Art & Life with Hannah Israelsen

Today we’d like to introduce you to Hannah Israelsen.

Hannah, please kick things off for us by telling us about yourself and your journey so far.
My path to becoming a photographer is an unusual one. I actually got my bachelor’s degree in Elementary and Early Childhood Education and was an elementary school art teacher for a couple years before moving to Arizona. The timing of our move coincided with a feeling that it was time for me to make a change in my career that would be more flexible with the many fertility treatments and doctor’s appointments I was juggling during our journey to parenthood through IVF after years of infertility. It was the perfect time to begin pursuing my passion for photography, and I love the amazing opportunities and people that have come into my life as a result!

Can you give our readers some background on your art?
I’m a portrait and brand photographer, and I’m obsessed with capturing people in love as well as creating beautiful product imagery for businesses. I love finding the beauty in little details. Sometimes that means seizing a moment in between poses when a couple is laughing together to click my shutter and capture their candid interactions, or situating a donut so that the most tantalizing drips of frosting and sprinkles face the camera. I really believe there is beauty in all different seasons of life, and it’s so important to document those moments with the ones we love, since we just never know how much time any of us have left.

Sometimes, our only physical reminder of those relationships we cherish so much is found in photographs. When my grandpa was dying of cancer, I felt an urgency to preserve his memory as much as I could. I made him let me take his picture and I took pictures of him when he wasn’t looking. One of those photos became the very last portrait we have of my grandpa before his death and I treasure it because it captures him exactly as I want to remember him and as I want my children to imagine him when I tell them stories about the great-grandpa they never met. It was that experience that made me realize even more how important it is to make it a priority to take pictures often that capture our relationships with those we love and to document memories for our posterity. Nothing is perfect and nobody is perfect, but beauty can be found in everyone and everything, and that’s what I hope people feel when they see the photos I create.

Any advice for aspiring or new artists?
Sometimes it’s hard to be as creative as you’d like to be when your art is tied to a business, because you have to be in the mindset of what your clients or customers want, and how you can make your art marketable. So, don’t forget to take the time to create just for yourself and your own creativity’s sake! Whether you’re a photographer, or a painter, or an interior designer, or a calligrapher, if your work is tied to your art, don’t forget to take a break here and there and create something just for fun, just because you want to. Taking opportunities to be freely creative can really help to avoid burnout!

What’s the best way for someone to check out your work and provide support?
People can see my work at my website, and on my Instagram feed and Facebook page, here are the links for those:

www.hannahisraelsenphotography.com
www.instagram.com/hannahisraelsen
www.facebook.com/hannahisraelsenphotos

Contact Info:

• Website: www.hannahisraelsenphotography.com
• Email: hello@hannahisraelsenphotography.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/hannahisraelsen
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/hannahisraelsenphotos

Image Credit:
Personal photo of me and my daughter was taken by Myrna Wood.

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