Farm Maternity Photos | Pregnancy | Dana Marie Photography, Berlin, MD

This is one of the most beautiful locations I have ever photographed at.  Family property overlooking the bay with the a tree line that would make you swoon, I loved taking maternity photos of these two.  The threat of a storm looming hovered over us throughout most of the shoot but it made for some gorgeous lighting on their faces, it was like the sky gave us one giant soft box to work with with the low hanging clouds.  While we took our time and moved around quite a bit during the shoot, the second we were done it started to rain as I turned out onto the main road.  Can't wait to meet their little one next month!

SUP Paddleboard 5 Mile Race | Fagers Island | Ocean City Photographer, Dana Marie Photography

My first stand up paddle board race experience.  We had a great time watching the contenders race the 5 mile course.  While I am not typically a sports photographer I have done a few jobs and this race was a personal spectating event for me, I had a nice time getting out and playing with my camera watching the racers and water bouncing off the paddles.  The participants took off from Fager's Island and did 4 laps in the water.  

The Studio Tour | Dana Marie Photography, Ocean City, MD

Dana Marie Photography Studio is the perfect place to bring your baby for newborn photos.  Come in and relax on our sofa just behind me or hang out next to me during the shoot, wherever you are most comfortable while having your children's portraits done.

Finally a space of my own that isn't in my home or yours and just in time for the busy summer season of clients I have lined up.  I have officially moved my business to West Ocean City.  It was completely liberating gaining the space in my home back and venturing out into a private commercial space!  I love love love the Open Door Studio, it fits my studio and space needs perfectly.  With client work done by all of the artists by appointment only it still gives a private feel to the atmosphere and not a walk in off the street kinda place.  I fell in love at first sight with all the details Jami Vlachos has put into creating this wonderful space for artists to work together in a comfortable studio.

My portion of the studio space was designed with newborn, maternity and portrait clients in mind.  I keep about 50 different backdrops and floordrops on hand with several more stored off premise and that doesn't count the newborn drops.  The photos above represent a very small portion of my props and accessories on hand.  I am still moving items down into the studio and only keep seasonal stuff there.  I have two barrels full of hats and headbands and only showed a few of my new and favorite pieces above.  While a lot of my work is still on location with outdoor shoots and a few newborn clients who prefer the in-home sessions, having a full service and stocked studio doesn't limit me to a season or time of day to shoot and I like that aspect of it.  I have worked very hard over the last several years collecting and designing the perfect props with safety, color and clarity in mind for the precious babes that come in to see me.  Contact me today for more information on newborn, maternity, family portraits, headshots or whatever your photo needs may be and keep checking back on the blog for the latest and greatest happenings around the studio.

Mother's Day Surprise Portraits | Child Photographer | Dana Marie Photography Ocean City, MD

This Daddy did good!  He surprised Momma with a Daddy and me Photoshoot and I created a special accordion magnet closure book for Mama to open up on her big day!   I got an email the next day telling me how spectacular the gift was but I have to give it to dad, it was all his idea!

Studio & Beach Maternity Photos | Ocean City, MD | Dana Marie Photography

Talk about a windy evening!  We started in the studio and took photos of this mama's pretty baby belly and ended with a 5 minute finale on the beach at sunset.  We went to Stinky Beach which contrary to it's name isn't stinky at all.  The wind was kicking and it was chilly but we braved the weather just long enough to take a handful of beach photos.  Can't wait to meet this sweet girl any day now!

Ocean City Beach Family Maternity Photos, Boardwalk & Inlet | Dana Marie Photography

Loved meeting this sweet family.  With one reschedule due to high winds we lucked out with a perfectly gorgeous night that was followed by 4 days of rain.  The boardwalk and Ocean City inlet gave us the perfect setting for maternity photos that resulted in lots of great shots and even a few silhouettes.  Can't wait to meet this little guy soon!

Camera Size Does Matter | Low Lighting Events | Dana Marie Photography, LLC.

I have said it myself, the camera doesn't take the photos, I do.  As photographers we have perfected the craft of choosing the right settings in a given situation and our photos will always come out better than if we had snapped on auto.  I typically shoot in Manual, it is rare that my camera is not on Manual and while I could take a great photo with any camera put into my hands guess what, sometimes it really does make or break a situation what kind of camera you are shooting with!  I recently did an event at night in low light - no sunlight peaking through windows, no bright venue lighting to compensate, all of the images were taken with my own lighting except for a select few.  When there were speakers standing up to the crowd talking with the projection screen behind them, I really wanted to capture the feeling of the room and have the screen showing in the background.  I was left with the option of throwing off a flash but that would white out the screen so I cranked my ISO setting way up to get the shot I wanted.  A typical consumer camera starts to show "noise" above 400 or maybe 800 if they are lucky.  I turned my ISO up to 5,000 to get the shot I wanted and it came out crystal clear.  Many consumer cameras wouldn't go that high or if they did it would look similar to an old television channel with the white noise going through the image - I was confident my professional grade camera could handle the setting and I went with it.  Choosing glass with a low aperture to help bring in as much light as possible coupled with the high ISO helped me to capture the image exactly as I wanted with little to no help from Photoshop.  I love the ambiance around the room, including the ceiling and was thrilled to be able to capture it all into one image.