An elective class in photography during her final semester of college at Southeastern ignited a love for the craft. Mandy Ducote was in the last few months of earning a degree in Marketing with a minor in graphic design when a photography class caught her eye and helped her to see life in a more refreshing way. She learned the old-school way, using film and developing those pictures herself. Already gifted with an eye for composition and design, Mandy’s early photography efforts were admired by family and friends.

“One of the things that I love about photography is the storytelling aspect of it. So many times, when I’ve shot weddings and I’m shooting a father-daughter dance, I’m literally crying behind my camera because I connect with these people so much, ” says Mandy. 

She remembers fondly a photography experience she had with the family of a dear friend. It was a multigenerational event – children, parents, grandparents. She recalls taking a shot of the daughter with her 85-year-old father and thinking “this is a legacy moment.” We never know when our loved ones are going to leave us, so capturing those special moments in a photograph becomes extremely important. A single photo can tell a story without speaking one word. 

“With digital photography, we’re able to take so many pictures I feel that the value has diminished. People tend to keep them digital instead of printing them out,” she says. Because of this, Mandy has put her graphic design degree to good use and has started designing traditional family albums for clients so that these memories can be more tangible.

Whether telling a story with a snap of the lens or sharing a memory in an album, Mandy believes that a picture not only paints a thousand words, but it also brings people together. 

Photography and self-portrait by Mandy Ducote.