Some things are too important to forget.
I built this business because I learned that the hard way.
WHERE THIS STARTED
I grew up as an only child with half my family on the other side of the world.
My mother's family was in Korea. People I never got to meet, places I never got to see, stories I only heard secondhand. Growing up, that distance felt abstract. Something to wonder about.
Then in 2015, both of my parents passed away. And abstract became very real, very fast.
At the time, my daughter was under two years old. She would have no memories of her grandparents: not the sound of their voices, not the way my mother cooked, not my father's stories. None of it. Unless I did something about it.
Photography had always been a passion. I love the art form, the light, the way a single frame can hold so much feeling. But after losing my parents, it became something more. It became how I kept them alive. How I made them real for a little girl who would grow up without them.
I took every photo I had of them and put them in a book. I told her the stories behind those photos. I built a record of who they were, so that someday, my daughter would know.
That's when I understood: a photograph isn't really about the moment it captures. It's about every moment that comes after, every time someone looks at it and remembers, or learns, or feels a connection.
WHY THIS MATTERS MORE AS TIME GOES ON
As she gets older, I feel the weight of this even more.
She's growing up fast, the way they all do. And I watch her becoming herself: curious and creative, full of opinions and big feelings. I think about the questions she'll ask someday. About where we come from. About the people who loved her before she was old enough to remember.
I want her to have answers. Not just names and dates, but real stories. The kind that make people feel like more than photographs in an album.
That's what this whole business is really about. Not just taking beautiful pictures (though I love doing that too). It's about making sure the people and moments that matter most don't quietly disappear.
WHAT I DO
Dana Marie Art is a creative media company, and photography is one part of it.
I photograph senior portraits and families, sessions where something real is being marked and worth holding onto. I also show up every season to photograph my daughter’s recreational lacrosse league, not as a hired photographer but as a volunteer who believes these girls deserve to see themselves celebrated. Girls’ lacrosse doesn’t always get the spotlight it deserves. I’m happy to help shine the light on them in some small way. I bring the same care to every frame: the light, the feeling, the story behind the moment.
But I also write. I create educational resources for moms who want to get better at capturing their own families. And I'm building Echoes & Imprints, a growing body of work around storytelling, memory-keeping, and the tools families need to preserve what matters most before it quietly slips away.
All of it comes from the same place: I believe the stories we keep are the ones that shape who our children become.
THE REST OF THE STORY
I live in Gainesville, Virginia with my husband and our daughter. By day I work in a corporate environment as a change management professional. Honestly, it has a lot in common with what I do here. Both jobs are about helping people navigate transitions and hold onto what matters in the middle of change.
I'm a natural minimalist who gravitates toward quiet, beautiful things. I love golden hour, a good cup of hot tea or coffee, and the way a really good photo can stop you mid-scroll. I'm also a work in progress. Still figuring out how to do this well, still learning, still showing up.
If you found your way here, I'm glad. Whether you're looking for a photographer, a resource for your own memory-keeping, or just someone who gets it, you're in the right place.
"Stories are the echoes that remind us who we are, and the imprints that show others where we've been."
