We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Hannah Barr a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Hannah, thanks for joining us today. Let’s jump back to the first dollar you earned as a creative? What can you share with us about how it happened?
Hannah here!
Like most photographers, I started out doing photography as a hobby. My parents are both artists, and I grew up with my dad’s camera in my hand from a young age. I actually hated having my photo taken (ironic, I know), but looking back now, I’m so grateful that my parents captured so many big and small moments of my brothers and me! Like I said, I had a camera in my hand quite a bit, so I learned a lot about the mechanics of a camera, as well as how a photo could make someone feel. Whether it was a photo of a beautiful sunset, my parents, siblings, or my friends, I knew I loved connecting people to visual memories that take them back to that moment in time.
I got my first camera for my 13th birthday, and I was overjoyed… although…
I didn’t have the desire or dream of becoming a photographer as a living. I actually had no idea what I wanted to do for work even after I graduated high school. I worked in a coffee shop and nannied for two years out of high school. During the time I worked at the coffee shop, I had an old friend reach out to me about taking photos of him proposing to his girlfriend. He asked me how much I charge, and of course, I was shocked someone wanted to pay me to take their photos since I hadn’t seen myself in that profession. It was the first proposal I’d photographed as well as the first time I got paid for photos. I charged him a total of $50. Which at the time, felt like too much, because I still only saw it as a hobby!
But after I took the photos, edited them, and delivered them… and heard just the utter joy and excitement they had… I actually started to feel like I may want to pursue something for once. I never had a passion to pursue any career, until this moment. Of course, I felt like I could never be as good as the other photographers that I looked up to, and I surely never thought it would be my full-time job, especially at such a young age.
It’s because someone saw the value in what I did, decided to encourage me in it and give me a chance even though I had little experience. Learning that my work/art is valuable not only to myself but to other people as well, was very emotional for me. It sparked something in me.
I’ve been so passionate about serving people for a long time and was searching for a way to use my God-given talents to glorify God and to create closer connections between people. To be able to deliver not just pictures, but memories to people is genuinely something I consider a privilege, and I am grateful to do it every day. Looking back, I’m thankful for all of the people that encouraged me. The ones that believed I could pursue something that felt like a dream and challenged me to make it a reality. It wasn’t / hasn’t been easy, but it’s the most rewarding job I’ve ever had.
I’m grateful for every individual, couple, and family that has entrusted me to photograph the big and small moments of their lives. 13-year-old Hannah wouldn’t believe me if I told her she’d be where she is today.
Hannah, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
My brother, Ben, and I started our photo and video business after we experienced so many weddings as photographer and videographer assistants/leads. After a few years of assisting and learning behind the scenes, we decided to dive head first into full-time, because we saw a need in the wedding industry that would take our full attention. We noticed a few pain points for a lot of couples.
One of the pain points that drove us to start the business, was the stress that we saw couples feeling with planning along with the stress day of the wedding. Of course, we knew that we couldn’t completely take all of the stress away. Still, we knew there had to be a way to use our people skills, knowledge, experience, creativity with art, and genuine passion to serve and connect people, to be somehow able to relieve some of their stress.
We are passionate about couples being able to ENJOY their season of engagement, and their wedding day, and to help bring their vision to life! Most importantly, we strive to keep couples in the present! One of the ways we’ve helped couples in this has been by helping them create their wedding day timeline to allow space to breathe and enjoy the in-between moments. Wedding planning and wedding days aren’t supposed to be stressful or rushed and certainly aren’t just about one big photoshoot. We encourage our couples to unplug from their phones as much as possible, to have some alone time together at some point during the reception to connect and to soak up the moments and the memories they’re making. With nearly 8 years of experience in the wedding industry, and one of us being married, we understand the stress and the pressure that comes with planning a wedding. But it doesn’t have to be that way!
You should have complete confidence in your wedding vendors, especially your photographer and videographer. Your photos and videos will be a look back into one of the sweetest celebrations of your life. You should be able to trust that they know exactly what they’re doing, and will help you bring your vision to life! Plus, since they’ll be some of the people with you the entire day, you want to be able to connect with them! Your vendors can set the tone of your wedding day.
Another pain point we noticed with couples was photographers and videographers that do not work together well, which can affect the quality of the final product and the flow of the day.
When you hire a photographer and a videographer, you want them to get along. You want them to work together well, not only relationally, but also to be on the same page with work ethic, attention to detail, accommodating to each other, and not getting in each other’s shots!
As a brother and sister duo, we’ve known each other for a long time, which means we have a great flow. We are typically on the same page. We also happen to be best friends! Other than helping create a stress-free planning and wedding day process, we bring energy, joy, and friendship to the day that we are so excited to share with couples! We want to be your friend!! We have so much fun together and with our couples! We see value in quality over quantity. That is why we only take on a limited number of weddings. We believe in giving our couples our full attention! Our couples are not just another number to us but another relationship and story we consider an honor to tell!
For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?
Knowing that we are capturing one of the most important days of people’s lives, as well as some of the most important people to those couples. Knowing that our work will be seen and remembered by their kids, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, etc. is one of the coolest things. What we’re doing as creatives will be seen for generations. You don’t have to be famous to be seen, or for your work to be acknowledged and valued. There is so much joy and reward found in being able to deliver visual heirlooms to people.
How did you build your audience on social media?
For us, we had a lot of prior connections to a lot of people. But what really grew our Instagram, was a giveaway we did with a few small businesses in the area. We gained hundreds of followers from that, as well as networking with other vendors outside of Instagram. Posting as regularly as possible, even if it wasn’t our greatest work at the time. Being present on social media helped to create an audience!
Over the years, we’ve built a lot of relationships with other vendors, and also with a lot of family members and guests at weddings. Which helped to create an audience of people that are excited to hire us for their future weddings.
Genuinely viewing our work as valuable was a mind shift that helped a lot. Know your worth. Your work is unique and valuable, you just have to believe it! Be eager to learn, and be teachable, you’ll learn so much!!
Contact Info:
- Website: Shbeebweddings.com
- Instagram: @Shbeebweddings
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@notBenSmith
Image Credits
Shbeeb Weddings LLC