We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Michelle Donovan. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Michelle below.

Hi Michelle, thanks for joining us today. Going back to the beginning – how did you come up with the idea in the first place?

My journey to becoming a professional photographer has had many twist and turns. I picked up a film camera when my son was playing little league football. I knew how important it was to capture these precious memories. I later transitioned to a DSLR camera and boy was that a game changer. I continued to capture the precious memories our family was making and then life took an unexpected turn. Around 2012 my husband’s multiple sclerosis started getting worse and I had to start making plans for the future. I made the decision to take this hobby and make it a career. I went to school and got a Bachelor’s Degree from Nossi College of Art. It was only a few short years after I graduated that my husband lost his battle with MS. I am now working to make my photography business my full time career. One thing I have learned is that it’s not enough for us to have our memories stored on phones or social media. It is my mission to show my clients how they can display beautiful artwork of the people they love the most. Our families and loved ones deserve to be displayed on the walls of our homes or offices not stored on a phone or social media. My hearts desire is to make sure all of my clients have a fun experience and have beautiful images that are turned into beautiful artwork.

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

I am a widow as of Feb 2019 with 2 adult children. I feel there are a few things that separate me from many other photographers. One is that I create beautiful artwork from the images we create during your photo session. I believe very passionately about this. Second is that my photo sessions are conducted in a way to capture my clients natural essence and beauty. I am not a big one on everything has to be posed. I am going for natural expressions and interactions.

I want potential clients to know that choosing me as your photographer means we are in this together. My job is to walk you through the process step by step helping you make decisions on wardrobe, location and then the artwork that will be created. I am a Boutique photographer offering my clients a boutique experience.

I offer the same unique experience to clients within the music or sports industry that I do for my families or high school seniors. For my music and sports industry clients let’s work together to make your artwork make a statement and set you apart.

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

I will elaborate on part of my story from earlier. I will have to say that I am so strongly rooted in this mission to create artwork for people. I have thousands of pictures of our family and memories we created but over 95% of them are only printed in 4×6. I unfortunately made this realization after my husband had passed away. This truly breaks my heart because I have no way to go back and make beautiful wall art for my home. Since this experience I have become so incredibly passionate about making sure my clients never have to experience this. There is something that happens to us when we see beautiful artwork of ourselves or our family. It makes us feel loved, wanted and appreciated. Everyone deserves the right to have those feelings and I want to create the artwork for my clients to make that happen. In today’s world everyone needs to feel loved, wanted and appreciated.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

February 2019 my world changed when my husband passed away. Little did I know that the next 2 years would be filled with more trials than I could imagine. While dealing with the grief of my husband’s passing I was trying to figure out how to move forward with my life. In the early part of 2020 I found myself in the hospital with severe chest pains. After numerous test and several nights in the hospital I was diagnosed with the early stages of congestive heart failure. I bounced back and continued to put one foot in front of the other. I refused to quit on my dream or quit on myself. Then in 2021 I had a gut feeling that I needed to have a mammogram. I am grateful that I listened because they found breast cancer. I went through the surgery and treatments. I am blessed to say as of 2022 I am cancer free.

I refuse to let any of these trials stop me from moving towards my goal of becoming a full time professional photographer.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://d91photography.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/d91photography/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/D91Photography
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/d91photography/
• Other: Alignable: https://www.alignable.com/cross-plains-tn/d91photography