Aloha and Happy 2024 – I hope the year is off to a fantastic start for you all. This year has started busy and exciting for me including a team retreat to LA and a transformation for MD Photography – a new brand and website! I am so excited to unveil the new look with you and share some behind the scenes of how it came together.
The Origin Story
If you’re new here, I am Megan David and MD Photography is my company which specializes in capturing love stories amidst the breathtaking landscapes of Hawai’i. I first started taking photos in Summer of 2021 while I was still working a corporate job. In December of 2021 I left my corporate job to become a full-time photographer. It was around that time that my first website came to be. Originally, I thought I could scrap one together myself but after a bit of trial and error, I realized it would be a frustrating process and probably not look the way I envisioned.
Lucky for me, the solution to my problem was hiding in plain sight. A high-school classmate of mine had created her own business for branding and website design, Aleina Creative Co. With her help and expertise, we honed my look and built my first ever website for MD Photography. I am so grateful to that version of my brand for being my calling card to the world for the last three years, for bringing me my dream clients, and letting me live a life I hadn’t ever dreamed of!
Evolving My Brand And Website
As you can imagine, though, a lot changes in three years. So, toward the end of 2023 Aleina and I got to work behind the scenes on a new vision for MD Photography. I wanted the new branding to reflect my evolution as a person and a photographer. A big part of that evolution was letting go of trying to be like other photographers or what I thought a photographer “should” be. I’ve grown more confident in my unique visual style which can be broken down into two pillars – the importance of home and elevation.
What do I mean by the importance of home?
For me, home is Hawai’i. I was born and raised here and currently live in Oahu. The islands have influenced me in more ways than I can share in this blog, but, one huge influence is the landscape. To live in Hawai’i is to appreciate the outdoors which are lush, wild, and create beautiful moments of visual drama. The landscape inspired several choices in my rebrand including my new logo which now features a Monstera leaf – a common plant found in Hawai’i which symbolizes prosperity, good fortune, and long life.
We also updated my brand colors which pulled inspiration from the outdoors I often get to shoot in (I’m so lucky 😊). My new colors are rich greens like the palms and lush mountains, bluish grays like the skies and sea, and a tan like the sand of the beaches. It makes me so happy looking at my website and feeling represented by the bold colors which mimic both my homeland and the bold colors I use in my photography.
And what do I mean by elevation?
I feel like I’ve grown away from the boho phase that I incorporated in my first website into a look that is more high end, elegant, and editorial. To demonstrate that, Aleina helped me choose rich colors, classy and minimal fonts, and elements like embossing on my marketing materials. A lot of the elevation is also in my actual photo work which makes up a lot of the site’s visuals.
On a more practical note, the new website includes a freshly updated portfolio, new pricing packages and exciting add ons, new blogs (like this one you’re reading 😉) as well as a completely new page called for photographers. The For Photographers page covers the details of my personalized mentorship service. I’m so excited about this offering because I know how overwhelming it is to start a photography business with questions like How much do I charge? How do I make people comfortable in front of the camera? What do I need to best prepare for a shoot? How do I build a portfolio and attract clients? If you are dealing with those questions, I’m here to help!
Check out the new brand and website in all its glory here!
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