About

Welcome!

Hello and I’m very glad you stopped by. I’ll tell you a little about me and this blog.

I grew up in NYC and went to an art school, however I was a vocal major.  I’ve always been a part of an artistic society in some sort growing up.

Fast forward and currently I am now a mom of two boys, three dogs, have a wonderful patient husband and live in Allen, Texas.

A few years ago, our little family moved into a big house with a lot of walls. (well, for Texas standards, the house is not that large but for me, who grew up in an apartment in NYC, it’s very big). I like to have beauty surround me, therefore a lot of walls meant a lot of artwork, and a lot of money!

Doing research on pieces that I found to be pretty, I kind of got that ‘I can do that myself’ idea (as many of you do I know). I got some canvasses, some paint, and other things that I considered to be pretty.  Did lots of experimentation and created wall decor to fill up those empty spaces.

Well, some friends came over and raved about these pieces (that I had no idea if they were any good or not). To make a long story short, people started buying these wall decor pieces mostly from craft fairs. An Art dealer came to my house (for something completely different) and wanted to display these pieces in his Art Gallery. Some local home decor stores sold the pieces I was creating.  One day  I got an agent (quite by accident) who had a wholesale shop at the Dallas Market Hall and that’s when business really took off. My dear friend Amy and I went into business together creating wall decor for stores throughout Texas, Louisiana, and Oklahoma via our agent.

As my boys got older, and I got more busy, it has occurred to me that I don’t have enough documentation of their lives, and they are only getting bigger. It’s all going too fast! And to boot – any photo I did have of them was quite plainly, crap!

The economy was taking a hit, sales were slowing down right at that time when I started researching photography.   Once again, I got that ‘I think I can do that myself’ mentality.  I proved that I had a bit of artistic ability and a DIY attitude.  Let’s just take on a new medium to play with.  So,  I took a little photography class and purchased that ‘fancy camera’.   That was in October of 2008.

Glad I did it, but…….(In hindsight, ignorance is bliss)

I had NO IDEA of the enormity of learning I was about to embark on.  I think if I had a clue, I would have went running in avoidance of the overwhelmingness of it all.  Loads of equipment, workshop after workshop, software and more software, computers and learning all this ‘techie’ stuff, how to use the camera correctly, studio equipment, props, learning about light, learning about the internet, SEO, developing your style ,color, color theory, skin tones, backgrounds, composition, calibration, printers, marketing, networking, processing, working with children, working with adults, groups, posing, forums, graphics, different personality types, off camera lighting, studio lighting, location scouting, not in that order, but pretty much all at the same time…..Have a headache yet? I can keep going if you want. Yep – not as easy as picking up that paintbrush and mixing paint (that’s not easy either – just different).

Obviously, back in 2008, I was not aware of the immensity of the learning curve, however, as I joke above – I still wouldn’t have changed a thing.  I did it for my kids, and I still do it for my kids, my heart, soul, and my sanity. I crave photography, I crave making art and capturing the beauty in everyday moments. There’s a ton to learn and am still learning, forever learning, but that makes it fun.   Often I’m in search of a new workshop just so I can get inspired again in practicing what I just learned.

I really wish I didn’t have to do it as a business. If you actually read the paragraph above (actually if you made it this far I’m impressed), there’s obviously a lot more involved than just buying that fancy camera. Therefore I do need to charge what my time, effort, and cost of doing business.  A lot of photographers include ‘talent’ in why they charge.  I would apply my so called ‘talent’ for free if I could.  Of course photographers should charge for their ‘talent’.  I’m just speaking for myself.  If I have ‘talent’ , that’s not why I’m charging you.

Well, learning so much in a relatively short amount of time, and I focused soooo much on the craft, my marketing has been lacking. I have an outdated website, I have clients, and most importantly I have a family that takes up my time and they will ALWAYS come first. I don’t have business cards, I’ve lost a ton of images due to a hard drive crash that I thought was backed up, (that killed me) and just now I’ve got this thing called a ‘blog’ that I’m working on with mostly recent work.

So – I’m uploading images from the last few years, while continuing to learn the craft, developing, and most importantly, documenting my family. Wish I started this much earlier – but am glad that I ‘started’.  I will continue to treat this as a ‘blog’ as we move forward, uploading sessions as they happen and posting possibly blog worthy news and photos.

Thank you for reading, and feel free to leave some ‘blog love’ if you see fit!

Warmly,

Mary Schannen