We recently connected with Hannah Denson and have shared our conversation below.

Hannah, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear about one of the craziest things you’ve experienced in your journey so far.

Let me first start by saying, if you expect a normal time- it won’t be with me. Wherever I go, chaotic good seems to follow and I live for a good story so I’ll always say yes to an adventure!

A little background, COVID times had just begun and Nashville had also just been hit with a devastating tornado.

I get a call on a random day from a client. She decided times have already been tough and you know what, she was going to get married. Even if it’s a partially zoom wedding. That same week.

Obviously I said “SURE!” Very unsurely because I was brand new to weddings with no backup.

Fast forward to the wedding day, there is an actual tornado on the way, heaving dumping rain, and lightning- it was an outdoor wedding.

But MAN did we make it work. A groomsman chased me with an umbrella while we trekked from safe spot to safe spot. I even caught some lightning in the photos. We also managed to find a little spot under cover for the ceremony, and not one soul there can say it wasn’t a good time.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I have always been drawn to cameras, creating visual art, and making my reality come to life. I think it is the coolest thing to see the different emotions and perspectives people are capable of expressing I’m ways words can’t capture. Another photographer and I can be looking at the exact same thing and still have a different outcome.

I decided that it would one day be something real when I was 17. If you know me, you know I can’t skip mentioning my “why”. It’s 2012, My best friend, Shelby Kae and I are doing a goofy little photoshoot because I had just gotten my first DSLR. She also had a very rare terminal brain cancer and at that point, unknowingly months to live. She was a passionate dancer and a fiercely loving friend. Medical complications had slowed her down and changed her appearance some. As a young girl dealing with cancer on top of the terror of just been a teen girl, she had a hard time feeling beautiful and expressing that fact. So we were sure to highlight her dance skill, quirks, and our friendship in these photos. I’ll never forget the day I sent them over to her. She teared up, smiled so big, and said she’s never felt more beautiful and she was so thankful for me and all the talents she believed in. From that moment I saw photography as more than art or memories. It can be someone’s entire flip of a confidence switch, a reminder of just who the hell they are.

Photography and digital arts have been a part of my life as long as I can remember, but I leaped, quit my stable seeming job and started HDphotography in 2019. I began with weddings, elopements, lifestyle, and small business marketing.

I have since moved my focus toward travel (plus trip advice/planning), adventure, elopements, and small business. But my style- raw natural romanticized light, candids, and emotions created with a deep undertone and unique angles- have stayed the same.

I truly am so thankful I get to do what I love whenever and wherever I want to. And one of the absolute best and most underrated parts is following my clients on their journey. They probably don’t know how much it means to photographers but how awesome is it to be a part of their graduations, holidays, secret proposals, weddings, babies, and everything in between.

I am so proud of the fact that 13 year old dreaming me would be in shock that strangers ask for *me* of all people and they even fly me to new places because they truly want *me* and *my* work that much. That’s something that I’ll probably never truly be able to fathom.

If you are reading this and you have a passion, even in a SATURATED line of work, do it anyway. Create anyway. Be different and learn who you are in the crowd anyway.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

My goal in this field is to only accept jobs, locations, styles of shoots that I love. Burnout is real and I do my best to avoid that by really getting my niche crowd.

I want to always stay creative and stray from repetition or what I call flat sessions. You know, the ones with the set poses and the countdown with no time for uniqueness.

Eventually I hope to book out my travel and adventure elopement calendar all over the place and really get to fully be that brand. And if Nat Geo wanted to pick any of it up one day, I’d very cool and calmly accept (while I dramatically fan girl inside).

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

I don’t think any one story can illustrate the level of resilience I have. I believe myself and my brand to be just made of resilience. That isn’t always a fun time but it has absolutely made me adaptable to anything that comes my way. I also have an “any situation can have a solution if you change your thinking” mindset.

Of course, like I mentioned, I always say yes to wild and sometimes absolute problem solver situations. That is how I prefer to live my life but it does not come without consequences and the need for sheer willpower to pull me through the day sometimes.

Personally as well, I’ve always bounced around, moving every 6months to two years, changing lifestyles, homes, schools, careers- leaving people behind to do something new even when I absolutely don’t want to. This year truly hit me hard with change. Every single kind of change.

One day at a time (and an organized calendar) is how I keep it all together.

And truly I believe burnt out creative business owners do need to take a second and pause. And I know that’s hard. Sometimes even not practical. But working on healthy habits and mental space when it gets cloudy has been a resounding saving grace for me. Become you again and give yourself a little check in when you start to feel cracks in the joy you have for your work or situation .

Contact Info:

• Website: www.hdphotography.org
• Instagram: Instagram.com/realhdphotography
• Facebook: Facebook.com/realhdphotography
• Other: Email: [email protected]

Image Credits
@ HD Photography.