What Drives My Love of Photos
Pictures Are Important to Me
My name is Fabiana Brownell. I live surrounded by the people and things I love. My fiance' and I live in a country setting on some wooded acreage by a lake. We share our home with our two furry kids, Copper, an Italian Spinone and Ruger, a Labrador Retriever. I am a mom to three pretty awesome grown kids and a grandma to two little girls and three grand dogs. I'm a very lucky mom and grandma surrounded by a family I love very much.
I've had a job since I was 16, but none that I've been this excited about. For the last 36 years, I worked for a company that I loved. After that many years at a company, co-workers become family and life revolves around work. Last year I decided to make some changes and left my job. I knew how much I'd miss my work family, but I was very looking forward to having more time to do the things that I love. One of these things was photography. A hobby that I've been passionate about since sitting on the couch with my grandma looking through her photo albums.
My grandma and I would go picture by picture and page by page through her albums. I would ask her questions about each picture and she would describe to me in great colorful detail (despite the photos being black and white) what was going on when these pictures were taken. I would spend hours staring at pictures of these people. Especially my parents when they were young. I loved imagining what life was like for them. Thinking things like "Who did I look like?" "How old were they in these pictures?" "Wow, my grandpa sure looked so different with hair." Those kind of things. How cool to see what my parents' Christmas tree looked like for my first holiday and what my mom looked like in her dance recital costume when she was not much more than two years old. I am so thankful that my grandma loved taking pictures that documented her life. My grandma is now gone, but her pictures aren't. They are something tangible of the past. Pictures capture memories. Our minds might forget, but pictures don't. These photos are a treasured gift that she gave our family.
At age 17, I bought my first "real" camera of my own. It was a Canon AE-1. I bought it for a photography class in high school. It was a big deal to me. This was back in the days of film and darkrooms. Creating a photo from film was like magic to me (still is) and I was hooked. I started out as one of the yearbook photographers and evolved into someone that carried my camera with me wherever I went. I loved documenting things that were important to me. I'm thankful for the photos I have of those years. They are my treasures. I continued to document my life and my kids as they grew up. These photos are so, so special to me and I hope they are special to my family too.
I now am getting the chance to help others document their lives and interests. I know that these portraits will be special to them, but even more special to their future generations. I hope that someday, they get the chance to sit on the couch with their grand kids and look at pictures too.
I love this job!
Affordable Portraits
I aim to provide high quality, yet still affordable photography sessions for individuals and families. We often think of scheduling a photo session as a luxury, but it doesn't have to be. My photo sessions can be as affordable as going out to dinner at a restaurant. You shouldn't have to avoid photographers because you don't think you can afford one. You deserve to have photos of your life without breaking the bank. If I can make them affordable, and still give you incredible portraits, then you can gift yourself with more of this good stuff. I think that your family will benefit from that.
Did you know that our current generations are THE most photographed people of all time? With the evolution of cell phones, most of us have a camera at our fingertips throughout the day. People snap pics constantly.
BUT...
With all of these photos existing almost exclusively in digital forms (on our phones, computers or in cyberspace (Facebook, Instagram etc.), they could be gone in the blink of an eye. If you lose your phone or it quits working, you could lose all of your pics. Even if you use a backup source, there could be problems. If something was to happen to you and your family doesn't know your password, it could prevent them from having access to all those memories you so loving captured. It's crazy, isn't it? They say that we could go from "the most photographed generation" to "the generation that almost doesn't photographically exist" within a couple of decades. WOW!
Think about that.
Sharing Your Life Story
I truly believe that photos tell stories. Photos can be a direct reflection of life, or a cool look at life from a unique point of view.
If you read my story (above), you'll know that I believe that photos are family treasures. Looking at them can rekindle emotions of times past and bring back fond memories of loved ones, life experiences and accomplishments. They document that you were here and the things and times that were important to you.
There are so many events that are worthy of a professional photograph. From the more common things like:
High School Senior pictures,
Family portraits,
Engagements,
Weddings and
Newborn photos.
Yes, I LOVE taking photos for all of these because they ARE worthy of documenting, but there is so much more going on in our lives that are just as worthy.
Have you ever thought about these?
A new home,
your furry kids (pets),
a finished landscaping or remodeling project,
your family reunion,
baby or wedding showers,
a (finally) restored car project,
an adoption ceremony,
your house decorated for the holidays,
kids playing in a park or your back yard,
your kids participating in sports,
or even a neighborhood backyard barbecue.
Document your life....it goes by so fast. You'll be thankful you did!
Whatever is important to you is worth capturing. I encourage you to take your cameras out and shoot! Even the most ordinary things can be cool to look back on.
For the times you want a little more than a cell phone picture, please let me have the honor to help you tell your story.