Couples | Hannah Rose Gray

Couples

(3/3) I’ve learned you are right where you are s

(3/3) I’ve learned you are right where you are suppose to be. There is no fighting it, rather accepting it. Once I started accepting my place as a photographer rather than “trying” to be one, did shooting become way more fun. Less competing and more creating. ⁣
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My photography has been able to document what it means to be human on this planet. From documenting life coming into the world, the mundane daily rituals, life underwater, life on a mountain, the landscapes of our world, to life in the happiest of days surrounded around love, to days life is ending, my photography is documenting history. What it was like to live in America in the 20th century. I don’t care about competing with anyone, making it into magazines, or winning awards. I just want to be present with life. ⁣
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Now ten years into shooting weddings I finally feel I’m not an amateur anymore. My professor would always say, “it takes 10,000 hours to be an expert”. I’m well on my way to achieving that tile but still feel no where near. ⁣
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Photography is the study of light. Where there is no light, there is no photograph. More than anything I’ve been a lover of the sun. I have chased the sun since I was young and that is one thing I can be sure of, I will always be chasing the light, where ever it goes. ⁣

(2/3) My plan was ALWAYS going to be a photographe

(2/3) My plan was ALWAYS going to be a photographer for National Geographics. Then like life does, it changed. I went to a small private christian university where a lot of people get married young. So I started shooting a bunch of weddings. I was 19 when I first photographed a wedding day with my friend Katie Haller. It was a beautiful dreamy summer Indiana day. I fell in love with weddings. The energy, the new people, the food, the dancing, all the different types of photography smashed into one day. Everything from portraits, documentary, and product style. I loved the diversity. I love when things move fast and the lighting is challenging. I don’t like styled shoots because of this reason, they’re too slow. I need movement, change, challenge, things I cannot predict.

My love of photography has pushed me into a life I love. In college I was able to study ALL types of photo- photo history, photo theory, documentary, product, studio lighting, shooting with all different types of film and learning to develop film. I would spend 14 hours in the dark room on a Saturday making sure my photos were exactly how I wanted to present them. That’s when I knew this love is going no where. I would forget to sleep and eat (my two favorites) just to shoot and develop more.

I continued to shoot weddings through my college years which rolled over to the summers after college and on. I just kept saying yes even though I was in denial that I was a wedding photographer. I STILL wanted to shoot for Nat Geo. I tried to quit photography so many times. I don’t like competition. I’m not here on this earth to compete for the best spot and photography was turning into that. I just wanted to document and tell stories. I hated the instagram world of popularity and even in college competing with my fellow friends on projects. I hated what the wedding industry turned into. I hated the world of comparison.
But every time I tried to quit and find a new job photography found me. As it always does with that thing you were meant to do on this earth.

(1/3) I’ve never really shared my photography st

(1/3) I’ve never really shared my photography story on here, just bits and pieces. ⁣
(all these photos are compiled from high school-college. I have loved to see my style change with editing but I’ve noticed my shooting as always stayed the same.)⁣
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I was 12 when I found my Great Grandfather’s National Geographics in our cottage basement. It smelled like old wood and musk. Walls and walls of bookshelves lined with the yellow binding that held not only stories but photographs of a world beyond Ohio. I grew up flipping through these pages. It’s here I learned what it means to be human outside of my small town. The day I found the portrait of the Afghan girl, taken by Steve McCurry in 1985, I was captured. I was captured by her story, her eyes, what the medium of photography can do years later in a different part of the world. ⁣
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So I chased that passion. I thought would be fleeting just like all my other hobbies were. My mom put me into film photography school one summer at the Toledo Museum of art. I started collecting money to buy a first a polaroid then a digital camera. I was in 5th grade when I first went to the Grand Canyon. ALL I wanted to was to bring a digital camera to document the beauty. I still have those pictures somewhere. Through my childhood I photographed EVERYTHING- from flowers, soccer games, my family, dogs, and landscapes. I would read books and books on photography because I didn’t understand how the internet worked at age 16. There was a constant burning passion to document the world around me through the medium of photo that has continued since the day I picked up that Nat Geo. I wanted to be a war photographer like Steve McCurry in the Middle East. But that slowly changed as I understood what war is. ⁣
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I traveled at a young age to Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic falling in love with documenting humans and their spaces they lived in. When it was time for college I had to convince my parents a Fine Art Film Photography degree (with a minor in Journalism) was my plan and it would work. I literally made a powerpoint presentation to convince them. I think they just wanted me to fight for what I really wanted. I’m grateful for that now

I had wayyyy too much fun at this proposal / engag

I had wayyyy too much fun at this proposal / engagement session this week!!! I love some good Midwesterners out West! David and Alena got to experience the most beautiful Sedona landscape this week. I truly believe I will photograph the right people. I trust who will come to my website are the right ones. I love my clients and the humans I get to meet through this job. #sedonaweddingphotographer

I love my brain and how I work and how I’m highl

I love my brain and how I work and how I’m highly relationship yet creative.⁣
But not everyone enjoys how I work around me. As I get older…honestly I don’t really care anymore. I’m not everyones cup of tea and you know what….that is totally fine. When I stopped trying to be everyone else’s favorite, I started being my own kind of favorite. ⁣
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It spills over to work. ⁣
I run a business. But you want to know what is hard for me? What is hard for me is alllllll things business. I almost quit photography 4 or so years ago because I REALLY struggled with my brain trying to work with numbers, logistics, admin, and all things systems. Let’s be honest, I still do… yet despite the struggle I have found ways to create systems that work for my creative, relational, ADD brain.⁣
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Here I am, Hannah Rose Gray in a space that isn’t comfortable to me or doesn’t come natural but I’ve trudged through the mud, worked on rewiring my brain paths, and now call myself an entrepreneur. And a damn good one at that.⁣
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I’m going to tell you some of my secrets (they are more simple than you think):⁣
1. DUBSADO (@mydubsado) is my client management system I use to help me with ALL THINGS BUSINESS. I’m freakin in love with this company. They keep track of everything for me. Contracts, invoices, book keeping, inquiries, leads, calendar, and more. Once I invested in an online system to help me with my workflow, my brain has more space to do it’s thing. Super grateful for companies like this that help creatives. ⁣
2. BIG BREAKFAST- every morning with high protein, healthy fats, fiber, and carbs. I take my vitamins every morning and drink my kombucha. So so so simple…but so transforming. ⁣
3. I STOPPED COMPARING MYSELF to everyone else. I offer something very unique to the world that no one else will ever create. And you do too. So stop trying to look like India Earl or Katelyn James or whatever other photographer you think is so much better than you. The world needs just you and your brain. Not duplicates of theirs. ⁣
4. OUTSOURCE- let’s be honest I can’t do everything…no one can. I outsource things in my business that suck more time away from creativity. It’s ok to ask for help.

OFFICE WALLPAPER: I’m obsessed with how this tur

OFFICE WALLPAPER:
I’m obsessed with how this turned out!!! I take a loooonggg time to make decisions. It took me 4 months to decide what wallpaper I wanted to put in my office and another 2 months to order and actually put it up. I kinda had a feeling it was going to be difficult so I kept avoiding it, but praise the good lord for @tayloroster for helping me and her engineering brain to finish the 4.5 hour job! Of COURSE I had to get tropical vibes up in my office, there was no other option for me. I chose to get the peel + stick option instead of traditional wallpaper. I hated working with it but I bet it was also easier than traditional. Wallpaper is coming back into style!!!

I ordered the wallpaper from : @coloraydecor

One room semi done (still working on a few things).
Only like 5 more rooms to go!

Excited to see some of my favorite humans in Hawai

Excited to see some of my favorite humans in Hawaii next month 😝😝 their elopement day was....magicallybeautifullyperfectandamazingletsdoitagain.

In Sedona 4 days this week while it’s going to b

In Sedona 4 days this week while it’s going to be 65 degrees. Not mad about it one bit 🤩

Emina & Trevor eloped last weekend in Sedona on Valentine’s Day after having to cancel their small intimate wedding in Switzerland in 2020. It ended up being exactly what was suppose to happen, just as it always was. Moreeeee to come from their elopement. Excited to share!

Sharing 4 of my favorite Flagstaff locations to ge

I’ve watched this relationship between Dan + Ama

I’ve watched this relationship between Dan + Amanda from almost the very beginning. Six years ago I saw this spark that doesn’t happen in every relationship…only the ones that will last the distance have it. After shooting 300+ weddings in 9 years I’ve seen all different types of relationships. Ones where they are the best of friends, romantic, practical, and the most different but the one continuous thing I see is friendship. When a couple has a good friendship I know they’re in it for the long haul. And Dan + Amanda have nothing but deep connected friendship.

At their home they celebrated 7 years of a relationship on a warm windy Phoenix day. The grapefruits swayed as they said “YES” to their most favorite human for this lifetime. It was sweet, genuine, and the best way to start 2021.

Some of my favorite bridal details I’ve ever tak

Some of my favorite bridal details I’ve ever taken 💛
#bhldnbride

Happy birthday to my sweet Grace. Our souls have b

Happy birthday to my sweet Grace. Our souls have been kindred and tied since day one when I met you on the golf team in high school. There is no one who honestly “gets me” better because you and I truly think the same. You are my FAVORITE human to swim in the ocean with. Our 6 hour swim fests in massive waves at Waimea Bay to Napali coast deep dives, to swimming with monk seals one sunrise morning in search for dolphins... you are my ocean soul sister (I know that sounds cheesy.... but how else am I to explain our connection to each other & the ocean that ties us?) I miss you sweet friend 🌊 💕

Although it’s cold and snowy now in Ohio... comi

Although it’s cold and snowy now in Ohio... coming home always brings joy and memories of this beautiful land. Brianna &. Matthew got married in September when the grass was lush and green. Loved their wedding centered around the farm and all things Ohio. A barn ceremony, tractor get away, and sunset over the fields. 🌱
Missing those summer nights. #ohiowedding

28 you were great. It took me the entire time on e

28 you were great. It took me the entire time on earth to get to a place where I feel fully content but I’m present and alive. 29...excited for you but mostly just excited to get to my 30’s cause I’m weird like that. (And maybe I’m not as content in my 20’s as I think 😉😂)

The last 15 years Ariel had no idea what this proc

The last 15 years Ariel had no idea what this process would look like, of her being pregnant. After a very traumatic accident which lead to being cut open and reconstructed from the inside out at age 12, she was left wondering what this process would be. Wondered what this baby bump of hers would look like with a large scar down her whole belly.

There isn’t a right “way” to do life, or be a mom, or get pregnant. There isn’t a way this all should look like or go. It just is. It’s the exact way it’s suppose to be for each of us. There isn’t a certain way your body is “suppose” to look like or not.

I think of it as God is like…”I’m going to give you THIS one, this body, to take care of while you spend your days on earth”. And I think Ariel was given this exact body to take care of through her accident and grow a little boy in. It’s freakin amazing if you really think about it. What each of our bodies do and what they hold. All the pain and joy. And WOMEN’S body splitting apart to usher in new life. It’s all very overwhelming beautiful.

I’ve gotten to be with my sweet friend the last 5 days preparing for this new life to enter this world. From back rubs, chocolate cake, baby crafts, and winter walks I can say it’s a special thing to walk next to someone in many different stages of life. I think that’s the best part about getting older.
Now that this little dude is coming tomorrow (on my birthday!!!) we hold our breaths in anticipation…well all but Ariel cause she needs to BREATH through those surges…for his arrival to earth side.

I like it when it snows in Flagstaff. Despite the

I like it when it snows in Flagstaff. Despite the past 6 winters being in Hawaii the month of Jan / Feb... this winter hasn’t been all that bad. It’s been wayyyy more fun with a puppy and a boyfriend 😂 #flagstaff

Winter long sleeve bridal gowns...I meannnnnn😻

Winter long sleeve bridal gowns...I meannnnnn😻 @grace_loves_lace

Six years ago, TODAY, I moved to this beautiful mo

Six years ago, TODAY, I moved to this beautiful mountain town I call home. These are iPhone photos I took in the first year I lived here. They are sweet memories that bring back so much joy and feelings of uncertainty that 23yr old Hannah had moving across the country from everything she knew. But I had to leave. We all have to leave in our own sense. It’s not always moving across the country or world but there is this stirring in all of us as we grow up. Wanting to know and see more, become our own person, make our own way. ⁣
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If I could go back to 23 yr old Hannah moving out West and tell her something it would be: you will change and it will be for the better. I believe we are constantly changing, constantly evolving into more and more of who we are to be. I hope at 92 I will have still not arrived. ⁣
Flagstaff has changed me. ⁣
I’m more connected to the earth, more in touch with the rhythms of natural ways of being.⁣
I’m more open and less judgement of how others choose to live their life differently from mine. ⁣
I’m friends with SO MANY different types of people. People who don’t think, look, or act like me.And it’s my favorite. ⁣
I’m slower, less concerned with racing to the end. ⁣
I’m kinder to my body, people, and the earth. ⁣
I move my body daily with friends and always in nature. ⁣
I’m SO much healthier. I legit don’t get sick. I’m still trying to understand this one…maybe the dry air?⁣
I eat out less and cook more. ⁣
Found my own way in establishing my business and voice as a photographer. ⁣
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They are small little things that have added up to a life I love. I’m sure I could have gotten here if it wasn’t for Flagstaff some how but I’m convinced it quickened my process and I’m ever grateful for figuring these things out in my 20’s in this town. Because of this town. ⁣

Just a few of my favoriteeee Flagstaff venues on t

Just a few of my favoriteeee Flagstaff venues on the blog today!!! Excited to share about these amazing venues I’ve been able to photograph for the last 6 years. There are a few new ones that are up on the list too! Check out the blog if you are in need of a Flagstaff venue or send to a friend who needs some ideas!!

So excited about Emina & Trevor’s Valentine’s

So excited about Emina & Trevor’s Valentine’s Day elopement in Sedona 🥰🏜
Weddings have looked so different this year and I kinda want to keep it that way for a while. I feel like we have pushed reset on many many traditions and ways of being in this world. Let’s question why we have weddings, how we do them, and the traditions we hold to. More on that later!