Lead Photographer For Media By LCW



My involvement in photography stems from an early age when I became the family photographer after receiving a Yashika TL Electro-X film SLR camera as a graduation present given to me by my father when I graduated from high school in 1976, although my career as a portrait and fashion photographer had to wait until I retired from my regular work as Senior Software engineer in 2012.

After retiring, I moved from Massachusetts to Austin, where I renewed my interest in portrait photography by purchasing a Nikon D800 digital camera and later upgraded to a Nikon D810 digital camera, some professional lighting equipment and also taking informal photography courses at the University Of Texas (UT). I was very eager to use the knowledge that I absorbed in class and wanted to start my new career by taking many photos of models that were available from the Austin area that I met while attending various fashion shows and photography seminars. I found that going to events in downtown Austin, including: Fashion Shows, local bands, etc. provided me with great experience photographing and capturing video of performers, models and clients under some of the most challenging lighting and logistical situations. My favorite inspiration photos are from the "Old School" Golden Era of Hollywood 1920-1945 taken by classic photographers such as CLARENCE SINCLAIR BULL. EUGENE ROBERT RICHEE, ERNEST BACHRACH, and SCOTTY WELBOURNE.


One person in particular whom I met at one of the local Austin fashions shows was to become very important to me and her name is Lajuana Centrell Williams, CEO of Designs.By.LCW and Media.By. LCW. At the time, she was modeling some of her own fashion designs and I happened to photograph her wearing them and sent her the edited photos. Lajuana was very impressed with my photography work and she hired me to be her Lead Photographer for her Media.By.LCW company. I owe most of my recent success to working with Lajuana. As Lead Photographer for her company, Media.By.LCW, I have had the opportunity to work closely with her and have been very impressed with her sincerity, hard work, leadership and communication skills including the social media. Every shoot with her is a new adventure, and she is constantly making me push the photography envelope and work outside the box to get great results.
My job responsibilities for Media.By.LCW include coordinating and supervising other photographers and videographers working on a shoot or event and setting up the lighting for the event. I also edit photos using Lightroom and Photoshop and help Lajuana select and submit photos to various maga-zines for publication.

My work assignments for Media.By.LCW include traveling with her to various events around Austin, Houston, Dallas and San Antonio, where I photograph runway models wearing her new fashion designs. In addition, we cover fashion shows featuring other fashion designers, weddings, and other large events, which she promotes online on Facebook and Instagram using photos from these events. In addition, Lajuana sets up photo shoots with various themes that feature her fashion designs and some photos from these shoots have been published in fashion magazines around the US.

Benefits that I have working with a diverse company such as Media.By.LCW include having flexible hours, lunch time meetings at great restaurants, home cooked dinners and generally being treated like "family", travel, and adventure. Other benefits of working with her have been to get invited to events that I would not have easy access to or would be very expensive to get into including most high end fashion shows, and very special events such as Lajuana's nomination for the Greater Black Chamber of Commerce, which I was invited to attend as her photographer, and also getting invited to the National Assotiation For Professional Woman (NAPW) fashion show held in Austin last year. Now I know what it is like to be in an all "Woman's" event.
I am also helping Lajuana with her "Non-Profit" causes, which she is sponsoring, including the Austin based Heart of Cancer cause by supporting it with donations from proceeds of fashion shows that she has sponsored, including the recent Hope Fashion Show held at the Lakeline Mall, Austin Texas on February 16 for The Heart Of Cancer. She is also sponsoring "A Gift from a Child" International Fashion Show, which will be held in 2016, using mostly her own limited financial resources shows commitment to helping the young by giving them hope and making them feel good about themselves.
Our most recent shoot, "The Dream Girls" featured in this magazine shows her commitment to building multicultural/multiracial business ventures featuring Lajuana's striking original fashion designs.
Article written by Daniel. F. Ramirez, Lead Photographer for Media By LCW.