Today's Guest: Hannah Parker of Hannah Parker Photography Inc. in Shreiveport, Louisiana
Today's Host: John Bentley
September 2007
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Hannah Parker Expert PageANNOUNCER: This program is sponsored by morephotos.com the online photo sales solution to professional photographers worldwide.
ANNOUNCER: Welcome to the VTalk Radio's Photographer Spotlight with your host, John Bentley.
JOHN: Today via telephone here in the Studio we have Hanna parker of Hannah Parker Photography of Shreveport, Louisiana. Welcome to VTalk Radio's Photography Spotlight this morning, Hannah.
HANNAH: Thanks so much. Glad to be here.
JOHN: Now you've been a photographer for a number of years, let's talk a little bit about your business there in Shreveport.
HANNAH: Ok.
JOHN: How long have you been in the business?
HANNAH: I've been in business for a year and a half and that's not a very long amount of time, but in that year and a half, I've learned so much and have learned to focus primarily on weddings. That's what I love to do, and you can see it in my work. I hope to be in business for many, many years.
JOHN: Why did you decide to become a photographer in the first place, Hannah?
HANNAH: Well it's a funny story. My best friend had a baby, and we didn't know where to take her to get pictures so I said, I'm going to do it. So I went and grabbed a camera and it was just an old Canon 35mm. It wasn't a digital which was the funny thing, which I'm kind of glad for, because I learned so much about that camera that when I did eventually go into digital photography, I knew exactly what to do. That baby is all over my wall and all over her parents wall, and she just got me started. So that was wonderful.
JOHN: Great. Now give us a little overview of your photography business. What do you like to cover? What are you doing?
HANNAH: Well I primarily focus on weddings, but I also love to do work with families and children and I've done a few seniors here and there which I'd like to get more into, but there's something about weddings that draws me back to that every single time. And I think it's probably the spur of the moment and just how much fun you can have on the most important day of someone's life. So I really, really enjoy weddings.
JOHN: Now when you do a wedding, do you take anybody with you? Do you have an assistant? Do you have other photographers? How does that work?
HANNAH: You know, I wish I had an assistant. That's a pretty touchy subject right now, but I do it on my own. I go by myself and I've gotten pretty accustom to showing off and knowing exactly where I need to be, what I need to do, and how I need to do it, and it's one of those things where I ask myself every day, would I be more efficient with an assistant and so that's something we're thinking about. We're thinking about adding on, but we'll see.
JOHN: Now you also mention that you do children and families. I'm sure that brings its own situations and problems that you have to deal with. Let's just start with people that don't like to have their picture taken. What do you do to make somebody comfortable like that in the studio?
HANNAH: Well I think it's an old saying where you might as well throw out the first roll of film. So in our case as a digital photographers, we pretty much ignore probably the first 30 images that we take, because we know that there's that segment of time where people are just not comfortable. They don't know what to do, they don't know how to act in front of you, and it's almost like when you pull out that camera, they just don't know how to act. So I think just being a people person and being a natural communicator, I feel like I use that first few minutes to just make them comfortable and tell them that it's ok to be nervous, it's ok to not like having your picture taken; however, when they see the result of when they get comfortable and when they finally relax, I think they're very pleased and they learn how to kind of push that to the back of their minds and just have fun, and I think that's when someone starts taking the right pictures. It's when they forget that they don't like the camera. They forget that they don't like taking pictures, and you're just communicating with them and having a great time doing it.
JOHN: Now that's fine for adults, but what about children?
HANNAH: For children I think you have to have a natural ability to make a child laugh. You have to have that. You have to act like an idiot for probably the entirety of the session. I think kids are just naturally attracted to that outgoing and energetic and just that person that makes everything fun. No matter what we're doing, it's fun. And so if you can attract a child by just making it fun, I think you can get that child.
JOHN: Now do you have any advice for anybody that would be coming in to have a portrait session?
HANNAH: My advice usually for my clients is to not overdo. I think a lot of times, especially with families and children, you feel like you have to have the perfect outfit, and you feel like your kid's hair has to be perfect, and just everything has to fall into place the way that normal life really doesn't dictate, and I think to just be natural and allow your child and allow your family to be who you are as individuals and as a group, I feel like that makes the best picture. You know, my favorite portrait of my family is not the one where we're all smiling at the camera, it's the one where we're all communicating in the image. You look at us and we're all being our own personality and our own individual traits we're bringing to that photo.
JOHN: That's right, acting natural.
HANNAH: I think those make the best images.
JOHN: Sure. Sure. Now before we take a little break here, Hannah, would you kindly tell our listening audience your website and contact information.
HANNAH: Well my website is www.hannahparkerphotography.com and you can reach me on the web or you can reach me in Shreveport at my studio at (318) 828-2682.
JOHN: We are in the studio today with Hanna Parker of Hannah Parker Photography of Shreveport, Louisiana and you're listening to VTalk Radio's Photographer Spotlight. We'll be right back after these important messages.
ANNOUNCER: This VTalk Radio's Photographer Spotlight is sponsored by morephotos.com, the online photo sales solution to professional photographers worldwide.
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ANNOUNCER: We now return you to VTalk Radio's Photographer Spotlight with your host, John Bentley.
JOHN: We are in the studio today with Hanna Parker of Hannah Parker Photography, and you are listening to VTalk Radio's Photographer Spotlight. I am your host, John Bentley, with the sound engineer, Damien Allen, at my side. Welcome back to the program, Hannah.
HANNAH: Thank you.
JOHN: Now we've been talking about your photography business down there in Shreveport. So let's talk about some of the communities around the area that you're covering also.
HANNAH: You know, we have a lot of communities around us. It's just not Shreveport exposure. I feel like we get a lot of phone calls not just from the Shreveport metro area, but from small towns that are surrounding us. Like there's Minden, Sarepta, Haughton, even those towns in east Texas such as Waskom that we feel they want to come to a larger city to find exactly the photographer they're looking for. We have a lot of photographers here that offer so many different styles and interests and services that I feel like they can come here and have pretty much the cream of the crop right at their fingertips.
JOHN: What about wedding facilities or banquet halls or anything like that you might be servicing in the area?
HANNAH: Yeah, I'm actually proud of Shreveport. They're really grown into an area where we can serve brides from so many different types of wedding venues. We have places like the Shreveport Club, the Petroleum Club that can offer brides higher quality and higher standard of service, and then we also have the more affordable places that we can...a bride can come in and have exactly what she wants for her day. She can have the service that she wants if it be extravagant and completely out of this world so she can also come in and make it the most beautiful, elegant and simple wedding such as the Rose Center, and I think brides can really pick from such a different array of venues that any bride would be happy.
JOHN: Now Hanna, when you are in a session, w hat do you feel is the most important goal when you are shooting anybody?
HANNAH: I have a lot of people that ask me this very same question, and I answer the same every time. I feel that it's important to truly capture that person's personality. I want them to look at that image and be able to say, that is me; that is exactly me and whether that be taking them to a special place in Shreveport that they really can connect with or whether that be taking them, you know, to just anywhere that they don't know that's different that really allows them to kind of come out of their shell. That's my goal...is that they look at that image afterwards and know that I have captured a part of them in that photo.
JOHN: One last quick question for you, Hannah, if you had to pick a dream photo shoot, where and what would that be?
HANNAH: This is a great question. You know, it's so funny, because a lot of people joke with me because I watch America's Next Top Model, and I watch Janice Dickenson Modeling Agency, these shows where I have a dream that I have just this group that comes with me to incredible destinations like the Great Wall of China or, you know, just an incredible place with incredible models and just to be able to, I don't know, I guess I would say to be able to just branch out away from what I'm comfortable with. That would be a dream session for me.
JOHN: Well before we let you go, Hannah, why don't you squeeze in your website information and contact number.
HANNAH: Alright you can find me on the web at www.hannahparkerphotography.com or you can reach me in Shreveport at the studio at (318) 828-2682.
JOHN: We have been in the studio via the phone with Shreveport, Louisiana, photographer, Hanna Parker, of Hannah Parker Photography and you've been listening to VTalk Radio's Photography Spotlight. Thanks for joining us today, Hannah, on the program.
HANNAH: Thank you. It's been a pleasure.
JOHN: Good luck with your photography business and thanks to everybody out there in the listening audience for joining in with us today. Have a great afternoon.
ANNOUNCER: You have been listening to the VTalk Radio's Photographer Spotlight; only on www.vtalkradio.com. Radio for the 21st Century.
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