“Each person is created with an intrinsic desire to experience and possess beauty. Inside every soul is hidden a breathtaking beauty and glory that is just waiting to be captured, and is part of an inspiring story just waiting to be told. This wonder and fascination with beauty is a piece of what makes us who we are. We all want our breath taken away and to be nothing less than enchanted.”
I remember the first time I ever held a camera. It was a disposable film camera my parents bought me on vacation when I was 10-years old. I remember looking through that lens and the thrill I felt when I hit the shutter. That moment represented the mystery and possibilities of what could emerge once the film developed. It was so hard to wait to get my prints back. To a professional, maybe they looked like nothing special. But to me, those pictures signified the beginning of something truly magical.
Towards the end of junior high, I purchased my first camera; a Coolpix point and shoot. I took that camera with me everywhere: school, church, youth ministry, concerts, vacation, etc. I still have albums filled with hundreds of snapshots of me and my friends! I felt like it was my obligation to “document the moment” everywhere we went. I am so happy I have those memories on film, because now I can look back now and see how I grew up from a girl into a lady. {And the camera? I still have it to this day. It may be a little beat up and the automatic lens cover doesn’t shut all the way, but a person never forgets their first camera.}
My name is Paula Bianca. I am a 24-year-old Photographic Artist. I photograph with my heart and emotions, and try to create imagery you can feel, not just see.
Originally from Timisoara, Romania, my family and I emigrated to the United States when I was two. We were political refuges escaping from a communist dictatorship. I love America and do not take my freedom for granted. My husband, Jay, serves in the United States Air Force. I love living in a country where the only limitations imposed on us are the limits we put on ourselves. If you can dream, work hard, and always put God and family first, the possibilities are infinite. For me, this dream meant becoming a professional photographer.
Both my parents are an inspiration. They are the hardest-working people I know. They literally came to America with only the clothes on their back and a bag of baby stuff, to begin a life in a new country with a new culture and language. My parents started to make a life for themselves and their children. My mom went from cleaning houses to becoming an accounting software consultant for major companies. My dad started out flipping burgers at Burger King, but eventually became Manager of the Design Department at the Office of State Printing. He also built his own design and branding business, Dreambox Creative. My parents instilled in me the importance of working hard and dreaming even bigger. They never let me settle for any less than my best.
My photography began to take off in 2008. This was the year I was given the opportunity to work as an assistant to a professional fine art photographer, Karen Marie of Belly Beautiful Portraits. She taught me so much about the business and opened my eyes to the vast potential photography has to capture beauty – even beyond what I had previously expected. I learned about elegant staging for studio lighting and how to theme build a photo set in an elegant and non-cheesy way. Karen was a living walking example of a professional young woman who owned her own photography business. Seeing someone in her twenties who was actually successful as a photographer inspired me to believe maybe I could be too.
Now that I was able to see it done in such a practical and beautiful way by Karen, I was able to believe in myself and transitioned from doing photography for fun to following in my father’s footsteps as both an artist and entreprenuer. With my father’s example and support, I founded my own photography company, Bianca Portraits, on March 10th of 2008. This was when I began my own journey as an artist, discovering many special joys while entering the exciting photography industry. I have worked for and with other wonderful photographers and photography businesses since then, and each has contributed to my unique creative identity on this journey.
I owe my passion and gifts in this area completely to God. I hope to honor him with my work, and over time He has been the one who has formed this hunger for telling an inspiring story though photography, and hopefully I will be able to create a sense of wonder in the viewer’s heart with every shot I take.
