2013 to 2018 | Countdown to 10 Years!

Ya’ll. August is done!

I meant to peek in here a bit sooner, but we’ll just finish strong with a super full recap of 2013 through 2018!

This has been a really fun project to share with you guys and the feedback on facebook and instagram has been dope! I’m doing my best to respond to your comments 😅

Now, let’s pick up where we left off, with the 2013 through 2018 recap!

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2013

This year was full of engagement sessions! I also tried my hand at business lifestyle imagery and I really enjoyed it! It was fun taking business photos with a bit more personality than your typical formal headshot.

Style
In 2013, I was becoming aware of more things while I was shooting- like making sure that photos were not just technically correct, but that my subjects LOOKED comfortable, that was really important to me and still is today! I incorporated a few styled shoots here and there for experimentation and it was really cool seeing my work improve in real time.

Equipment
Nikon D700 and the 50/f1.4 and 35/f1.4 lenses. I sold the 85 because it didn’t fit with how I was shooting at the time.

Services
I began offering mentoring sessions! I dipped my toes into the teaching pool in Nov of 2012, but quickly realized that several modifications were needed. The program has been revised more over the years, but I remember really falling in love with teaching in 2013. It was very cool seeing my mentees’ photos improve in real time and an honor to help them along in their natural light photography journey 💛

2014

2014 was a really busy year- full of ALL of the things: teaching, weddings, engagements, families, maternity, and lots of travel. Looking back, I can’t believe that I did as much as I did, but it was a joy to work with so many wonderful clients. Despite the exhaustion that came from so much travel, I’m really glad I had the opportunity to do it.

Style
I tried to be a bit more intentional with how I planned for my client sessions. I would prep beforehand by reviewing ideas on Pinterest or referencing photos I had saved elsewhere so that I could have something to build on when I was with my client. I also worked more to allow the personality of my clients to shine as opposed to trying to get them into poses that didn’t really fit their vibe.⠀

Equipment
Nikon D700 and the 50/f1.4 and 35/f1.4 lenses. For weddings, my brother shot with the Nikon D700 as well, but he used the 24-70/f2.8 zoom and 135/f2 lenses.

Services
In 2014 I held my very first workshops, and subsequently determined that they weren’t for me lol. I also held my first group mentoring sessions and that became a staple for the next few years. The big new thing for 2014 was weddings! I had previously shot weddings with my brother as his second shooter but when he decided to discontinue AJ Finney Fine Wedding Imagery, he said that he would shoot with me if I decided to offer weddings, so we did! It was an excellent collaboration because he likes the documentary style of photography that’s perfect for wedding days and I love portraits, so we each shined in our respective areas.

2015

Style
I think 2015 was the year I noticed myself REALLY leaning into my love affair with color harmony. I really enjoyed curating my photo sessions and making sure that they had a warm and cohesive feel.

Equipment
The same as 2014! Although occasionally I would use the 20/f1.8 lens for weddings if needed.

Services
I held 30 mentoring sessions in 10 cities and honestly, in retrospect, I was doing THE most (for me). I realized that high travel was not for me so moving forward I toned that down a bit. It's funny though how everything is relative because to some this isn't much travel at all, but 2015 taught me a lot about listening to my body (or more accurately, what happens when I don’t 🙃) and finding what works for me.⁠

2016

In 2016, things got real. I started to #talkaboutuncomfortablethings after I was diagnosed with depression and later, bipolar 2 disorder. The year started on a HARD note and I took a step back from work. After a couple months, I started shooting again because I realized that I needed it. It was really helpful (and a privilege!) to be able to create beautiful things and bring joy to others despite how I was feeling.

Style
I can’t say that I made any real (or I should say, intentional) progress with my work this year because honestly, most days were spent just trying to function. I feel like I was often on auto-pilot when it came to work, so thankfully my previous years of practice kicked in to keep me afloat and provide glimmers of creativity when I needed it.

Equipment
Nikon D700 + 50/f1.4 and 35/f1.4 lenses.

Services
I was no longer offering wedding photography, and I greatly reduced my travel and the number of mentoring sessions that I was offering. I also started a small side project selling a curated collection of headwraps. It was cool for a hot second, but definitely not something I wanted to keep up with so #dfinneyheadwraps lived a very short life lol.⁠⠀

2017

Style
For the most part my style was fairly consistent by this point when it came to my use of light and color, but I began to try and focus more on capturing moments instead of perfectly curating everything (which I can tend to do by default). And honestly that’s something I’m still working on now!

Equipment
Nikon D700 with the 50/f1.4 and 35/f1.4 lenses. I also reintroduced the 85/f1.8 lens back into the arsenal!

Services
I started a personal photo project inspired by what I was dealing with (re: my mental health struggles). Named after the hashtag I created- #talkaboutuncomfortablethings, this was a way for me to kind of depict some of the feelings I was dealing with, in photo form- and I was actually able to share it at a solo art show in Dallas!

2018

Style
My goal remained very similar to what it was in 2017- aiming to capture more authentic moments. Where I think the biggest change happened was with my editing. I still processed my photos in a similar way, but I became more detail oriented in Lightroom & Photoshop- resulting in (in my opinion) a flawless final product.⠀

Equipment
I was a bit all over the place with my equipment this year. I was primarily shooting with my Nikon D700, but as I tried to figure out what my next camera would be, I rented the D610, D750, D800, and D810. And used those with my 50/f1.4, 35/f1.4, and 85/f1.4 lenses.

Services
Limited wedding photography services were now available as well. But instead of traditional weddings, I was now specializing in photography for small/intimate weddings and elopements. Business photography also saw a definite increase and it was a joy to work with so many creative professionals!

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Whew! So let me tell you something… Although this seemed like a great idea in July, when I sat down and actually started to bring this to life- pulling images, trying to remember where I was creatively, and sharing blurbs from each year… I no longer thought it was such a great idea lol.

It was a good idea, but I definitely underestimated the work that was going to go into what initially started out as a way to help me see that 10 years is a pretty big deal! I’m thankful that I did it though. It’s been super fun chatting with you guys about things and reading your comments on facebook and instagram!

Check out the entire month-long countdown to 10 years by viewing the hashtag #10yearsofdfinney or by visiting @dfinneyphoto on instagram!

What’s next? Well DFinney Photography’s actual 10 Year Anniversary of course :)

2009 to 2012 | Countdown to 10 Years!

On August 1, I started a month long countdown to my 10 year anniversary on September 3!

Check out the first 12 days and see upcoming posts by following the hashtag #10yearsofdfinney on instagram!

While I am sharing insights re: finding and refining my style, process, equipment, etc in the captions of each post, I wanted to share a bit more on the blog as well. The idea to even do a countdown in the first place was born out of me trying to combat negative thinking- I wasn’t feeling like 10 years had any significance (I know that’s not true), but I had to remind myself of how far I’ve come, so this was a way to both do that AND share the photo journey with you :) So let’s dive in!

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2009 (and earlier)

Although the official start of DFinney Photography was in 2009, my photo journey began a few years before, where my original interest in graphic design and photo editing eventually moved me to be more interested in the photo side of things.

Style
Much of my early work was VERY heavy on the editing because that’s literally why I wanted to take pictures- to have something to edit. Before I began taking pictures of anyone else, I was quite into creative self-portraits :) Eventually I wanted to take photos of others, and later still I began to pay more attention to composition, color, and light to try to have photos that didn’t need AS much editing, but it was still a very big part of my work at the time.

Equipment
When I began, I shot with any digital camera I could use. I had a small Fuji FinePix camera, I used a Canon PowerShot camera from work… eventually my brother purchased the Fuji S9100 (it was a digital camera resembling a DSLR, but did not have a detachable lens). Beginning in 2009, I was shooting with the Nikon D80, my brother’s 24-70mm f/2.8 lens, and then the 50mm f/1.4.

2010

2010 was my first official year in business. I had no idea what I was doing, I just knew that I enjoyed it. But with each situation I dealt with, it helped me to begin to put things in place to help me operate a little more efficiently.

Style
I was still in touch with my digital art roots when it came to editing, but I was beginning to be drawn towards a clean and bright look. However, I wasn't skilled (or confident) enough to say THIS is my style. I tailored a lot of what I did to what people wanted and still had a strong desire to experiment with different looks- so that's what I did.

Equipment
Early 2010, I was still shooting with my brother’s D80, but I bought my first camera in Spring 2010- the Nikon D300s. I also started to realize that I like shooting with prime lenses, so I would tend to use the 50/1.4 primarily, and occasionally my brother’s 20/1.8 lens. Having access to my brother’s photography equipment was a real bonus in the beginning because photography equipment is not cheap!

Services
I literally wanted to shoot everything (but weddings) so I did just that! The goal was to see what I liked and modify my services if/where needed. I quickly found that newborns were not it lol. I didn’t have the patience or skill needed for it so I swiftly removed that as an option. At the time I also offered photos for infants on colorful printed backdrops that I would bring and set up. Eventually I realized that that wasn’t really moving me either, so I stopped offering that as an option and just stuck to on-location shooting.

2011

2011 was a year of intentional experimentation. I was so inspired by fashion editorials and well curated photo shoots that I decided to try my hand at them.

Style
This was a milestone year for me because I began to look at things differently and explore a more intentional approach with my photography. It would be some time though before I would confidently feel that what I was doing was “my style” because I was still very experimental.⠀

Equipment
Nikon D300s. In addition to the 50/1.4 and 20/1.8 lenses, I added 35/1.8 to the arsenal.

Services
Alongside photography, I was also offering design services at this time. That’s originally why I named my business DFinney Photography & Design because I planned to do both.

2012

Style
2012 was the year I can say I felt a bit more settled in my style (clean & vibrant) and confident that I could execute it- especially since I began to work with makeup artists regularly- including professional makeup absolutely improved the quality of my images.

Equipment
Late 2012, I made the shift to a full frame body and upgraded to the D700. I also added the 85/1.8 to my arsenal so my go-to lenses were now the 50, 35, and sometimes the 85. It would take a while for me to completely get on board with the 85 though, because I preferred the look of the 50 and 35 lenses.

Services
This was about the time I was phasing out design work. I still offered it in limited capacity, but I shifted to only offering photo-based designs as opposed to what I’d been doing previously so that I could focus more on my photography.

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Ya’ll. This mini recap made me a little emotional. There have been so many iterations of DFinney Photography over the years and seeing the growth in one place like this is pretty darn cool! I hope you enjoyed this first part of the countdown, that you will keep up over on the gram, and stay tuned for the upcoming recaps here on the blog as well 💛

Spring Update + Chicago Booking for May!

Happy Tuesday to you!

How is the Spring season treating you? 🌸

Mine is going fairly well! Especially compared to about this time last year. I have been working with some amazing clients (as always, honestly lol) and managing my mental illness much better than I have been in quite some time. That’s huge for me, so I’m pretty happy about that :)

My last Truthy Tuesday at the beginning of the year was a not great one… Since then, I’ve been incorporating a number of things in an effort to craft some semblance of wellness and… although the bad days aren’t gone completely, I can say that I have been doing a bit better these past few weeks and I am super grateful for that. If you’re interested, I can go more into detail on that in another post :)

Before I get on to the availability updates and whatnot, I have a new book recommendation:

Make Time: How to Focus on What Matters Every Day.

This book has been really helpful in regards to changing how I view my personal priorities vs what’s important to others and combined with the principles from the previous books I shared, I think I may be onto something! As soon as I can successfully apply these things to my life lol. But having the tools is a great first step :)

Onto the availability updates!

I do hope you’ll forgive me for the late notice BUT-

Chicago, I’ll be in your city at the beginning of May!

You guys didn’t get as much notice as Atlanta unfortunately because quite a few spots were booked ahead of time, but I have 3 spaces left available on May 2 and 5.

You can check out the details and secure your session here!

On the home front, weekends are going F A S T.

I updated my calendar this week, and… there are only 3 weekends left available for May and June! Plenty of weekdays available, so if you’d like to get on the calendar sooner than later, that may be your best bet.

Also, you may have noticed that I typically have early appointment times listed. Why is that? 3 reasons:

1. Less people which means less car and pedestrian traffic, 2. Cooler temperatures. As the weather heats up, this means that we’re able to shoot comfortably without being super hot, and 3. Although good light can be found at any time, I tend to enjoy morning light. So even though I’m not a morning person, I don’t mind sacrificing for the sake of art, and I do hope you’re open to creating in the morning hours with me as well :)

Want to get on the Spring Calendar? Check out the available dates and if you have any questions, feel free to shoot me an email! I’d love to photograph you this Spring for your headshots, brand, graduation, or family photos!

That’s it for today! I hope your week is treating you well and I look forward to creating beautiful art with you this Spring season!

The (not so) Little Things

“We’ll get there by making small adjustments, little by little and taking it one moment at a time.“

In last week’s post, I mentioned that I am working on making adjustments to get a healthier mode of operating going and today I wanted to share some of the “little things” that have been helping me along in that process!

Before I get to that though, I want to talk briefly about goals.

Ya’ll.

Goals are hard! At least for me they are.

Trying to identify and differentiate between what I want, what I need, what’s best for me… vs. societal influence, expectations others may have, and my own negative/limiting thoughts… THAT’S what’s hard.

Then attempting to visualize and break down said goals into actions while depressive thoughts attempt to suffocate them? Man.

When I tell you it’s a daily struggle, it is just that.

BUT I have found that shrinking my goals down to verrry small steps has been helpful in tricking my brain to have a bit less resistance to the changes.

How am I doing that?

Well, that leads me to what I want to share today- two books that I’ve found quite beneficial:

Master Your Time in 10 Minutes a Day and Mini Habits: Smaller Habits, Bigger Results.

These books have easily been some of the most helpful books I’ve read in quite some time. They take the “baby steps” concept and break it all the way down, showing you just HOW to do so.

For me, baby steps have always been hard because I want to do all of the things! Now! And sometimes I can! But… most times I can’t. And to be honest, not only is that not sustainable, but that’s not how lasting change happens. It happens gradually, and these books do a wonderful job at showing you how to harness that power.

This is the shorter of the two books and gives you a new way of thinking about not only time management, but life management. And how much you can really get done during the course of each day- when your goals are clear, and you set aside time (even a little time) for what’s important to you.

This book goes a little more in depth on the science behind why this method works (which I always find intriguing because I love learning more about how our brains work), and guides you through a few different ways that you can successfully implement mini habits into your daily routine.

What makes these so different from other habit books? In short, the fact that it encourages you to break down your goals so that they’re so stupidly small, you feel silly avoiding it. Not only that, but the fact that you’re making such small commitments, they bypass the brain’s natural inclination to resist change.

I know everyone’s journey is different, but whether you’re looking to make progress with your personal or professional development, daily habits are key. If you’ve struggled with trying to implement changes (which, I feel like we all have in some form or fashion), I highly suggest giving these a read, or a listen- they’re both on audible as well.

I’d love to hear what you think after you have a chance to check them out!

What are some “little things” (books or otherwise) that have been helpful to you in your efforts to make changes?

The Journey Continues | Truthy Thursday

Writing has been hard this year.

…honestly, everything has.

Depression has stolen more days from me than I’d like to admit and while I’m still trying to do my best, it can be quite deceiving to have it “appear” that I’m doing well because I’m still able to be “productive”.

Productive in quotes because while one thing may be getting done, 3 (or more) others aren’t 🙃. It’s a constant struggle trying to allocate and re-allocate where my energy goes when it shows up (thanks bipolar II!), managing work (and allll the many facets that come with owning and operating your own business), relationships, and trying to find and fine tune a wellness routine.

It’s exhausting.

Although mental health is being spoken about more these days (which is a VERY good thing), getting help for your mental illness is not an easy journey. I was diagnosed over two years ago and even after receiving a diagnosis, it took me a while to seek additional help for managing it. Often I find myself reasoning “well, I’ve been ‘dealing’ with it for this long, and managing to get stuff done, so it can’t be that bad” and although it may not be “that bad”, it’s still not good.

I often feel like I want to give up, but I’m thankful to my friends and family that haven’t given up on me, and as a result, I haven’t given up on myself.

Progress is not linear.

It’s such a simple sentence, but one that I’m truly learning to understand through and through. And in doing so, I’m learning to find solace in the small improvements I’ve been able to make and keep trying to find the right things to get and keep me on the track to wellness.

Speaking of which… trying to find the *right* therapist is… a journey to say the least.

I was in therapy about 10 years ago for almost 3 years and had a pretty good experience! After my diagnosis in 2016, anxiety kept me from pursuing therapy again and when I finally did, I was a bit more optimistic than I realized, and that led to disappointment.

I didn’t have realistic expectations, nor was I clear on what I needed from a therapist. Now, I am. The only thing about that is that they are both things I needed to learn over time and after having spoken to different therapists (and spending money 🙃).

I say all that to say that while having a therapist is indeed an amazing addition to your mental wellness plan, just know that it may take you a few tries to find one that’s the best fit for you. If you’re wondering where to start your search, I’ve used both Open Path and Better Help. The jury’s still out on whether or not I feel that I need an in-person therapist, but I definitely think both services are really helpful!

This post has been a little long, but I guess that’s what happens when you don’t do a Truthy post for 6 months lol.

I will end by saying once more that I’m incredibly thankful for my tribe (both near and far) for hanging in there with me. Beyond finding a good therapist, the right medicinal cocktail if needed, a balanced diet, sleep, and exercise… a good support system is critical to helping manage mental illness.

I actually wrote a little about that in my friend Andrea’s (fourth!) book, We Inspire Me, that was just released this month! This was a bit of a lazy book announcement lol, but I just wanted to mention it briefly since I was talking about the same thing :)

Ok, now I’m fiiinally ending this post, and hopefully the next Truthy won’t be another 6 months from now 💛

-Danni