Wainwright following dreams
VILLISCA —Julie Wainwright has found that sometimes dreams refuse to be ignored any longer. Somehow minds shoot holes in once familiar excuses. Somewhere inside the realization of knowing who you are supposed to be robs one’s peace of mind until it’s acknowledged as far more than a mere dream for a later time. As the prompting for letting others know and benefit from one’s uniqueness continued to urge compliance, Wainwright realized it was time to let the public know of the dream for which she was now willing to make sacrifices. For Wainwright, Friday, Jan. 16, will go down as the day she let the public know she was serious about being a photographer. That’s the day she officially opened Julie Wainwright Photography at 322 South Third Avenue in Villisca.
Several friends eager to help Wainwright celebrate her decision to open her studio, as well as numerous curious guests and potential clients attended the open house to survey her photography and enjoy the refreshments provided.
One unique display of her artistry is captured in soft cover booklets of her subjects. Often, Wainwright says, clients express their appreciation of that ensemble option.
Wainwright is available to shoot weddings, senior pictures, individual and/or family portraits. Sessions may take place in her studio or in unique settings to capture the subject’s “story” in a photograph. Babies, children, even the pregnancy that brought them to life, are among her favorite subjects. Various photography on display confirms that Wainwright respects life and that she thinks she’s found her niche.
Many might question whether Wainwright took the shortest route to pursue her dream of opening her studio. Like most artists who contemplate pursuing a sometimes intangible dream, Wainwright knew a lot dream jobs leave bills unpaid. To be “practical,” she opted to pursue nursing career, but the dream to do photography and have her studio never stayed far below the surface.
Now as Wainwright looks at where she’s at in life, she sees ways her nursing career has, and will, enrich her work as a professional photographer.
Through a series of events, Wainwright became acquainted with what she calls the “saddest and most rewarding” work she has ever done, and those events require her combined skills of being a nurse and a professional photographer. Besides booking appointments for the traditional shoots photographers go after, Wainwright is one of the 4,000 international “Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep” (NILMDTS) volunteer photographers who are invited to share in a family’s most difficult and most tender moments, the last moments of a dying infant’s life.
Wainwright said that the NILMDTS organization began when a couple in Colorado was losing their son to a rare disorder. They wanted to preserve their few precious moments with their son, so they contacted a photographer who created visual memories they could treasure forever.
Since then, Wainwright and other photographers have volunteered to participate in some of life’s most tender moments. Wainwright realizes that her medical background through nursing helped prepare her for those ‘end of life’ sessions that mean so much to families. The photographers, too, however, found they, too, needed a support group where they can now discuss particularly difficult sessions and share ideas.
Wainwright is also involved in another non-profit program entitled “Princess for a Day.” Tickets go on sale in April, with ticket money going toward the Audrey Buck Scholarship Fund to help one young lady from an area school can go on to college. To raise funds for that scholarship, vendors, including Julie Wainwright Photography, donate services that will “pamper” the winner.
Currently, the winner will receive a photography session and portraits from Wainwright and jewelry and hairstyle from WM Jewelry and Studio Central. Others are invited to arrange to donate services for some “princess,” or to watch for the tickets in April. All proceeds go toward the Audrey Buck scholarship fund.
To arrange photography sessions or inquire about the programs Wainwright is undertaking, call Julie Wainwright at 712-621-5229 or stop by the studio in Villisca.