designMara

camara photography is a company that grew out of two things. First, I’ve been a photographer since birth, it seems (okay, maybe age four). Second, my step-grandfather who was the original inspiration, a traditional black and white photographer, he developed and printed his own work. He was especially good at capturing me and my siblings.

Inspired by him and just the idea of photography as a medium, I started with my basic camera, taking pictures of toys and setting up still life stories using them as characters. Then onto high school with my first real SLR camera and darkroom education. In college, I took two photography classes, refining my technique and skills even more.

Now, while I have gone mostly to the digital side (but of course keeping my purist roots), I look at everything with my photographer’s “eye.” My favorite subjects are kids and pets. I like taking photos in natural light, so I also do many nature and architectural subjects. And for my designMara clients, I do on-site and table-top work for their products or advertising.

This side of my businesses has taken off since I started at cafepress in 2007, giving me an outlet to sell my photos on merchandise, and inspiring me to broader breadth and depth of subjects.