Dana Heisler is an International Award Winning and Master Photographer. Professional Photographers of America (PPA) named her an Elite Photographer of the Year for 2019.
Dana is the chief photographer and artist of Heisler Studios, the up and coming commercial photography company of Clay County. She is passionate about helping business owners create portraits that resonate with their client base. As an artist, she loves creating commercial imagery of businesses and their products.
As an Elite Photographer, she has requests to lead programs and photography workshops. She speaks to other professional photographers about inspiring their growth and cultivation of their craft and how to take their marketing game to the next level.
She is a member of Leadership Clay with the Clay County Chamber of Commerce and loves giving back to her community. She also serves on the board of the Jacksonville Professional Photographers Guild (JPPG). Dana lives in the Doctors Inlet area near Fleming Island, where she is mom to three adventurous and on-the-go boys, wife of a incredible husband, and owner of the sweetest dog in the world.
She is a thrill seeker who loves new outdoor adventures. If you can’t find her in the studio, she may be busy hanging out of helicopters, extreme flying over mesas and valleys, seeking the next amazing sunset in a remote area, or hiking on the edge of a cliff. One day she plans to write a book about her adventures.
HeislerStudios.comI double-majored in Illustration and Communication Arts at the Hugo Design Institute. After interning for famed graphic artist Veruca Mafnas, I went on to design at ad agency Showcase, where I worked for nearly three years.
I balanced my day job with personal creative work, like collage and woodblock printing, which garnered attention from a few indie publishers. Eventually, I got offers from more established magazines, so I decided to design for Showcase on a freelance basis. This allowed me to work on other cool projects, from emerging brands to current events.
My creative approach—no matter the medium—is to find points of tension behind the idea I’ve been assigned or am interested in. I do several iterations on each point and usually end up refining the one I find most controversial.
For me, controversy isn’t about instigation, but rather, a way to arrest your audience. It’s a way to plant a little bit of desire in their hearts; a yearning to turn the page and learn more about your idea. Ultimately, it’s about creating memorable images.