Welcome to the second and final week of my For the Love of Photography Series. Did you enjoy all the festivities from last week? Are you ready for yet another week of inspiration and beautiful images?
Today’s photographer is known for her whimsical artistry and beautiful portrayal of not only her florals, but the gorgeous little ones that call her ‘mama’. Shana Rae’s work is timeless and absolute perfection. Not only is she known through the Flickr world, but just recently debuted her incredible Florabella Textures & Fine Art. I couldn’t wait to get my hands on her textures and can’t say enough about them! Please welcome Shana!
My love for photography started in 2005 after traveling to China to adopt our daughter Sophie Lu. Her beautiful face was and still is my greatest inspiration. Since then, my husband and I have adopted Oliver (now 2) from Guatemala, and I had a baby girl, Sasha Lili, last September. As a mom, I realize that time is so fleeting. Our children grow much too quickly; so I take as many photos of them as possible. I want to capture their innocence, their beauty, and their happiness as they grow. I hope that they can look back one day and see themselves how I saw them and realize just how much they have always been loved.
Aside from photographing my children, I also enjoy florals and still life. I find that flowers are much more cooperative than children… they can’t run away, and they don’t ever make goofy faces! I had always wanted to learn to paint with oil, but I found that by using different textures and post processing methods, I could easily transform my floral photographs into works of art. Others started asking about my work flow and how I achieved my look, so I developed Florabella Fine Art Textures which have been a big hit since I launched them several weeks ago. My textures are a huge part of my work flow, but it’s also very rewarding to see the beautiful, artistic images that so many photographers have created using my set.
Recently, I have had the honor of my floral work being featured on several decorating and photography sites. As luck would have it, publishers noticed my work (both there and on Flickr) and have contacted me with interest in licensing my floral images. I’m currently negotiating contracts with four publishing companies (including Papyrus here in the US) to use my floral work for greeting cards, prints, and posters both here and in the UK. This is so exciting for me, as I never sought out to make photography into a business. I feel blessed to be a stay-at-home mom and to also have a creative outlet that is successful and profitable! Mostly, though, it feels wonderful to have found my talent: a hobby that is practical, useful, and fun…. something that I love and continue to learn more about with each day.
You must browse through Shana’s Flickr, she shares the most beautiful images there. Of course you’ll want to drool over her Fine Art prints as well as Textures on the Florabella Website!
Shana has offered not only two sets of her Florabella Textures, BUT one of her fine art prints!
PLEASE READ CAREFULLY: Leave a comment on this post to enter to win her TEXTURES. Two of you will be selected. You know the rules, leave a separate comment for each entry (if you gave a shout out or two) for it to count.
Scroll down to enter to win one of her delicious Fine Art pieces!
