I'm Dannie.
I am a UK & Destination wedding photographer & videographer based in north Oxford. Most of my weddings, however, are in and around West Sussex, as my husband and I spent the first portion of our life together living near Horsham. Naturally, I built up my businesses down there and many venue referrals and couples come in from that area.
But I don't mind the travel, I quite like it. The more places or further I get to go, the better! I love visiting new places and especially love it when those places are based in new locations across the globe.
I am first and foremost, a wife and a mother. I am Danielle Chambers.
Together, my Husband and I have two girls who are the centre of our world. Aiva and Florence. My career in photography really took off during lockdown. I was pregnant with Aiva and working for 'the man'. We had both been put on furlough and like most other people at the time, things just felt wildly uncertain. There is something quite incredible about giving birth. And I don't just mean physically, how amazing it is and all that. I mean how it can alter your perception of life. I've always dreamed big dreams, yet the thought of attaining those dreams as a small village girl from Oxford always seemed so... far-fetched. I quickly realised as a new mum that actually, life was only just beginning. It was time to lay down some foundations and do something for myself so that my family could look at me and say - wow mum you're smashing it! We're proud of you and you inspire us.
There are many inspirational men and women in this world doing fabulous things, and in today's social age there are many normal men and women plastered all over our feeds doing the same but it always looks so unattainable. I wanted to be a voice for my girls and show them that success comes with dreams when you take action.
"They are my world, my inspiration - alongside the other half of 'we', my amazing husband."
I've been a victim for as long as I can remember, and I don't want that for my girls. I hadn't realised how debilitating victimhood could be. I'm talking about my past and using it as an excuse, something I never realised I did. I hadn't realised that my learned attitude and mindset had held me back my entire life.
I began working on myself. I've suffered from a short temper for as long as I can remember, and my money management has always been terrible. When I began my own business and started working through study material, some of my issues came to the forefront of my mind and I began to see a really clear picture of the person I was. It was like looking through a window and seeing myself from the outside.
I knew that change needed to happen to fulfil my dreams, so I began inhaling podcasts Kindle books and audiobooks like they were going out of fashion.
Bringing us to December 2023 and I realised that I'd only scratched the surface with my self-actualisation. My business had taken off in the first few months of launching and I was able to quit my office job in finance. We moved house once, twice then one final time to where we currently live now. My daughter had lived in four different homes and was only 3. In that space of time, I'd grown another human and given birth. I hadn't given myself the time to 'do the work' so to speak. To grow to where I wanted to grow.
So December came and my husband was away with the race team for 3 weeks, reality began to set in and I was deeply unhappy. My work seemed never-ending and the to-do list was too much to cope with. Aiva went to preschool every day, and I'd roll out of bed at 8.10, rush her to eat food and get dressed, get myself dressed and have to preschool every single day within the hour (albeit we were the last ones, every single day). I felt stuck in a never-ending-always-late-always-grumpy-short-tempered loop. I wanted more, but I didn't know how. I knew it started with waking up (I'd read the 5 am club twice!) and honestly, the more each day went on where I felt as though I'd failed the more I thought I'd never pull myself out of the doom.
Depression. A word that is thrown about a lot, with no obvious cure. At the time I didn't think that I was necessarily depressed, it was a feeling that I'd felt so many times in my life before though. It wasn't a strange feeling and it felt kind of comfortable. It felt horrible but it also felt known. I knew my business was slipping away from me, it was just too hard to be a parent, keep the house tidy, cook healthy meals for all of us, do the washing every day, walk the dogs, run a business and stay trim. All whilst having all 3 of our accounts in their overdraft constantly balanced with crushing debt.
I voiced my woes over and over again to my husband as he watched, helpless at the sideline. I was sick over and over again. I caught every bug that I could catch and I just couldn't drag myself out of this wave.
I'm not honestly sure when exactly was the beginning of the end (of this rollercoaster of self-hatred) but somewhere between February and March 2024 the rain eased up and the brain fog began to clear. My husband announced that he wanted to help me more in my business and I said maybe he should do a digital marketing course. I said he'd love to! So we applied together for a free level 2 in digital marketing, which we came across one evening. That one small action from him sparked a change in me. He began listening to Robin Sharma's '5 am Club' and we got up at 5.30 on Monday morning. I worked, whilst he made us omelette. We ate together and I felt amazing.
However, by 8 pm that evening my ear was exploding. It was clear I had come down with a middle ear infection that proceeded to put me back in bed that week. As I spent the week feeling extra sorry for myself, partially deaf and in a lot of pain, I watched my husband become superhuman. He had a handle on all of the dishes, the washing basket was kept on top of, dinner was cooked every night, the girls ate well, he did dinner bath and bed for the girls each evening that I was asleep, and he went to work each day.
As I made it to the end of my week of antibiotics, I was amazed at his willpower, determination, and sheer output of productivity. He was still listening to his audiobook and getting up and spinning all of the plates. It kind of clicked for me in that moment and I could see my teammate. I could see the opportunity that I'd asked for so many times in front of me. Since then we have got up together each morning between 5 and 6 am (depending on if we've had late-night wake-ups from our youngest) and we have achieved together more in one month than I ever thought possible.
I think I found the cure for depression!
My good habits have begun to snowball from here and do you know what? Our 3-year-old also seems happier and more content. Were even first in the preschool line sometimes!
That extra few hours in the morning is the cure, and I am so excited for what we go on to achieve next. I write this as I sit here at 7 am, Aiva sits beside me eating her breakfast. We'll go upstairs soon and get ready and be at preschool on time.
Running a business and being a parent is super tough, and I know from the outside it might seem that I've often got all my ducks in a row. I hadn't realised that my ducks had completely pi**ed off and the row was now an empty trench. I am pleased to report however that I have located said ducks and they have more or less formed some sort of orderly queue.
Photography for me is everything that I envisioned for my younger self. It is me no longer adhering to the 9-5 ebb and flow, I wasn't designed to live that way. I was built to be hands-on, involved in people's lives, there to add value and build relationships. Photography is an art form, but it is so much more than that to me.
It is an opportunity, every day, to make my family proud.
It is the freedom to create and see new places!
It is the ability to freeze people's memories in time, a picture that they can look at once and in one second be taken back to the happiest of days.
It is making beautiful artwork with photos that invoke emotion, positivity and an abundance of life.
Photography fulfils my career ethic, my creative self and my love for learning.
So who am I? I am Danielle Chambers. A mother, a photographer, a business owner and wife.
We can't control everything in life, but as long as I've got my family next to me, my camera in front of me, food in my tummy and a roof over my head - I know we will be OK.
(especially when the food is cheese).
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