meeting devon michelle
I am a Pacific Northwest girl to the core of my heart. I was born and raised in Tacoma, attended Western Washington University and spent several years as a counselor for adolescents facing substance abuse. After meeting my husband, Shaun, in 2007 my life shifted to focusing more on my own family. Our oldest son, Taylor, was born in 2011 and Peyton followed him in 2017, and the trajectory of working with families shifted even more to focus on photography while I was home with my kids.
As a family photographer, I am here to remind you— there were always good times even in the most challenging of days. Family is our most intimate and healing relationship. They see the best (and the worst) in us, sometimes within minutes of each other. There is wonder in your children’s eyes, and I love photographing those connections between family members. It’s the difference between photographing family and photographing people.
film & prints
I added film work to my repertoire in 2014 and instantly fell in love with the medium. Living in a digital world, you may not know that modern editing software uses filters to emulate the look and feel of traditional film. I love the natural imperfection of the grain when an image is captured on film. I love that I have to wait to see the images and I love how the color and feelings come across with such nostalgia.
Even more, I adore how film prints! It’s a medium that BEGS to be printed and hung on your walls. It longs to tell the story of your family, to be the photographs that get tucked between the pages of your bedside bible or sent to your grandmother.
Film has forced me to slow down, and master the ins and outs of light, film stock, and color. I’ve learned to be patient as a photographer and watch for just the PERFECT moment. My clients benefit every time I push myself to grow in this craft.
Over the years I have accepted that life isn’t always seen with picture-perfect clarity, but instead, life is lived through the fog. Film photography emulates the grittiness that life can bring and sometimes has a softer focus, making it more dream than reality.
If you want to know more about film for your session, please ask!
I bring a decade of photography experience to every session. However, in my previous life, I was a counselor and social worker. So, the complexity of family dynamics doesn’t phase me a bit. Family can be messy, but can also be intensely beautiful.
Family photography has its own kind of magic, it always has for me. This became evident when I had a session with a family whose mom had cancer. Within weeks of our session, she was gone; the photos we created together were some of the last healthy moments she had with her husband, kids, parents, and siblings. I knew then and there that the photographs we shared were so much more than family photos.
