Taking her camera along on family hikes in New Hampshire, she never thought it would lead to a business venture. Lynne Byrne had worked in advertising on the marketing and client management side although her interest in fine arts and poetry, led her to spend lots of time with the creative teams on such products as Jell-o and Advil. After twelve years she left her career in advertising to have children. 
Never imagining herself not working, Lynne became extremely committed to volunteering, chairing multiple school and non-profit fundraising events. And documenting her kids’ lives through photos became a passion. “I’m one of those extremely organized people and I’ve created multiple books for each of our sons, cataloging every holiday, birthday, sporting event and milestone you can imagine. ”
“We spend our summers in the most beautiful natural environments,” explains Lynne, “and over the years, I began to turn the camera from the boys to the world around us. But rather than photograph a tree, I tend to be interested in macro shots so I take extreme close ups of the bark, so close up that the photo almost becomes graphic or abstract.” Of course Lynne had to make books of her nature series for her family and herself to enjoy. “My shots went no further than my own coffee table.”
During a vacation to Nantucket, Lynne had spent a lot of time documenting her friend’s garden. “The dew that coated everything was magical. I took close ups of water droplets on blades of grass. You could actually see reflections of the garden in the droplets.” When she looked at this series, she got the courage to call her area library where she had seen artists displaying their work. Sure enough, they wanted her to stage her first solo show in their gallery and asked her to send her artist’s statement and her web site address. “I had neither, but I spent the next two days developing both. I thought putting together a web site would be tough, but it was actually easy and fun using Weebly.com.”
Lynne began to gather 40 – 50 pieces together for the exhibit. Preferring to display her photos in face mounted plexiglass, this became a huge undertaking. She began to work with a photographic shop and when they saw the finished product, they told her she should sell her work. “With that validation, I marched myself into several local shops with my portfolio and a few stores took my pieces on consignment. It was really exciting. ” Lynne sold her first piece before the library exhibit even opened, “Black and White Water Droplets.”
Photography was never supposed to be a business for Lynne. ” I felt I had ignored my creative side for too long and I wanted to go back and find my bliss. This venture has helped me do that.” And the fact that people are willing to pay for her creativity has been incredibly validating. Her husband and kids are really proud too. “One of the best parts of all of this has been showing my kids that you can take risks, make things happen and just go for it. And I believe you can find something that feeds your soul.”
Contact: lynnebyrnephotography.com, [email protected]
VentureMom Tip
Look to find your bliss.
