Recently I wrote a post called Photo Shoot for Online Profile Picture. My friend Dana Leigh Snidecor-Hauser has taken all of my professional photos for the past 15 years. I am a huge fan of her work.
The photos she took of me in April were excellent, but there were things wrong on my part. First and foremost, I spent the night with girlfriend Valerie (About) the night before. We stayed up until 2:00 am. When morning came I was disorganized and had no time to wash or style my hair! I hurriedly applied my make-up and was unfocused and frazzled by the time I got to the shoot.
Not fully present
One of the first things Dana said to me was, “Go wash your hair! It has no shine!” Mind you, Dana is my friend, but this was a professional gig for her. I had my hair cut the day before and Dusty uses a lot of product 😌. In Dusty’s defense, my hair looked awesome when I left the salon.
Dana also told me to do some lip exercises, apparently my mouth wasn’t smiling freely enough!
I showed Dana the clothes I brought for the shoot and she decided she had better style me. The printed silk sheath dress is something I would absolutely own. I am not so much a hoop earring girl, but the full ensemble has special meaning to Dana and it made me happy.
This is me, hanging with Dana. Love the photo, but not the tired eyes or the rushed make-up application.
Before the photos above were taken, I posed in Dana’s studio, in front of a black backdrop. I wore a navy blue wool crepe dress, embellished with off white crewel work, that I borrowed from Valerie. This dress makes my heart sing. It originally belonged to her Russian mother-in-law in the 1940s.
This dress fit like it was made for me!
Beautiful natural lighting.
I love these photos, but then I started to redesign my new theRoomStylist.com business website (updated site coming soon) and the colors in the photos above clashed or fell flat with my new “About” page. Dana, my photographer, lives in Southern California and I live in Seattle, so another photo session anytime soon wasn’t an option.
The set-up and coloring on this page is the reason I did my own professional looking selfie shoot two days ago.
Stay tuned, I will explain how I shot my own professional looking selfies in the next post, which is called “10 Tips For Shooting Your Own Professional Looking Self Portrait”. In my humble 😉 opinion, it’s a good one!
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Hey, Girlfriend! 
I look forward to reading about how you got such excellent shots – so present and beautiful!
XO, Janea
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Thank you Janea! I credited you for one of the tips in my next post!
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I love you and your talent so very much! These are wonderful and wonderfully you. And I know your How To post will also be wonderful, however, it would be more wonderful if you would just come and take my photo for me. Thanks much.
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I thought of you when I wrote these posts because we have so much in common with our work and love for photography! The next time I see you (Dallas?), we will have a photo session!
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Budding photographer Melissa has become a Professional Photographer!!! Your pics are definitely as GREAT as Dana’s, which are fabulous!! I think you look present in both but the coloring is much warmer and inviting in your new photos. I am especially impressed with the black backdrop that you rigged up. It makes all the difference in screaming “professional” instead of “wanna be”. Can’t wait to see the newly designed Room Stylist website!!! 🎉🏠💝
ps ~ was Mamba really as good a girl as she looks in the photo??? 🐾
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Thank you for that major compliment, but I was the reason Dana’s photos aren’t as colorful! I wore more color on my face in my own shoot!
Yes Mamba was a good girl. She was feeling pretty submissive because fireworks were going off outside.
Remember when I took your professional pics in our old backyard? They were really pretty, but if only I knew what I know now!
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Just after I sent my previous comment I was reminded about our “photo shoot”. Very fun and very funny. I am still using the photo you took for my professional head shot. Time for a new one, in deed, now that you are a “Professional”!!! Love You Girlfriend!!
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Absolutely gorgeous portraits of you! I am looking forward to the how to post!
How in the world did you create that black backdrop????? Can’t wait to find out!
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Nancy, Thank you for mentioning the black backdrop! I added a little more info on that because of your request! If anyone else has specific questions, I hope they will ask!!
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