West Settle Beach Family & Maternity’s Story from Dannie Melissa:
“This session took place on an overcast day. It had been raining on and off all afternoon, but we decided to just go for it and hope that the rain would stay away. It did! We wandered down a wooded trail that was exposed to the setting light. The weather was perfection, as it began to clear, slightly, with clouds and blue sky streaking across the horizon. It happened to be just at low-tide and there were barely any people around, which is pretty abnormal for our location. This beautiful family is expecting their third baby in a couple months and wanted to be captured at this moment in time.”
Dannie Melissa Wit of Abeille Photography | Facebook | Website | Blog | Pinterest
Location : Lincoln Park, West Seattle, Washington
More on the Photographer:
Hello, I’m Dannie. I have a deep passion for telling stories through my photographs rather than words. The saying “a pictures worth a thousand words” rings true to me. I want to communicate this language through my photos.
My favorite pictures are always when people aren’t looking at the camera. Capturing natural expressions of people in their natural habitat is my absolute favorite…. I just love the rawness and simplicity of life… although my life doesn’t feel very simple with 3 kids under 5. It feels like a circus. But, on a daily basis I am reminded how these messy days are so temporary and as hard as it is sometimes -a lot of the time- I am reminded that I need to slow down and savor it. Photography helps me see the beauty in it. Although, I can see it without a camera, but the process of taking a picture and going through and editing it later just helps me document it. I have to. This season is short.
In my teens, I started taking photographs with a hand-me-down Minolta and a roll of B&W film. In high school I learned the process of it, loading film, developing it and printing my own photos. I had a busy life, but being in a darkroom always grounded me. I love film, the process of it, I felt at home there.
After college, I started working “a real job” and got away from it for a while after I finished college. Starting out in my career, I just couldn’t afford film and processing it. But, I missed it so much. Just before my 30th birthday, my husband asked me what I wanted. I told him a “REAL” camera. And, that’s what I got. That was almost 2 years ago in April. Digital photography has been a learning curve, but, I love it so deeply. I am grateful to have the ability to capture my growing family.
My inspiration comes from observing the everyday- the way a shadow falls across a group of little strawberry stained faces; the love between a couple that is newly engaged; the love between a couple married for 50 years; a glowing mother waiting in anticipation to meet her little one; the raw emotions of a woman and her partner as they work to bring their baby into this world; a daddy holding his child for the very first time. I’m not sure how to explain it other than I have always seen life in pictures. I have always felt at peace photographing. It has always felt natural to me.