooter for weddings, then joined on board full time about six months ago. It has been the biggest blessing and the biggest challenge at the same time. I am so excited to be on this crazy ride with him and to be able to be a bigger part of my kids lives while they are young.
I hope you enjoyed getting to know Erika a little better! Be sure to check her out on social media and stay tuned for the next two weeks because I’ll be sharing new creatives every week this month!
Well rested?? I am! Lol. I will stop eventually but for now I’m just really excited like I discovered something new- sleep really works guys! Lol
Anyway I was looking forward to this post as soon as my Atlanta trip began last week because I could feel it was going to be awesome, and it was! Since announcing the change in my mentor session structuring, Atlanta was my first stop of 2015 and my first time holding both sessions.
The first was Mentor Session 101 on Thursday and it was wonderful! We had such a warm group and I really enjoyed working with everyone. These are some of my absolute favorite sessions to do because I loveee helping people see just how SIMPLE taking great photos can be :)
New this year is having a model for the practice session and we couldn’t have asked for a better model, Aeleise was so good! For someone who hasn’t modeled before (and doesn’t generally like taking pictures), she did a fabulous job! She was a trooper as well because it was fairly chilly, but you couldn’t tell at all from her photos! *Fab makeup by Stephanie*Group selfie time! Now I totally failed in this regard because I forgot to get a group shot with my REAL camera, but at least I got a selfie so this will have to suffice :) With a special guest appearance by Stephanie in the back lol. Next up? Mentor Session 102 on Friday! Group selfie pictured above :)
This was my very first 102 class! So these are the founding members lol. And as Traci reminded me, she was actually in my very first group mentor session in February of last year in Little Rock! It’s so great to have such awesome clients, I really do appreciate you Traci :)
I think these sessions are going to quickly become my faves because not only do I get to work with previous clients again, but we really get into the meat of owning and operating a successful business! This is not to say that we solve all problems in 7-8 hours, but it is to say that the attendees leave so much more equipped to take their businesses to the next level. BUT don’t take my word for it! (I feel like that’s my favorite thing to say lol)Ebony, my very first two-day mentee attended both 101 and 102 together and walked away with nothing but great things to say:“I was a little hesitant that the workshops may be geared more towards photographers with less technical and business experience. However I think you did a brilliant job at adapting the sessions to meet the skill levels of everyone in the group. I liked the pre-questionnaire because it forced me to sit down and really think about what I wanted most out of each session. I really appreciated your candidness and sincerity; as well as your openness in sharing the real work that went (and continues to go) into building your portfolio and your business. Many photographers seem less open in that regards and that was EXTREMELY helpful for me and really helped me be a peace with where I am in my photography journey… I also noted, and appreciated, all the other small details that made the experience even more enjoyable (i.e. the icing details)- branded study guides and notebooks, pens, LOTS of snacks -winning!!-:), the complimentary headshots- option for make-up. You thought of everything- and please know that it did not go unnoticed. Thank you!! Ebony, I can’t thank you enough ♥ Hearing and seeing how beneficial these sessions are makes all the work that goes into it, more than worth it.
Not only did she write this amazing review though, she also wrote an awesome recap on her blog! PLEASE go check this out, because I honestly think this recap will put mine to shame (whenever I post it) lol. Let’s also acknowledge and appreciate the fact that she got this review up (and photos edited) in just two days following her session- homegirl is fired up and I love it! Lol
After an action-packed two full days of teaching I was pooped! Lol but not done with Atlanta just yet, on the following two days I had a couple sessions with Kia of Without Rival
and Mae- better known as Natural Chica! It was such a pleasure to work with her again as our last session together was back in 2012! And amazingly, those photos are still used for her brand today! :D I can’t’ wait to share her full maternity session because these photos are seriously perfect and this is not an understatement lol. You know my love for walls and we stumbled upon THE most perfect wall for her that we could have ever found.
Well that’s it for my long and rambling recap lol. Hope you enjoyed reading :) Stay tuned tomorrow for a brand new artist spotlight!
If you’re interested in participating in an upcoming session, check out the details here
I hope the new week is treating you well so far, and if it’s not, there’s still time to turn it around :)
Today I got the urge to write about how I’ve been feeling lately… Calm. And though it doesn’t sound all that noteworthy. It is, for me. I normally have so much going on (not because I’m so super busy and everybody needs something from me- mostly because I’m a chronically poor manager of my time) that I am constantly walking around in a state of anxiety without even realizing it. I am a fairly mellow person so when there’s too much going on, I’m overwhelmed. I’m also easily excitable but that’s a topic for another day lol. I am quite literally a bag of opposites but somehow they work together to make me, me! Lol
But on the matter of being anxious & overwhelmed… you know what exacerbates that? Not getting enough sleep.
Not getting enough sleep is probably one of THE top reasons why productivity suffers- mine anyway. I wake up, I’m tired… So I slowly get on the things I have to do for that day. Get distracted by non-essential things and social media because that doesn’t take much mental energy at all… Next thing you know, much more time has passed than I realize so I beat myself up for wasting that much time again. I don’t want to go to sleep without getting x number of things done, so what do I do? Stay up super late until x number of things are complete. But of course it takes me longer to get these things done because I’m tired. Then I fall into bed and wake up the next day exhausted because I went to bed too late… aaaand repeat the cycle. Because something is always due, work needs to be done, and when you’re self-employed, true breaks don’t really happen.
So how can I change it?
I’ve been waking up lately (as in the past 7 days), not thinking about how much I have to do and how little time I have to do it all, but truly trying to move through my days a bit more mindful. What brought about this radical change? Sleep.
The only thing I can attribute to this new calmer space I’m in is the amount of sleep I’ve been getting. I was working in Atlanta for the past few days and every night I had a full night’s rest. Prior to going out of town I started going to sleep early as well, and when I came back, I kept it going! Though my diet is still a work in progress (I don’t eat horribly- probably just more sweets than I should), I am already thinking and feeling better JUST from getting more sleep.
The reason I titled this the “Art of Doing Less” is because to be well rested, I have to be okay with shutting down. I have to be okay with not getting everything done. And what this past week has taught me is that it is indeed okay. I do not subscribe to the philosophy that in order to be successful you have to work around the clock/ not sleep/ be on the “grind” incessantly. That is actually quite literally the recipe for disaster because our bodies are not designed that way. We NEED rest to think clearly and make wise decisions. All nighters are necessary sometimes, but I am really trying to make an effort to move away from that being my standard mode of operation because I can say from personal experience now that being well rested feels so much better than getting everything done :)
Sorry this post ended up reading more like a novel lol. But clearly I am passionate about this topic lol.
If you’re interested in booking a session and would like to have the DFinney Experience yourself, email me and schedule yours today! Currently booking: March and April 2015.
Group selfie time! Now I totally failed in this regard because I forgot to get a group shot with my REAL camera, but at least I got a selfie so this will have to suffice :) With a special guest appearance by Stephanie in the back lol. 
I think these sessions are going to quickly become my faves because not only do I get to work with previous clients again, but we really get into the meat of owning and operating a successful business! This is not to say that we solve all problems in 7-8 hours, but it is to say that the attendees leave so much more equipped to take their businesses to the next level. BUT don’t take my word for it! (I feel like that’s my favorite thing to say lol)Ebony, my very first two-day mentee attended both 101 and 102 together and walked away with nothing but great things to say:
“I was a little hesitant that the workshops may be geared more towards photographers with less technical and business experience. However I think you did a brilliant job at adapting the sessions to meet the skill levels of everyone in the group. I liked the pre-questionnaire because it forced me to sit down and really think about what I wanted most out of each session. I really appreciated your candidness and sincerity; as well as your openness in sharing the real work that went (and continues to go) into building your portfolio and your business. Many photographers seem less open in that regards and that was EXTREMELY helpful for me and really helped me be a peace with where I am in my photography journey… I also noted, and appreciated, all the other small details that made the experience even more enjoyable (i.e. the icing details)- branded study guides and notebooks, pens, LOTS of snacks -winning!!-:), the complimentary headshots- option for make-up. You thought of everything- and please know that it did not go unnoticed. Thank you!!
and Mae- better known as 
It was such a pleasure to work with her again as our last session together was 
