June, the wedding month!  As Del Ray resident, photographer and videographer, Anna Gibbs, will tell you, it’s also a good time for visual storytelling of all kinds.  She’s drawn to the quiet importance of moments – whether in weddings and engagements, people’s work and brands, or everyday life.   She says, “everything has a story to tell.”

 

As a child, Anna saw art everywhere.  “When I walked through the park or up the street, my eyes blinked like a camera shutter, taking everything in.”  She noticed shadows and reflections – small, passing things that sometimes get overlooked.  As soon as she picked up a camera, she started documenting them.

 

Anna’s always been most at ease when observing, and observation became both a buffer from the world and a point of entry.  The camera acts as a bridge, she says, and she feels you can understand things more clearly with some distance.  Anna was drawn to art, writing, and spatial thinking, with a sensitivity to nuance and hidden depths.

 

Music touches her profoundly also.  Anna studied violin and played in her middle school and high school orchestras.   Along with ballet lessons from ages 2 to 18, music gave her an early sense of rhythm, tone, and timing. Anna believes the interconnection of music and dance with her photography and videography have shaped how she understands herself in relation to the world.

 

Anna studied photography and film at Virginia Commonwealth University.   Raised by two creative entrepreneurs – her father an artist, her mother a writer and journalist – she understood both the pull of creative work and the uncertainty that comes with it.  After graduating, and unsure how to make a living with photography and film, Anna worked as a barista, nanny, server, yoga teacher, and wellness coach.  She’s always been interested in how people feel in their bodies and how they see themselves.

 

She started part-time photography work in 2017, first with portraits and gallery work, then weddings, brand storytelling, and a broader range of visual documentation.  By 2022, Anna’s photography business was full-time, and she now works with a small team to keep up with demand.

 

Anna loves reflecting people back to themselves, showing them who they are without stiff posing or over-direction.  She lets the moments unfold naturally when people are their most beautiful.  She finds a way to get her subjects to laugh so their smiles are real.  The result isn’t a performance for the camera, but something closer to how the moment actually felt.

 

She designed her website herself, and if you visit annagibbs.com, you’ll see her extraordinary talent.  Make sure to treat yourself to her lovely, heartwarming wedding videos.