We had the good fortune of connecting with Grace Mirabito and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Grace, can you tell us more about your background and the role it’s played in shaping who you are today?
I was born and raised in Atlanta, GA so this space and place has always and will forever be my home. I first started photography when I was 10 years old, I had an old beat up Nikon cool pix, those old point and shoot cameras, then when I was 15 I got a Nikon J1 which let me explore manual photography in a limited way. Finally when I graduated high school my parents bought me my first Nikon D5500 camera, now at 25 I use a Nikon D750 and D850! I have collected a plethora of lenses and have truly honed in to the type of photography that speaks to me, which is simply authentic and carefree. Coming from an immigrant family (Thai and Italian), photography sort of became my love language, it was the way I shared and expressed emotions to other family members, since many of them didn’t speak English.

But, my “day job” is not photography, I am a full-time Ph.D student at Georgia Tech. I study cognitive aging, specifically focusing on mindfulness meditation and how it affects stress, anxiety, and depression in a college population to help build resilience and in an older adult population to alleviate symptoms associated with dementia and even healthy aging. Since becoming a mediation teacher the way I approach sessions have completely changed. It has really cultivated how I approach photography. It’s all about comfort and ease in my sessions. I love capturing someone’s authentic love or their Beyonce´ moment, with attention to not striving to make them fit in some prescribed box, but giving them the space to be themselves.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I think what sets me apart from others is that my photography and shots are never the same for two different people. I don’t try to fit them into a box and force them to look like X model or X couple. I think what I’m most proud of is going against the grain, a lot of photographers in my area think Georgia is the ugliest place to take pictures, that you need some grand landscape behind you, but I’m different. I don’t think the background of your images are the end all be all in photography, instead the people in your images and the joy they feel, the confidence they exude is what is important to show.

Doing this WAS NOT easy, it was hard to get clients to trust me that we don’t have to do it that way, to trust the process. Once I got that ONE person to trust me now that’s what I’m known for. People seek me out to go to the locations people once thought were not “photogenic.” I also learned that people EVERYWHERE will try to bring you down, and learning who is there for you and who is not is hard, but you learn the traits to watch out for.

The one thing I want the world to know about me and my brand is that the client and their story is always first, I sit back and engage with them as people first and in the end galleries always end up looking like a small glimpse into their lives and I think that’s what sets me apart from the rest.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I live right by Ponce City Market so we would obviously hit Ponce, grab a drink on the roof and then hop around all the restaurant’s on the Beltline, one of my favorites is Hampton and Hudson in Inman park. I’d also take them to a yoga class at Highland Yoga and drink wine at Barcelona Wine bar.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
My uncle and grandpa for sure! They have supported me and encouraged me to learn photography and gave me an escape from the crazy academic pressures.

Website: https://gracefulphotographyatl.mypixieset.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/graceful.jpeg/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/grazia-mirabito-ms-5874b9146/

Other: my personal IG account: https://www.instagram.com/grace.mirabito/

Image Credits
All photos by me: Graceful Photography, Grace Mirabito

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