Hannah is the owner of the photography business Han Designed, based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. She specializes in weddings and elopements, supporting and celebrating clients worldwide with cinematic and magical visuals.
It was an absolute joy to chat with Hannah – accompanied on the call by two gorgeous Golden Retrievers, Keely and Goose – and it’s easy to see why clientele would come away from photography sessions happy. To get started, we spoke with Hannah about her journey into photography and how the business has grown over the years, but we quickly spiraled into the impact fantasy has on her work and her experience with two website builders, Squarespace and WordPress.
“I can’t leave myself at home when I go to work, I’m always showing up with these pieces of myself too.”
Hannah clearly highlights her style of photography across the website.
“I had gone to school for film and cinematography, and then I switched to photography after graduating about four years ago. From there I started doing weddings, just as a way to pick up jobs, and then I realized I liked it. Before I knew it, I was getting referrals and stuff.”
“So that then kind of snowballed into me having my own business. I went full-time between two and three years ago, just on my own – so now it’s just me and then I’ll hire contractors sometimes to help out with some work.”
“I shoot 20-30 weddings and elopements per year. Mostly in the Midwest of the US, and then a few abroad as well.”
“I think one thing that sets me apart – and it’s a big philosophy of mine and my photography – is consent-informed posing. So I approach photography through a trauma-informed lens, which then kind of takes away – or I think supports people – to feel more comfortable with me.”
Hannah makes her values clear to potential clients.
“I think as far as my niche goes, I think something else that sets me apart – and is very central to my business – is wanting to focus on, or take inspiration from, fantasy books and movies.”
“I like folklore and stuff like that, and trying to incorporate that into my work. I work with a lot of people who are really passionate about fantasy movies and films, and different stories. So I find it fun to try to incorporate the things that they like into the photography.”
“I take a lot of inspiration from Celtic folklore, especially images, right now.”
“It’s less specific, but I’m really inspired by the scenery and colors of Ireland. And the history of it – the Celtic folklore stories.”
“As for films or shows, I would say visually that I take a lot of inspiration from the show Outlander – I think it’s shot in a way that I really like to emulate with the colors and the composition.”
“And the same with the more magical elements of The Lord of the Rings.”
“I wanted to avoid the more generic personality things that people will put on their websites.”
“The first time I made a website and started writing about myself, I wanted to be very approachable to everyone and be kind of generic in a way.”
“I wanted to have details that wouldn’t make anyone not like me, if that makes sense.”
“So when I redid my website over the past two years, I worked with a copywriter and she was really helpful, but I leaned into mentioning things that not every person can relate to – but are true to me.”
“My favorite thing about work is meeting the people that I end up working with and getting to know them and getting to know their families.”
“Just being able to support them through a process that – I mean quite a few people may do more than once – but for a lot of people, it’s just one time and they’ve never done it before.”
“It comes with a lot of emotions and baggage and stuff like that, so I like to be a support person in that way.”
“I also like to be able to empower people when it comes to trying to encourage them to make their wedding or elopement or portrait session – make it whatever they want it to be.”
“My services and process definitely evolved, especially with things like permitting and the legal checks that come with destination weddings and more adventurous elopements in national parks and things.”
“Because a lot of people – I mean, most people – haven’t eloped to a national park before.”
“So how would you know that you need a permit in order to take photos on a mountain or need to get permission?”
“Over the years, my business has grown and as it’s grown, I’ve had to learn more about efficiency and making sure that I’m hitting deadlines since I have more clients.”
“And I’ve been wanting to maintain the personalization, the one-to-one process.”
“Even having, you know, 50 clients a year, or however many, I didn’t want to lose that personal feeling.”
“My advice to someone who has never touched a website would be to start with the most user-friendly and straightforward experience you can find.”
“Because with web building, I think it gets overwhelming really quickly, and there’s so much you can do with it.”
| Aspect | Hannah’s Thoughts |
|---|---|
| SEO Performance | Significant improvement noticed after switching to WordPress |
| User Experience | Squarespace is user-friendly but limited in customization |
| Plugins | WordPress offers a wide range of plugins, enhancing functionality |
Hannah’s key message is that it is important to connect with clients and customers. Bringing your passions and values to your work will help you build strong relationships.
