Image conscious

Marco photographer clicks creatively with subjects

By Quentin Roux

Originally published — Marco Eagle Marco Island, FL

Photographers, as the saying goes, see the world a little differently. Even if they’re not toting a camera, they’re constantly looking at light, form, angles, motion, and contrasts. They see the bigger picture all the time.

As a professional on Marco Island who specializes in all types of photography, Nancy Dowdall has used all those attributes to establish herself as one of the island’s most in-demand photographers.

Using some of her news shooting experience, Dowdall shies away from the typically static poses that constitute so many portraits, and instead goes for a more natural image.
“I want people to look comfortable in their environment,” she says. “I take my subjects to outdoor locations, many times on the beach at sunset. I like to photograph them interacting with each other instead of posing. I encourage them to walk around, play together and relax.”

Among her favorite shoots, besides groups, are weddings, family gatherings and pets. She’s also happy with corporate-type work, and is prepared — as she did for a while — to travel locally and internationally on assignment.
“I also ‘recharge’ my creative batteries by doing underwater, aerial and nature photography,” she says.

Dowdall cut her teeth on doing “mugshots” of toys at a Fisher Price studio.

A former western New Yorker lured to Florida six years ago after taking care of her aged grandmother, she says the availability of world-class SCUBA diving just a couple of hours away in the Florida Keys sealed the deal.

People unaware of Dowdall’s work may indeed have seen some without realizing it. Her photo of a dolphin nosing a coconut into the air is on the cover of the latest Yellow Pages directory, and five of her “paradise” photos are on the cover of the latest Marco Island Area Chamber of Commerce’s annual glossy publication.

Dowdall has a degree in photo illustration from the Rochester Institute of Technology, and has practiced for the past 20 years.

Over the past few years, like many a skeptical traditional film photographer, Dowdall has refined the art of digital photography to suit her abilities.
“It took lots of hard work, ongoing education in digital photography and many peanut butter and jelly sandwiches,” she quips.

An avid Marco Island Area Chamber of Commerce supporter, Dowdall happily donated cover shots. Chamber Marketing Director Vicki Williams says it was generous of the photographer. “She’s a professional, she has a creative eye, and I just like her work,” says Williams, who’s an artist in her own right, and is best known for having designed the City of Marco Island logo.