Delve Photography

"Well, Melissa, what can't you do?",  I jokingly inquired. 

Melissa Vanderlinden is the kind of girl that can do just about anything, and not just do it, but do it well.  If I had known her in high school, I'm almost positive we would have been enemies due to envy.  Luckily, I met her in my thirties, and avoided missing out on some serious fun.  She's a real girl, and when I say real girl, I mean she is just exactly that.  She wears her heart on her sleeve, but it is one of the most genuine, authentic, and intricate garments I've ever seen someone wear.  She is sincere, yet frank, and I think that is why I and so many others can completely be ourselves around her and just be real.

Melissa is the owner of Delve Photography, and just when you think that a snap shot couldn't get any better, she showcases another that you could sit and stare at for hours.  This is what makes her a true artist, as if art is organically woven into her very makeup.  You couldn't separate it from her any easier than you could separate a strand from DNA.  In fact, when I asked her how she first became interested in the arts, her response was full of words like, "genetic, organic, and natural". Melissa comes from a family of artists.  She began playing the piano at age 4,  was leading worship at age 16, and wrote and recorded her first album at the age of 19.  Her endless artistic abilities had outsiders and onlookers captivated, but her young impressionability had her skipping through every social and tiptoeing through every tune, only to hurry back to jump through the hoops she hand-made herself. 

She lost a sense of direction, a pre-mature mid-life crisis, at age 25, unsure of who she was, and unable to choose a course.  Her childhood and teen years were full of prepared paths, opportunities and open doors waiting to be seized. Set on cruise-control, she speed past teachers and advisors pointing and waving her on with their giant foam fingers in the right direction.  It wasn't until after Melissa was married and in her mid-twenties that she turned the engine off and got out of the car.  It was on this outer road where the pressures and persuasions dimmed.  The loud humming from the wheels of acclamation and applause gave way to the sound of her own two feet hitting the pavement.  It was here that she discovered photography. 

I was expecting her to answer my question with a long list of classes and courses, possibly an internship or apprenticeship where she learned all about things like aperture and bounce light, and filters and saturation.  To my surprise, she majored in Biblical Archeology and learned everything she knows about photography by perusing blogs and browsing through books.  She admits that photography is a challenge and where she is probably the least comfortable out of all of her many artistic endeavors, but that is exactly the reason she follows it.  She explains, "I like the feeling of drawing something out of someone and capturing their true personality.  I love telling a story through the lens." 

 

Melissa has this natural ability to illuminate the real essence of a subject in a mere click of a button and  occasional flash.  She just keeps it real, because, well, she's a real girl, and "What can't she do?"  

If you would like Melissa to help you tell your story, visit Delve Photography's website or find out what's new via her facebook page!   

Scroll down to view just a sprinkling of Melissa's portfolio, and she is also our fashion photo shoot guru, check out the projects she has collaborated on with lucky ol' me at Dreams of Perfect Design including, Humility 101, Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend, and Power Trip.