“My bread and butter is like, you know, families, headshots, seniors, babies, and portraits. Competition, I get to be creative and push myself and push my bounds and learn new techniques and grow as an artist,” said Megan Drane, owner of Firefly Nights Photography.
And Naperville photographer Megan Drane’s creativity has paid off, as her image “Adorned” is among the top ten finalists of the natural portrait category of the World Photographic Cup (WPC).
What is the WPC?
The WPC is a worldwide photography competition in which 32 countries submit their nation’s top three pictures for each category. Drane’s work earned her a spot on Team USA.
“So, I had a crazy idea based purely off of seeing a little piece of jewelry come through my shopping feed. I’m like, I need that. And I need to have a bald African American woman to be in it. And I immediately saw the makeup and everything that we would do, and I shot it and I knew it was good,” said Drane.
Drane’s involvement with Team USA in 2019
This isn’t Drane’s first appearance for Team USA in the World Photographic Cup.
“So, it was the image in 2019 titled “The Dog Walker” with my daughter and a bunch of dogs. And it had competed in the artist category, and it was chosen to compete for World Cup for the commercial category,” said Drane.
Though her 2019 picture made it to the World Cup, it didn’t make it into the finals. Drane says she feels like she has more to prove this time around.
“The last one I felt was a fluke and I didn’t really earn it. And this one, I’m like, that picture was great, and I was super proud. So, like, all right, that was great. And so, I was excited to be in it this time,” said Drane.
The winners of each category will be announced on March 17 in Singapore.
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