Dan’s beginning:
My photo journey started back in 1995 in Ft Wayne, IN. I wasn’t what you’d call an over-achiever back in high school. As I was figuring out what classes I was going to take I stumbled on the photography course. My sister had already taken the course the year before and the teachers always loved her. That meant an automatic grade bump for me! Thanks Jenny! Turns out I actually liked it. Who would’ve thought?! I joined the newspaper and yearbook classes and when it came time to pick a major at Purdue, photography was the obvious choice.
Brooke’s beginning:
If I really think about where my passion for photography and design started, I would probably say fifth grade! My class was in charge of creating the school newspaper, and I immediately signed up to do the “graphics” – picking out clipart to match the articles and placing them in OCD fashion where they would fit best. It was my favorite part of that school year.
In high school I worked on the school paper and yearbook, landing an Editor position for the yearbook, in charge of designing the layouts for the pages (it was the first year the yearbook was done on the computer and not literally laid out by hand!) The love of creating design in a medium that people would treasure and hold onto for life gave me a love and joy for this type of work, and I pursued a career in Visual Communications Design at Purdue.
Our beginning:
Purdue, 2000. We were strangers coincidentally taking two of the same classes, Greek Mythology and Photoshop (A class that Brooke had been on a waiting list to get into for 3 years…funny how things work out!). Late in the semester Greek Mythology was giving a test on the same day Photoshop was taking a field trip to Indy. To make sure we got back in time for the test, we drove down together to meet up with the rest of our classmates. Little did we know when planning that field trip that the ride would be the start of a very special journey… the rest of our lives together!
That spring Brooke graduated from Purdue with a degree in graphic design and Dan transferred to RIT in New York to pursue his dream of becoming a commercial photographer. We grew even closer through a long-distance relationship while Brooke worked in Indianapolis and Dan completed his degree. Dan proposed the day he retuned home from graduation. We were married the following year in 2004.
After photographing a relative’s wedding in the fall of 2004, we both immediately decided that working with couples and families was way more fun than pursuing commercial photography contract work, so Dan officially started what was then “Dan Brand Photography”, concentrating in wedding photography.
In January 2007 we welcomed our first daughter, Samantha, into our lives and photographing her gave us a new love…. babies! Brooke left her management position in graphic design and marketing to join Dan (and baby) full time instead of just in the evenings and weekends. At that time, we changed our name to BRAND PHOTODESIGN and we leased our first studio space in downtown Indianapolis while we started plans to build a permanent studio closer to where we live.
In January 2009 we excitedly welcomed our second daughter, Natalie into our family. This was just weeks after finishing the construction of our dream studio in Fishers, complete with a 2,500 square foot camera room plus waiting area, kitchen, viewing room, work room, offices, changing rooms, and lots of room for our kids and clients to run around! The time most people would be on maternity leave at home, we spent at the studio completing the interior design and furnishing of the building, always with baby and toddler in tow!
Some days you will find our kids with us at the studio. Some days you’ll find just us. Some days you’ll only find one of us. But everyday, you’ll catch us smiling, laughing, sharing moments with our clients and feeling lucky that this is what we get to do for a living. Thank you for sharing your moments with us.
