DK Designs

Stationery for a Dear Friend...

Debbie Friedrich of Debbie Friedrich Photography is someone I consider to be a dear friend. Granted I only met her once at a wedding I helped with back in October of last year, but she is such a talented and down-to-earth person and fabulous photographer! I think it's the mutual admiration for one another's work which bonds many of us in the wedding industry. If you don't know Debbie, she was the photographer for The Knot's Real Wedding of Cheryl and Fred DeAngelo that was featured a few years ago on the Oxygen Channel. (This happens to be one of my favorite pictures of Debbie - the story behind the picture as well as because you rarely see her in front of the camera!)

This was the first opportunity that I had to work with Debbie and she did a phenomenal job. She actually is the person who convinced me to start my own blog... so I have Debbie to thank for that! Debbie does weddings worldwide, but many of her weddings are either in the San Diego/Southern California area or on the beautiful islands of Hawaii. She truly does "shoot from the heart". You should check out her blog at http://www.shootingfromtheheart.typepad.com/. She captures the smallest detail. The latest one she did was the sunflower picture. She found little tiny heart shapes on the inside fringe of the sunflower just before the petals start! AMAZING!

She's in the process of working on her own Etsy site and I'm so excited for her. Be sure to bookmark http://www.zenatona.etsy.com/. She's also going to have the work of Ulu Art on her site as well, which is a collaboration of two very wonderful and talented photographers, Arna Johnson and Geralyn Camarillo of Arna Photography and Hokuli'i Images respectively.

Anyway, I bought this beautiful photograph that Debbie took (I think) with her LensBaby (one of my next Xmas wishlist requests). I was immediately drawn to this photograph and knew one day that I just had to own one of her amazing photographic creations. It's a picture of a ti leaf... SIMPLY AMAZING! Reminds me of home.... Hawaii. :)

She asked in return if I would be able to create some business stationery for her to send to clients and this is what I came up with. I tried different designs, but I really felt drawn to this one so I hope she likes it as much as I do. Debbie envisioned chocolate browns and fuschia pinks but she also thought about green cymbidium orchids. I contemplated how I was going to incorporate everything, but I think the end result is stunning yet simple and not overstated. Finally I remembered that I did a similar design for my wedding thank you cards and thought it was different than your standard fold-over cards... so I decided to try it out. On the inside, I did a simple slightly muted version of her logo so that her clients will always be reminded of her beautiful logo.

The wedding industry has been an amazing experience for me. I meet the most wonderful individuals and professionals, which in turn many times I am fortunate to call them my friends. I think even more so, being a woman in a predominately female industry, seeing successful women such as Debbie pursuing a business they love and enjoy is very inspiring and empowering to other women in the wedding industry!

Every time I see Debbie's work, she inspires me to always do what comes from the heart and pursue what I feel passionate about. Once her Etsy site is stocked with her new photo products, I'll be one of the first to buy it!