Fashion is so intrinsic to our core here at Miann & Co - so when we met Dana of @permanent_weekend we knew instantly that we had found kinship. We sit down with the total style icon to chat about her journey to insta influencer and small biz!
Dana wears: the Dahlia Dress & the Blake Shirt
Hi Dana! So glad we're able to sit down and have a chat! We know you run a small photography business with your Husband, Doug, (@_willandco_) how COVID changed the way you run your business?
Hi Beth! Thanks so much for having me! COVID saw us with so many postponements, we had a 1st, 2nd and 3rd wave. There is so much it has changed, perspective has been something that has shifted for us. We already knew what a privilege it was to do this work and what we give to our clients is hard to put into words, but I feel like the value in the moments we photograph we have a new appreciation for and I've been encouraging all of our clients to bring their extended families to shoots and that life is short so let's capture everything as well as just how important it is to capture people as 100% themselves.
It has definitely made us fully rethink our processes, what is truly important and that we also are not invincible, we're a luxury service as such and that we need to make time for our own lives just as much as we need to serve others with what we do. It has been eye opening for sure. We do feel very blessed that we have been well looked after by our government and that the hard work we put in prior to 2020, has really paid off - seeing me resign from my job of 9 years as a teachers aide - mid pandemic, which I still can't quite get my head around. I feel very grateful that I'm now living my ultimate dream!
Your fashion imagery on your personal account is nothing short of stunning, does Doug help you take the photos or do you use self time/tripod? We'd love to know your process!
Thank you, that is very kind of you to say! Doug takes the photos of me, mostly because we've been a bit time-poor! Honestly I couldn't do a better job of it myself even if I could clone myself! He says he's not really into it, but he is very patient with me and does it to support me because he knows I love it! He's incredibly sweet to do it for me, and I hope one day I can do the equivalent for him for something he loves to do. I am hoping to eventually go to a tripod and use a self timer or remote (as we've sometimes done before) but it's something that takes twice the amount of time as what we currently do which is why we haven't done it that way for some time now.
Dana wears the Alana Dress
@permanent_weekend is quite a new venture for you, I believe you started posting fashion and styling related content earlier this year - what made you want to get into that side of Instagram?
Yes, very new! I adore fashion so much, so there's that! But I think a spark ignited in me a few years ago, something that I thought was a huge injustice that women weren't very forth-coming with saying what they loved/thought was interesting or amazing about themselves, rather they would say what they didn't like - and the list would go on and on. It was this and the structure that I gave myself on my other account that I felt didn't give me the freedom of a voice to speak to women about how worthy they are of love - and loving themselves. I think I just started expressing these thoughts on Will & Co not really knowing what I was doing but feeling passionate about it and then it spilled over when I had a bunch of followers wanting to follow just my fashion side of things and asking me if I had a separate account and though I had been posting for myself on permanent weekend for a while by then, I thought I better take it a bit more seriously.