By Owner and Founder, Mikayla Dawn Chaparro

I didn’t build Dawn Photo Co. from a place of polish.
I built it from surrender, deep loss, & from love refined in fire.

I’ve done most things backwards in life—becoming a mother at sixteen, building a family before a foundation, and marrying my husband, Justice, when we were barely more than kids ourselves. We were young, broke, and in way over our heads. But we grew up in the trenches of real life: babies in our arms, bills on the table, and a love that had to learn how to stay when staying felt hard.

We’ve walked through more in our marriage than many do in a lifetime, and by God’s mercy alone, we’re still standing.

In our first year of marriage, over a bowl of tikka masala at my favorite Indian restaurant, Justice handed me my first digital camera. It was a birthday gift—but I had no idea it would become a lifeline. I taught myself how to shoot from home, with babies in my lap and barely any margin to dream. But I had grit, vision, and a God-given pull toward storytelling.

I began sharing our life and work on social media, and before long, I was running a thriving photography business. Justice soon joined me, bringing videography into the picture, and together we began documenting weddings around the world—Jerusalem, Paris, Mexico, Hawaii.—and built a name I was proud of.

But behind the highlight reel, I was quietly unraveling. Hustle had become my identity. I wore the title of “provider” with pride, but deep down I was exhausted—mentally absent from my kids, spiritually starving, and holding everything together with clenched fists. I had success, but I didn’t have peace.

Then came 2020. The world shut down, and so did the life I had been sprinting through. I was pregnant with our fourth child, Valor, and in that forced stillness, God began unraveling me. Not in anger but in mercy. He started to gently expose the cracks: the weeds I had let grow wild in my marriage, my motherhood, and my faith. I didn’t know it then, but He was preparing the soil of my heart for something far deeper than survival.

On October 1, 2020, I gave birth to Valor. His life awakened something in me—a tenderness, a slowness, a hunger to see what mattered most. But I still hadn’t surrendered fully. That wouldn’t come until March of 2021, when, in the quiet of an ordinary day, God removed the veil, and I was born again. Not through striving or emotion, but through the undeniable presence of a Savior I finally knew for myself.

And then, just months later, everything shattered.

In September of 2021, just a week before his first birthday, our son Valor passed away suddenly during a morning nap. That day split our life in two: before and after. My identity—as a mother, a woman, a business owner—disintegrated.

Everything I had built meant nothing in the face of that kind of loss. I didn’t care about the work. I didn’t care about the momentum. I couldn’t move, couldn’t think, couldn’t breathe.

I had always been resilient—a fighter, an ‘overcomer’ as they say. But this time was different. I wasn’t clawing my way out of this one. I was eroding.

For a long time, I did nothing. I grieved. I held my children. I laid on the floor and stared at the ceiling. I asked God why He would take the one who woke me up to what mattered most. And yet—even in the suffocating stillness, He was there. Not with answers, but with Himself.

And slowly, through prayer, stillness, and the sheer necessity of needing to provide for our family, something began to stir. I knew I couldn’t go back to the way things were—not emotionally, not spiritually, and not practically. The pace I once lived at would destroy me now. I needed to be home. I needed to mother. But I also needed to honor the calling God placed on our lives.

One year after losing Valor, Dawn Photo Co. was born.

Not out of ambition, but out of obedience.

Mikayla Dawn Photography had come to its quiet end.
Not just because I was done—but because God was doing something new.

Dawn Photo Co. is no longer just “my” business. It’s a team of Christian artists; photographers and filmmakers who carry the same heart: to preserve what matters, to serve with integrity, and to honor the weight of the vows spoken on a wedding day. I may no longer often shoot weddings myself, but I lead our team with vision, spiritual covering, and a deep commitment to making sure our couples feel seen, safe, and known.

Because here’s the truth: we’re not in the wedding industry.
We’re in the marriage business.

Our own marriage has endured storms most never see. We know what it’s like to be tested by fire. And we believe that makes us more qualified to step into these sacred spaces. When we document a wedding, we do it with eyes fixed on the future—on what it means to choose each other, again and again. Our work isn’t about Pinterest boards or trends. It’s about covenant, legacy, and the quiet miracle of love that endures.

Today, Justice and I are raising six children: Emagen, Natalie, Beckham, Reverie, Rune, and our forever son, Valor—whose life continues to shape everything we do. I run this business from home, where I’m finally living the kind of life I once only prayed for. Slower. Richer. Rooted in Christ.

I thought I was building a business.
But God was writing a testimony.

What we create here is about far more than images or films—
it’s about inheritance, about vows that echo beyond a single day,
about the kind of love that tells the world: He is faithful.

And by His grace, we get to be there when that kind of forever begins.

If you’ve found yourself here, whether to read a story or to entrust us with yours, thank you.
It is our deepest honor to use our gifts for the glory of God,
and to hold a front-row seat to the moments that echo into eternity.