We were especially happy to feature Hanna Yamamoto from the Color Services team to the Photograph your Love® Instagram Takeover. Besides being a great work buddy, Hanna is an amazingly talented photographer. She’s a California native who enjoys the outdoors, the ocean and road trips. We saw that reflected in the beautiful images she shared on our feed.
Where did you grow up?
I grew up in Santa Monica, CA. I attended Santa Monica High School and lived there until I was about 19 years old.
When did you get into photography and why?
I got into photography sometime during my senior year of high school. It started out mostly for fun. I brought a camera around wherever I went. I was really into skateboarding then, so I spent a lot of my time documenting my friends around town.
How would you describe your shooting style?
I studied photo journalism in college so I would like to think that I have a documentary style type of photography. I try to really capture people and places in their most honest form. I love to document the true beauty of people and places.
What kind of gear and technology do you use; and how does this influence or impact your work?
I mostly shoot digital but I do own a number of film cameras that I use from time to time. I own a Canon 5D mark iii, which is my primary camera. I have about 4 lenses that I switch between, depending on what i am doing. My go-to lens is the Canon 16-35 f/2.8, for day to day use and landscapes. My favorite lens ever is the 85mm f/1.2 I use it for most of my portraits and even sometimes landscape shots.
I think having the different range of lenses really helps influence my work because I often use specific lenses for specific reasons which really contributes to my overall collection of images.
What photographer or artist has had the biggest influence on your own photography?
There are a handful of photographers that have really influenced my work but here are a few of my favorites:
Vivan Maier, Gregory Crewdson, Alec Soth, Jonpaul Douglass, Woody Gooch and Forest Mankins
What motivates or inspires you to continue taking pictures?
What really inspires me is the people and places that are around me. I am so motivated by the life that surrounds me and all I want to do is document it. I also have a terrible memory so this is the way I can remember everything.
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You can see more of Hanna’s work on her website at hannayamamoto.com where you can also buy prints of some of her favorite images. Follow Hanna on Instagram @hanziibar.
The Photograph Your Love® Instagram takeover was launched in January 2015…and here we are, starting our 4th year! It’s been an amazing ride. Each week we invite a differerent photographer that we admire to take over the Color Services Instagram feed. As a business that processes and prints photos, we see it as part of our mission to spread inspiration. We hope you’ve enjoyed the hundreds of photos that have demonstrated our tagline, #PhotographYourLove, in so many different ways. And if you’re just getting on board, we hope you’ll follow along @colorservices.
