Today we’d like to introduce you to Janice Alexander.
Janice, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
Artistic Angels Wedding Photography and Video Production Corporation started in San Diego in 1995 and it was always a family business even though the boys were seven and eight years old at the time. They still helped out their mother. I never took them to a wedding unless I was shooting a friend’s wedding and then the boys would have the best time of their lives at the wedding. I remember capturing photographs of them blowing bubbles at each other at one friend’s wedding. Back then, Dane was a freckled faced little torpedo and Brian, his older brother, was always looking out for him.
The business grew over the years and we even ran some advertising in San Francisco in a bridal magazine, which brought in a lot of business, so I was flying to San Francisco on the weekends and had to hire more photographers to shoot weddings there because we became so busy. What brought us to Los Angeles is that my son Dane Vaughn became a professional skateboarder and he eventually moved to Los Angeles. The family was not together for a while, but I made the move to Los Angeles in 2016 and started the business here. Dane skateboards all week and shoots weddings on the weekends. We have a nickname for Dane in the family and it is “Dead-eye Dane.” We call him that because his big blue eyes never miss a thing. He can spot a flea on a hawk in the sky – just kidding. It is amazing how sharp his eyes are, though. When he was a kid he played a lot of baseball and he used to smack that ball way out into the park all of the time. We would yell from the bleachers: “Go Dead-eye Dane!” Now, he uses that asset to capture magnificent wedding photographs and he also has a very artistic eye that renders fresh and organic photographs with a style that is unique and beautiful.
Dane’s girlfriend, Karlee Nahas has been a professional photographer for over five years and she is an amazing photographer. Karlee can capture magic in any space or lighting situation. She started out photographing herself and posting those photographs on social media and she became so popular that her following was larger than Dane’s. That’s how good her photographs are! I think that it’s a blessing that they came together because they have so many common interests and they are both very, very talented photographers.
Dane’s brother Brian took the safe road and went to college. He is out of college now and spends his weekdays building websites and his weekends photographing weddings. We only photograph weddings, so all of our photography work is done on location. Brian has always had a creative eye his entire life. I remember when the boys were about five and six, I put newspaper all over the living room floor and then put large painting pads down and lots of paints. Dane’s paintings were action and fighting scenes and Brian’s looked like the colors in a Picasso. I was blown away by this little boys’ sense of color. I had taken so many art classes in college and I just knew that he had a natural talent for art. I could see it in his paintings and so over the years I encouraged that natural talent. Brian’s photographs are all encompassing. He takes the space around the couple and uses it in a magnificent way. Brian loves working with color and black and white. He also likes a splash of color in a black and white photograph. He never stops surprising me with his creativity.
Our video production artist Dylan Hamlet is a man who started his video production career filming skateboarders and he and Dane met many years ago. Dylan is the hardest worker that I know along with Dane. Dylan will do anything to capture the essence of a project or event. He is extremely talented at editing as well. I cannot tell you how many videos that he has done of Dane skateboarding over the years and I know that it helped to build Dane’s successful career as a professional skateboarder. Dylan played a key role in that success. Dylan works with our company when a bride and groom choose a package that includes video production. Outside of our company Dylan still does all kinds of video production jobs. He is an amazing video production artist. Over the years he has obtained video production equipment that is the best in the business. I am really proud of all that he has accomplished and he did it all on his own without any help from anyone.
As for me, Janice – I am a proud mother as you can probably tell. My background as a college graduate from Liberty University is in art and I also studied at Louisiana State University and University of Minnesota Twin Cities. I believe that I graduated with more credits than just about anyone – 187. I took every photography class that was offered and a lot of art history, painting, ceramics and sculpture classes. My photography work has won national and state awards and was nationally published in Photographer’s Forum Magazine. I would describe my work as very “expressionistic.” I capture the love in a couple’s eyes and the touch of love. It is those special little moments that make up the essence of love. I try to capture that because without it the real story of the couple’s love can be missed.
As a family, we work together. Many times, we will shoot a wedding with more than one of us working together. As a family, we always have each other’s backs. We love comparing our styles and unique angle on each precious wedding. Our customers come first. We make sure that their wedding day is captured to perfection. What we deliver to the bride and groom is our very, very best and we have a lot to offer.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
It has not always been a smooth road. When Dane was five years old he was hit in the pedestrian zone by a drunk driver and that drunk driver drag him down the road and really damaged his leg. I thought that Dane may never walk again and then I turned to my faith to pray that God would intervene. Dane got the best plastic surgeon in the business and his leg healed beautifully, but the accident was a very, very bad one and Dane suffered. It is amazing that God brought him through such a tragedy and that his legs are literally the key element in his livelihood.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with Artistic Angels Wedding Photography and Video Production Corporation – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
Artistic Angels Wedding Photography and Video Production Corporation is strictly a wedding photography business. We specialize in capturing love. We all have done different kinds of photography and this is our favorite – this is our passion. We are known for capturing all kinds of different styles of wedding photography and being able to please any bride and groom with the style or styles that they choose. We also have a wonderful array of packages with so many options and different prices to meet any budget or for those who have no budget. We have been in the profession for so long that we know what couple’s want and we give them all of those choices because we have a unique group of artists.
What sets us apart from our competition is that we are a family business with five professionals backing each other up. There is no way that things can go wrong on a wedding day. Additionally, we have two photographers that are college educated in art and bring a professionalism to the art of photography that many in the business do not have.
So, what’s next? Any big plans?
Our future plans for the business are to continue rendering exceptional services to our customers and to grow and meet the demands of the market. We specialize in weddings and I believe that it will stay that way. As we grow it will be to do more weddings, not to expand into other areas of photography. I, Janice, also have a personal project that I am working on that is a documentary. I am photographing single mothers. I raised my boys for the last twenty-five years on my own and it was very rewarding and also very challenging at times. I believe that single mothers face challenges that most couples do not face. That is why I am working on this project that will be completed in 2020. I want to pay tribute to these single mothers and to their precious children.
Pricing:
- Lifetime Love Package – $1000
- Artistic Angels Package – $1350
- Sweet Serenade Package – $1550
- Feelings Forever Package – $2000
- Lasting Love Package – $2750
- God is Gracious Package – $3500
- Beautiful Blessings Package – $5000
- Magical Moments Package – $7500
- Meaningful Memories Package – $1500
Contact Info:
- Address: 720 S. Normandie Ave. Suite 510
Los Angeles, California 90005
(By Appointment Only) - Website: www.ArtisticAngels-Wedding-Photography.com
- Phone: 213-908-5560
- Email: [email protected]
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/artistic-angels-wedding-photography-los-angeles-2
- Other: http://www.showmelocal.com/profile.aspx?bid=21980917
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