2020…a year of beauty & strength

Wendy Andrews Photography 2020 Portraits

2020
Thank you for helping me see more beauty, more vulnerability, more strength.
Authentic, honest & real.

Headshot clients, Personal Branding, High School Seniors, Families, Mothers & Daughters, My 506070(80)+ project & Boudoir clients…thank you for trusting me to hold up a mirror and allow me to reflect your beautiful person back to you.

This crazy year.
Lives well-lived, yet gone too soon, the photographs remain. Sue, Julie & Lori. Honored to have photographed your strength as part of Amazing Strength-an after cancer experience. The exhibit was on display earlier in 2020.

Also in 2020, a published image, that will always bring me back to the photo session on a paddle board in the lake on her 50th birthday…because age is just a number.

Two of my portraits were on exhibit at the Warehouse Gallery. The joy in her smile makes everyone step back & exhale. I look at the next image and am immediately transported back to the river on that unusually mild October afternoon. I can feel the sting of the bug bites as I tried to hold my camera steady.

Time is an odd thing, especially in 2020.
Facebook memories shows me images of families with babies, our photo session from a few years ago, now they’re walking and talking with their own personalities! Those portraits have the ability to freeze time & make that moment available to return to.

Perhaps my senses are more acute this year.
I’ve watched a grandmother cry; a grandfather’s tears well up in his eyes at a maternity session as I showed him an image on the back of my camera…his first grandchild about to be born; a woman who stared at her portraits without words, gasping at the confidence she saw; the dad with tears streaming down his face as he unwrapped an enlargement for over his fireplace knowing his kids (young adults) will always be there; the high school senior starting to recognize their potential…

My own tears fell as I attended/drove-through three funerals this year. The lump in my throat as I saw at each one, a familiar face & expression that took a little coaching to get to, staring back at those who gathered. I’m honored my portraits are important enough to be displayed to honor each person, friend, wife & mother.

Thank you to those I’ve had the honor to photograph this year. Thanks for reaching out for your updated social media images, your dating app images, to preserve your family memories, to stop time as your high school senior prepares to launch into the world and for entrepreneurs as you launched your new businesses!

Thank you to those who have allowed me to create this year. To create art for the walls of your home & to give as gifts.

“A portrait is not made in the camera but on either side of it”
-EdwardSteichen 2020.

Thank you for helping me see more beauty, more vulnerability, more strength.
Authentic, honest & real.2021…I’m ready!

Women who trust me

A strong woman is one who feels deeply & loves fiercely.

Her tears flow just as abundantly as her laughter.

A strong woman is both soft & powerful.

She is both practical & spiritual.

A strong woman in her essence is a gift to the world.

-unknown

I see strength & beauty.

I’m grateful for a woman’s trust on the other side of my camera and wonder how she interprets my gestures when I see THE shot. Often I wipe a tear from my eye when things line up and I have the photograph to show her how beautiful she is to the world.

I see a woman’s strength, not in skinny, perfect make-up or designer clothes. I see strength in her journey up to the moment I press my shutter. I see her beauty shine when the wind messes her hair, laughing with her girlfriend, on a mountain, in the woods.

She’s the woman I love to photograph, her stories, pain, resolve, laugh lines and
all the reasons she is who she is today.

That is real. She is a beautiful woman.

She will exist in my photographs for all time.

I will show you how beautiful you are.
©Wendy Andrews Photography

 

 

a writer

The doors will be opened
to those who are bold enough
to knock.

WAVphoto

It’s an honor to be allowed into a person’s world and to be invited to capture
a moment in their life. High School seniors have such incredible energy – it’s
always a pleasure to photograph them.

When I met with this beautiful girl for her pre-session consultation we discussed wardrobe choices. She casually mentioned she might like to have a photo or two with her red lipstick on. ‘Is this possible?’, she asked. ‘Of course!’, my reply.  I suggested that the red lips arrive at the end of our session & didn’t give it another thought until I arrived on location to take her photographs.

She gracefully moved into poses with a little coaching & adjusting, and a few gentle laughs. She became even more attractive as her personality had a chance to shine. A quick wardrobe change and more photographs, making sure we had at least one image for her yearbook selection. The warmth of the late autumn sun quickly fading.

‘Any more poses you’d like to have?’ ‘Oh yes! my red lipstick!’

In a moment she ran into her house and returned as a grown-up writer!
Red lipstick, eyeglasses and ready for her first book signing! We had chatted during our consultation and as our session evolved, so I knew she wanted to be a writer…and here she sat…in my camera frame…a writer.

I was honored when she saw this photo, picked up the proof and enthusiastically stated, “THIS photo is going to be on my first book cover!”

The doors will be opened to those who are bold enough to knock.

passion | High School Photography | WAVphoto

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“The things you are passionate about are not random.
They are your calling.”
-Fabienne Fredrickson

High school students are a pleasure to photograph.
Only a few of my subjects have ever been photographed by a professional photographer.
Most have mastered the selfie.

Our consultation gets us on the same page-with each other and with one of their parents!
The day of our session, I have a young adult, filled with energy
and a willingness to cooperate- perhaps needing a little guidance,
a little direction, a big laugh and the opportunity to show their passion.

Then the experience begins.

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I make them feel strong.

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I make them feel confident.

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I help them feel beautiful.

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Together, we create art.

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The art will always remind this person of their unique experience with me, of feeling strong, confident & beautiful.

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http://www.WAVphoto.com