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Meet Melissa Lane Isaksson

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Melissa Lane Isaksson.

Melissa, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I have always loved photography. My mom kept bins of our old family photos and when I was a little girl, I would spend hours sifting through photos. I would look at pictures of family members I had never met or didn’t remember because they had passed and I remember feeling connected to them through those photos. I would look at pictures of my parents when they were younger and pictures of me and my siblings and the relive the places we had traveled and the memories we had made. My senior year in high school, I took a photography class and it was one of the only reasons I showed up to school that year. I loved spending time in the darkroom watching my visions come to life. And then, I went off to college to pursue a career in education because I was told that being a photographer was not a real career, just a hobby. Like many photographers, I didn’t pick up a camera again until my daughter was born. And from that point on, you would rarely catch me without a camera in front of my face. It was then that I remembered the importance of documenting your family’s story, that someday my daughter will be sifting through the images of her past and cherishing photos of the people who have shaped her.

Five years later, I stumbled across a local photographer, Coleen Hodges, who I hired to take our family photos. She asked what I did for a living and I told her I worked with individuals with autism. She said she had an idea for a passion project and wanted to meet for a drink and brainstorm. She joined forces with Sarah Driscoll and amazing photographer from Massachusetts who had a son on the spectrum. With a lot of heart and passion, we started a 501c3 non-profit, Spectrum Inspired. It is a photography based organization where we offer free lifestyle photography to people impacted by autism. We use Lifestyle Photography to document a diverse group of individuals on the spectrum and their families across the globe in an effort to normalize and destigmatize Autism Spectrum Disorders. Through Spectrum Inspired, I was motivated by Coleen and Sarah to take my photography to the next level and really give it my full attention.

Today, I work from home doing what I love. Between Spectrum Inspired, working for Unraveled Academy (If you do not know what this is, you are missing out), an amazing online photography school, and pursuing my own business Melissa Lane Photography. I have truly never been more fulfilled! My personal passion is documenting birth. I truly love creating anything with my camera and have enjoyed shooting weddings, families, seniors, you name it. But my heart is truly in birth stories. Documenting birth is a relatively new trend in photography. One that I feel will continue to grow because the value of these moments documentation is priceless. Welcoming your child into the world is one of, if not the most important day in your life. People document engagements, weddings, birthdays… but yet, most overlook the most beautiful and amazing moments of becoming parents. Being able to document and freeze the emotion of the day in which you learn what life is all about is what I live for.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Pursuing a career in the arts is never a smooth road, but I think that is what makes it worthwhile. You are forced to break outside of your comfort zone. When you really stretch yourself creatively and commit to putting yourself out there, that is when the possibilities become abundant.

Within the birth worker community, there a major challenge is that documenting birth had become more and more popular that many photographers want to give it a try without truly understanding the process and execute of being in someone’s birth space. Being on call for a four week period is a huge commitment. I have been in an out of birth in four hours and I have spent 18 straight hours at a hospital. The nature of birth is so unpredictable.

Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Melissa Lane Photography – what should we know?
I specialize in Birth Documentation and Lifestyle family photography. My heart is in turning the most sacred moments in motherhood, in parenthood really, into Art. Family is everything to me and freezing time and making art out of the mundane is what I love to do. As a society, we have made some of the most incredible parts of the human experience taboo and hidden them behind closed curtains. We are only willing to show the comfortable and orderly parts of our lives with the world, but when we share the pain, the struggle, the exhaustion that we all pretend is not there… we can connect with others, accept the yin and yang of life and better appreciate the meaning of why we are here. And that itself is Art.

Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
I feel like I have always been someone who can easily connect with others. Connection is truly the most important thing to me in both my personal and professional life. When I gain a client, I gain a friend. Someone or a group of people of who I am, from that point on investing in. I get to meet so many interesting people. I feel like the more diversely I am connected in this world, the better artist, mother, and companion I can be. Connecting with others, of all backgrounds and walks is what this life is all about to me.

Contact Info:

Image Credit:
Personal Photo Credit: Bobbi Clark Photography, Photo by: Melissa Lane Photography

Getting in touch: VoyagePhoenix is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.

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