Meet Cynthia Hammond of Cynthia Hammond Photography in Las Colinas

Today we’d like to introduce you to Cynthia Hammond.

Cynthia, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I have been fascinated with photography, particularly with photographs of people, since I was a little girl. I recall the old Brownie camera that my mother used to photograph me and my siblings. My grandparents had a Polaroid camera, which was so cool because you got immediate results. You didn’t have to wait for the photographs to come back from the lab. You could just pull that photograph right out of the camera!

My love for photography grew, as I was chosen to be the photographer for my school newspaper in junior high school. I still remember how excited I was, particularly that I got to use a Polaroid camera! I moved up to a 35 mm SLR film camera in high school, where I was a photographer for our school’s yearbook. Although it was many years ago, I still recall the excitement of watching the image appear on the photographic paper when I dropped it into the developing tray.

While I spent many years in a corporate job, I continued to cultivate my passion for photography, always having a camera with me. I was always the person taking the photographs at family gatherings, as well as company events.

As I looked forward to retirement from the corporate life, I began to prepare myself for the next phase. I purchased a professional DSLR camera and starting taking classes from various professional photographers. I practiced like crazy until I knew that my work was at a professional level. Knowing the camera settings, posing the subjects, getting the light exactly right, capturing the expression . . . these things are only a small part of being a great professional photographer. I also had to learn how to edit in Photoshop, as well as learn how to run a successful photography business.

I started my “encore” career as a professional photographer by photographing children and families, which I still enjoy, but my current focus is on women. I am particularly focused on moms, who are usually behind the camera, as well as older women who tend to shy away from the camera as we age.

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?
I’ve encountered a couple of challenges. First, is getting our younger generation to see the value of print photography. Everyone has a camera in their hands today, since the camera is a key feature of our mobile phones. I literally have thousands of images on my iPhone. I actually print many of my iPhone images, particularly the ones I want to keep, so that they don’t become lost in cyber space or vanish on a corrupted card or hard drive. People closer to my age grew up with print photography, so we have a stronger connection with images that you can hold in your hand or hang on the wall, and pass down for generations to come. We took our children to professional studios for formal portraits, and, now that our children are grown, those portraits are among our most valuable possessions.

The other challenge I’ve dealt with is getting people in front of the camera. Now that I am working on creating a portfolio of women’s portraits, I’ve heard all sorts of reasons why women are reluctant to get in front of the camera. Once I convince a potential client that I can take the best photographs they’ve ever seen of themselves, they are surprised that we have so much fun during the session, and they love their photographs.

So, as you know, we’re impressed with Cynthia Hammond Photography – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
My “superpower” is showing girls and women how beautiful they truly are. I am focused on providing an amazing experience for my clients, so that they will not only have beautiful portraits of themselves and their loved ones, but they will remember how much fun it was to be pampered and spoiled and treated like a model or a movie star for a day.

My clients receive professional hair styling and makeup as part of their session, and I have a wardrobe of beautiful dresses in which they can be photographed if they don’t have their own glamorous outfits. I never schedule more than one session per day, so that my clients have the entire day to be pampered and photographed in as many outfits as they desire.

Once their beautiful portraits are finished, my clients come back to the studio for their reveal. They are able to take with them that day any images they purchase, along with a digital copy of the image for sharing on social media.

I have an incredible network of photographers that I network with on a daily basis, and I have a fabulous mentor who is known world-wide as one of the very best women’s photographers. I’ve practiced posing for other photographers, so that I am keenly aware of what it feels like to be on the other side of the camera.

So, what’s next? Any big plans?
I want to get more clients interested in having a “generations” portrait made to include the grandmother and the daughter, as well as the grandchildren. My own mother passed away 25 years ago, and I have very few photographs of her in her last years. I regret that my sisters and I never sat for a professional photograph together with our mother.

Once you become my client, you can come back and be photographed whenever you want at no charge. With this in mind, I will be talking with all of my clients about coming back for a generations session, so that we can capture the legacy of their love and family connection for generations to come.

Contact Info:

• Address: 320 Decker Drive, Suite 100
  Irving, TX 75062
• Website: cynthiahammondphotography.com
• Phone: (972) 719-2522
• Email: cynthia@hammondportraits.com
• Facebook: facebook.com/hammondportraits

Image Credit:
Image of Randy Dickson taking my portrait was taken by Olga Robertson

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