Marna is a lifelong Professional Photographer. Her and her husband Ricardo are residence of LBS.
Please take some time to read her story below. She and her husband have lived a most interesting life. That is for sure.
Good Morning and thank you for inviting me to talk to you this morning about a subject I’m really quite passionate about: How and why I came to be a Portrait Photographer of Animals.
Louis has told me that many of you share your lives with Companion Animals, and that’s great because we share a common language. And for those of you who don’t have that pleasure, I really hope you get over that allergy very soon!
I’m a Portrait Photographer. That’s right! We still exist! And although I’ve taken some amazing photos with my i-phone, I’m very old-school when it comes to thinking about photography as fine art, so this is what I usually carry around with me when I’m photographing animals! (Pull out camera with long lens!)
My company is Embracing Grace Photography. I do weddings…….maternity……..newborns……children……….families…….beauty in all forms……seniors. I also have a special division in my company that focuses on Companion Animals and that’s called Grace Wears Fur, and that’s what I’m going to tell you about.
Most people who know me would probably have a hard time believing that I’m somewhat of a LONER! But I am and I think a lot of photographers are for some reason just drawn to a more contemplative way of life.
I grew up out in the country in the middle of cornfields, outside of Sycamore, IL. This was pretty much the view from my bedroom, where I had a beautiful wall of bay windows. I could watch the sun come up in the morning on one side of the room and watch it sink into the horizon on the other side. So from a very early age I was conscious of changing light patterns throughout the day and with the changing seasons.
I would come home from school in the afternoons and hop on my bike and ride for miles down country roads, loving the wind in my face and the smell of fresh country air.
For as long as I can remember, I always had a heart for the UNDERDOG. I was always bringing stray dogs and kittens into our home and somehow convincing my parents why these homeless creatures deserved to become rightful members of our family. Luckily they were never turned away.
I earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Graphic Design at the University of Illinois. I couldn’t draw a straight line back then and I still can’t, so I began to explore photography as my medium of expression for my class work. I loved those photography courses, working with film and spending hours in the dark room watching my vision appear in black and white.
I recovered some of my early photographs recently that had been archived and was amazed to see so much similarity with the way I shoot today. Nature has always been an important theme in my work, and also authentic expression.
I had 2 different jobs with well-known Chicago design firms right out of school and then I went out on my own as a free-lancer. Destiny and a freelance job for Hyatt Hotels took me to Acapulco, Mexico where I met and married this guy (Photo of Chacho) and never looked back.
Chacho is a gifted architect and has a very generous spirit. I collaborated with him on many high-profile projects with interior and landscape design, and so he was very patient with me when I began bringing stray animals into our home. Together we nursed them back to health and found supportive adoptive homes for many. And many stayed. In Acapulco there are stray, starving animals on every corner.
13 years ago, while living in Acapulco, I lost my only brother unexpectedly. (Photo of Barrie) He was a Wildlands Firefighter in Breckenridge, Colorado, and a hero to our family. He and I shared an intense love for the natural world and the Animal Kingdom. After he died I started thinking more seriously about my life and wondering if I had ever really contributed anything significant to the world around me.
I had given shelter in our home to many stray dogs, and cats, an iguana, some birds and a bunny. And then one day I rescued an old carriage horse who had been abandoned to die alongside a busy highway outside of Acapulco. I was 47 years old, I knew nothing about horses, but I knew I couldn’t leave that animal alongside the road to die. His recovery and transformation planted the seeds for a real transformation in me.
Then I rescued a beautiful palomino stallion. I was still a novice horsewoman and I had no business owning a stallion, but I needed Quincy in my life as much as he needed me. 4 or 5 times a week I would drive out to the stable late in the day, saddle him up and ride for miles, loving the wind in my face and the smell of fresh country air. The 5-year period that I had with Quincy in my care was a very powerful time for me. When you stand trembling before a 2000 animal who is all about power and speed you have to address some pretty real fears in yourself and when you move beyond those fears you can accomplish some pretty amazing things.
It was during the time that I had Quincy that I created and directed the first Animal Welfare Organization in Acapulco to be recognized by the Federal Government. Acapulco is a city of 2,000,000 people so we had a lot of work to do. Shortly after Happy Tails Acapulco was formed we were conducting the first Trap-Neuter-Return Program for the hundreds of feral cats that populated one of our local Parks.
Now you might not think this was any great feat, but I knew nothing about feral cats and there was nowhere in Acapulco to buy a professional trap! So we made them! We bought 100 plastic clothes hampers and used a lot of electricians wire and duct tape!
To trap a feral cat in this way was pretty challenging. It required lots of patience and many hours just sitting and quietly observing the behavior of the cats. For weeks before the day of surgeries we would walk the Park and strategically place our open traps with food in them. The cats were curious quickly became more trusting.
Our grassroots organization conducted over 1,000 free spay/neuter surgeries for the stray animals of Acapulco and also for the animals that belonged to low-income families. That was amazing work, because in helping the animals we were also helping people in many cases. because I was the only one in our association at the time that had a digital camera, I documented everything in photos. And every time I would post a photo to Social Media or send out an email with photos of the work we were doing, we would get support from the community.
So I began to really think about the photos I was taking of the animals. I wanted my photos to be compelling. I wanted people to see animals the way I see them. I wanted people to see their dignity and tenacity at survival under many times horrible circumstances. And I wanted to show people in the before and after photos of the rescues we were doing the beauty of how an animal can transform in a supportive, loving environment. They really are some of our GREATEST TEACHERS and MASTERS AT FORGIVENESS!
Even though I had found what I believed was my true mission in life, helping the animals in Acapulco, once again Destiny had other plans for me. Acapulco is in one of the poorest regions of Mexico so it was very easy for the DRUG LORDS to infiltrate our city and buy out the Military and Police force. My husband had a successful business so he was a serious target for
kidnapping and extortion. In August of 2011, the violence in our little corner of Paradise escalated so much that we were forced to close up our home and leave almost overnight.
But there was 1 small detail we needed to resolve first. We had 14 beloved animals living on our property and there wasn’t time to arrange for their care with anyone else. So we rented 2 passenger vans, removed all the seats and filled them with crates, cushions and litterboxes and drove out of Acapulco with 14 animals.
A friend of mine had a sanctuary half-way to the border where we left 6 of the animals, and we drove the rest of the 2,000 miles to Barrington with 8 dogs and cats.
Of course, there was a lot of grieving going on during that trip home, but once we were back and settled in Barrington, I knew I didn’t have the luxury of time to grieve anymore. I had to hit the ground running. My husband was at retirement age but I still had productive years in front of me.
So I spent a few months incubating ideas and finally came up with a plan that would allow me to combine my love of animals with my passion for photography. And that’s how my business “Grace Wears Fur” was born. And someday I hope to write a book under the same name about my experiences with the animals of Mexico.
When I photograph an animal, I’m trying to capture all that our connection means to me. I want my photographs to honor the soul of an animal because I really believe they have souls. And I want to help people explore their own deeper connection with animals. I guess it’s a way for me to say “Thank You!”
I’m never in a hurry when I photograph them……..I need to take my time to observe their characters and really feel their presence. And there’s always a moment when I feel like they understand what I’m asking of them. Their body language softens and they become inquisitive and trusting. And that’s when I begin shooting.
I’ve stayed close to the world of Animal Rescue through an organization called Hearts Speak. We’re a global network of photographers and visual artists who donate time to animal welfare organizations to further their cause. I shoot regularly for Save-A-Pet, Young-At-Heart, and a couple smaller breed specific organizations.
