Intentional, enduring, poignant
For nearly three decades, Donna has photographed the private weddings and events of the South’s foremost families. She marries efficiency and creativity with her warmth and wit, resulting in effortless portraits and engaging, emotional photographic stories.
As a trained photojournalist, she specializes in documentary storytelling utilizing the patience necessary to create a striking photograph — ones others often miss. She understands the importance of gathering without interruption so that her clients may be present with one another. Her style is honest, in the moment, and understated, with a focus on family.
Her approach eschews passing trends and favors an elegant, timeless aesthetic creating a legacy for generations. Her photographs are all that remains of the day.
Remember Well.
heirloom albums, fine art prints, annual family portrait traditions
Beyond the camera
A storyteller first, Donna is also a writer. Her career began at The Ohio State University School of Journalism, and a journalist's instincts still guide her approach: patience, curiosity, and the conviction that real stories are found by listening, not staging.
She collaborated with celebrated event designer Todd Fiscus of Todd Events to co-write his book, A Love Letter To Parties, coming in spring, 2027. Her essays appear in her Substack newsletter, This Place, Right Here and on Grown and Flown, and she hosts Lying Fallow, a podcast about the high school class of 2020 and the lives they built after a season of nothingness.
Whether she is holding a pen or microphone, her work grows from the same instinct behind her photographs: paying close attention to people and the moments that shape them. Her most cherished work are the handwritten letters to writes to cherished loved ones.
Read This Place, Right Here → | Listen to Lying Fallow → | Visit donnavonbruening.com →