Rondasia Lamaria is a Connecticut-based photographer and designer, that holds two degrees from the University of Hartford. She received a BFA from the Hartford Art School in 2013, and returned to the University of Hartford, to receive a masters in communications in 2017.
As a photography major at Hartford Art School, Rondasia created a project called the Sundays Best Collection, a series of photos of her family going to and from church. This collection of portraiture helped her realize that photographing people was her passion. She also minored in Visual Communications Design (VCD). Later, she decided to get her masters in communications as a way to push her marketing and social media skills even further.
When she graduated, with her specialty in photography and communications, she knew that she needed a brand. With the help of an old professor, Ellen Carey, she came up with the name Royal Lilac. Over the last few years, Lamaria has run Royal Lilac, Photo & Design out of her home studio and a soon to-be mobile, “tiny-home” photography studio! Her day-to-day consists of portrait photography, design and making apparel. Her fully equipped tiny-home photo studio has everything she needs to hold portrait sessions and to help her clients feel at home. She wants her clients to feel like royalty when they walk in. The lilac-doored tiny-house that is in the process of being made mobile, is warm and welcoming. Rondasia’s approach, creates a comfortable atmosphere for her clients, playing their favorite music, allowing them to be active in their photoshoot and fully themselves.
The studio has a changing room and mirrors to help her subjects get ready, inspired by the lighting studio at HAS, lighting is suspended from the ceiling and there are a variety of backdrops that can be changed with the click of a button. These retractable elements are the perfect fit for this tiny space. Being able to have a fully equipped studio that customers can move around in, is extremely beneficial, but it’s small enough that the entire studio can move! This tiny-home idea came to her as a way to attend events, birthdays, weddings, and more, providing a mobile location for portrait sessions, while also being able to utilize the environment wherever she travels. If it’s an outdoor session and it’s raining, they can stay in the rain, reschedule, or move into the studio at the drop of a hat! This gives her a versatile edge and gives her clients plenty of options.
Rondasia Lamaria ’13, ’17, BFA, MAI have one client that was just singing and playing the trombone during the session, I just want them to be free and relaxed.
Lamaria spoke about the things she learned from her professors at Hartford Art School. “Michael Vahrenwald, he definitely inspired me” while still a student, she had her first gig as a wedding photographer. She asked her professor what to do and the tips and tricks professor Vahrenwald gave her, are something that she still thinks about during photography sessions today. She credits Mark Snyder with helping her learn how to present her work and make decisive decisions as a designer.
As a creative problem solver, Rondasia Lamaria can do it all, and as someone that can think quickly and creatively, she does not shy away from change. She has evolved with her business to create apparel as a way to fill a need, something that organically emerged as she did events through her business.
While the (almost) mobile photography studio will allow Rondasia to meet her photography clients where they are, thanks to her marketing skills and great work, the other aspects of her business take her work all over the country. For photography, “a lot of my clients are local, but when it comes to the design, I have clients in Florida, Arizona, Maryland, just because they saw my work on social media…. Recently, I actually did a logo for a sorority in Maryland, over generations and generations, that sorority will be represented by my design. That’s my artwork.”
Rondasia was at Hartford Art school from 2009 to 2013. At this time, when Facebook marketing and other social media platforms weren’t as prevalent, she credits a class at UHart for being ahead of the game. “I took a class and they made me sign up for Facebook.” At the time, “I was like WHY!? And I’m glad I did, I’ve never looked back.” Most of Lamaria’s clients come from Facebook, “it’s just how you market and put yourself out there, and then when you have great work, word of mouth works too.”
Even during a difficult time, like the pandemic, Rondasia was able to build this company. She had to commit time and energy, but as soon as she began doing that, she was able to take hold of this dream and make it happen. Allowing yourself the space you need is key. Lamaria states the importance of giving yourself the permission and space in your life that you need to make things happen. For her, and possibly you, the physical space that you take, could be as small as a tiny home.