Have you ever wanted a ‘wow picture!’ of yourself looking more than your very best? Winifred Whitfield, USA based award winning digital photo artist, offers this distinctive service. Specialising in the creation of personal art, she captures the unique inner and outer beauty of her female subjects regardless of their age, size or shape – beauty that often lies beneath their lack of confidence and self-belief.  Controversial this might be, but it parallels the purpose of Winning Pathways Coaching, to unearth the often concealed and unrealised magnificence in women and enable them to be more than they think they are.

Although a contemporary artist, Winifred Whitfield follows portraiture’s historical tradition of enhancing the appearance of the sitter.  Her subjects are often astonished by the end result -  ‘I was in tears when I saw the images Winifred created’. From behind the camera Winifred Whitfield creates not just a unique product but an empowering experience for women that goes beyond the typical photo shoot – ‘This was a life-changing experience. I am different now than I was when we began our shoot’.

But what brought Winifred Whitfield to photographic art? Her route was extraordinary; – oil painting as a child; bond rating on Wall Street; vice president; breeding llamas and camels on a remote farm near Seattle; photographing them for her web-site and falling in love with the process; art school to learn and develop. Loving the creativity of enhancing her pictures, she described being ‘in heaven’, on getting her first digital photo equipment.

She set up ‘Intimate Portraits for Women’, a division of  ‘Winifred’s Portrait & Fine Art Gallery’, based in Poulsbo, Washington – and so continued her journey on her winning pathway.

So how does Winifred Whitfield work?

Stage 1: an initial complementary consultation meeting – Winifred builds rapport with the client and learns who she is and what she wants.

Stage 2: Whilst totally focused on seeking the subject’s emotional and aesthetic beauty, Winifred spends as long as it takes waiting for the client to reach that ‘quiet place’, where photographer and subject are connected, and the client feels sufficiently comfortable to reveal herself before the camera. Subjects have remarked, ‘You make me feel like America’s next top model!’  Such is the essential people skill that Winifred brings to her art.

Stage 3: Here, Winifred transforms the photo into ‘art’, a process that distinguishes her from other photographers. Using digital painting technology, she enhances the photo (although the subject’s basic features remain untouched) and produces the client’s unique image that defines beauty on the individual’s terms as expressed in the consultation stage. ‘Winifred helped me find my smile and display the come-hither me that I thought was lost’.

So what’s the source of her confidence and her drive for success? Winifred Whitfield is unequivocal about this – her mother, a high achiever herself, told her ‘you can do whatever you want to do’.

But it doesn’t end here – Winifred Whitfield is now passing on her knowledge to others and will conduct super classes in London at the annual convention of the ‘Society of Wedding and Portrait Photographers’ on 11-15 January 2011. Already well known in the States, it could merely be a matter of time before Winifred Whitfield is a universal name.

To see more of Winifred’s art go to http://photosinnewyork.com/

How do you see this type of photographic art, as empowering or as vanity?

How would you want to be painted? Leave your comments below.

Winning Pathways Coaching works with women to enable them to be the best that they can be. Contact us here to find out more about our coaching programme.