Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Adrianne Shelton. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Adrianne, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

When I was growing up, my mom was a professional family photographer. I remember her draping a piece of velvet from my closet door and experimenting with her camera when I was very young, remember her putting together her first studio in the front room of our house, and eventually growing her business to the point of having a commercial studio and gallery space in a beautiful part of town. I would help her out in the studio, hold the reflector for her during outdoor sessions, and I never realized how much I learned about the art of photography without ever being behind the camera myself.

When my middle child was born in 2014, my husband bought me a camera (with a detachable lens!) and I used it constantly to document her and my oldest child. I kept it on automatic most of the time, while teaching myself the ins and outs of camera settings, lens types, and what they all meant for the final outcome of an image.

Once I started booking sessions for others, a local wedding photographer took notice and invited me to be her regular second-shooter for weddings. We sat down and went over approaches, timelines, and expectations, and her confidence in me from the start propelled my own confidence. After each wedding, she would review my images with me and let me know ways to improve my craft for the future. I remember being intimidated by this practice at first, but ultimately I attribute so much of it to my growth and confidence as an artist. I never took up wedding photography on my own, but the skills I gained while shooting with her for about a year took me far beyond where I would have been able to get alone when applying to family photography.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

What’s there to know about me? I have three children, currently ages eighteen, ten, and three, and each of them take up an equal amount of space in my hopes, dreams, worries, and time that I’m given in this life. Currently, it’s the toddler that I lose the most amount of sleep over, and that’s because he has recently decided not to sleep himself. But somehow, I never want to forget this stage of our lives, and I don’t think I’m the only mom that feels this way.

When I started my photography business, it was a calling that I couldn’t resist. I had a full time job and made good money, but the desire to create, to find and capture beauty in and around others was just undeniable. It took me all of five minutes to decide on a name for my business: Beatific Visions.

Beatific Visions isn’t just a play on words, and if you come from a theological background or attend more traditional Christian churches then you may be familiar with the term. The Beatific Vision was first defined by St. Thomas Aquinas as the human being’s “final end” in which one attains to a perfect happiness. Thomas reasons that one is perfectly happy only when all one’s desires are perfectly satisfied, to the degree that happiness could not increase and could not be lost.

You don’t have to be religious to appreciate and understand the sentiment. If I had to put in my own words, I would define it as true contentment. When the world quiets down and the worries are put away, what do we see? For me it’s the moment when my toddler lets me hold him, when my ten-year-old wants to show me something new she’s learned, when my teenager tells me about a new friendship. It isn’t the same for everyone, but it’s something I am passionate about helping others see.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

Truly, I think my reputation has been built on kindness, intentionality, and striving to deliver my best work each and every time. I am a naturally reserved, quiet person, but I love getting to know the stories behind people and bringing people together to create a little more beauty in this world.

As a photographer, I listen a lot. I like to ask questions more than to answer them, and it helps keep sessions focused on capturing families as they authentically are. I rarely pose my families, but instead give subtle prompts or ask them to share memories with each other while I document the little details of connection between them.

As a photography educator, I focus more on helping fellow photographers create work that makes their own heart sing. I am always willing and able to share how I approach my work, but I love seeing others light up when they start to realize who they are as an artist, and how they are unique, even in an industry filled to the brim with competition.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

For me, the core of my business in connection, and a passion for documenting lives well-lived. At the start of my family photography career, I was volunteering with a Christian organization that provided mentorship and help to teen mothers. During one of their weekly meetups, some of the mentors did hair and makeup for the mamas and I provided portraits of them with their babies. Helping these young moms see the beauty in motherhood, and the special connection that they had with their children had a profound impact on me and the way I see family portraiture.

I want families to look at their portraits and feel the warmth and love that is sometimes hard to pay attention to in the busy-ness of day to day living (especially with young children). Knowing that this is what I aim to deliver every time I photograph someone makes it easy for me to remain consistent and passionate about what I do. Portrait photography is surprisingly intimate, as thee artists learns the way loved ones interact, the way they speak to and reach out to one another. The way they walk together, and share subtle looks.

This mission took me outside of my own little business and inspired me to create The Kindred Path. TKP is made for the family photography community, and consists of in-person workshops, a both a print magazine and online journal featuring family sessions and educational articles from photographers across the globe.

I think it’s so important to promote community connection and help to build the industry up as a whole, rather than to try and go this journey alone.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.beatificvisionsphotography.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/beatificvisionsphotography
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/beatificvisionsphotography
• Other: The Kindred Path can be found at www.thekindredpath.com and on instagram at www.instagram.com/thekindredpath